Author Topic: .25 cal 34-38 gr. Pellet Mould at NOE - In the Store (Read 41783 times - 2 votes)
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KnifeMaker · « **Reply #240 on:** June 25, 2018, 04:02:26 AM »

A couple of the pins have caused damage to the edge of the skirt area of the mold.

How do you get the pins tight. Mine are very loose.

Knife

Back_Roads · « **Reply #241 on:** June 25, 2018, 09:58:25 AM »

I just line them up in the mold, tap the mold handles with wood dowel while closing to settle parts together, then tighten the pin holders down snug. The skirts have been consistently good for me.

KnifeMaker · « **Reply #242 on:** June 25, 2018, 02:15:49 PM »

Exactly what I have done from the first. But it wouldn't result in what is posted above.

Knife

tnt76 · « **Reply #243 on:** June 25, 2018, 06:33:39 PM »

I've cast a couple of small batches so far, but am yet to put the .25 barrel back on the marauder to shoot any.
I found the bolts holding the retainer plates were loosening as I cast, creating extra dags on the skirts. Once I tightened them down again, I had to adjust them as per the NOE method on their site for the RG molds. http://noebulletmolds.com/smf/index.php/topic,199.0.html I kept tightening until the pins stuck and backed off a whisker.

K.O. · « **Reply #244 on:** June 25, 2018, 09:46:24 PM »

Quote from: KnifeMaker on June 25, 2018, 04:02:26 AM

A couple of the pins have caused damage to the edge of the skirt area of the mold. Did you use it with the to long pins before knowing...

How do you get the pins tight. Mine are very loose.

Knife

K.O. · « **Reply #245 on:** June 25, 2018, 10:29:12 PM »

Quote from: tnt76 on June 25, 2018, 06:33:39 PM

I've cast a couple of small batches so far, but am yet to put the .25 barrel back on the marauder to shoot any.
I found the bolts holding the retainer plates were loosening as I cast, creating extra dags on the skirts. Once I tightened them down again, I had to adjust them as per the NOE method on their site for the RG molds. http://noebulletmolds.com/smf/index.php/topic,199.0.html I kept tightening until the pins stuck and backed off a whisker.

yep...

I backed off the screws just to see what a loose pin would do so I would know what the result of a loose pin looks like...then tightened them back up and adjusted like you just a tiny bit from the pin not dropping... I feel the need to be careful how I close the blocks... I also feel the pin system could use a bit wider wider pins that butt up against wider shoulders as a more positive stop

rsterne · « **Reply #246 on:** June 25, 2018, 10:30:02 PM »

The brackets for the pins should be tightened up against the bottom of the mould, or they will progressively loosen during a casting session.... I snug them up with a hex driver, and then finish tightening them with an allen key to keep them from coming loose.... If the pins are setting too high and binding on the skirt taper, you bend the bracket down slightly, away from the mould, until the taper on the top of the pins are snug against the skirt taper, but will fall out on a angle when the mould is tapped gently with a wooden mallet.... If takes VERY little bending of the bracket (as per the NOE link above) to cause them to be too low, which will result in a gap, and the lead forming a "flashing" around the bottom edge of the skirt.... I had that happen on one pin and had to bend it up again.... It was of course too tight, and I had to carefully bend it down again until I got it perfect....

If when you tighten up the bracket it twists, the waist of the pin can bind on the slot of the bracket, causing the pin to stick.... If you hold it up to the light, and twist the bracket slightly while tightening it, you can get a tiny gap visible on both side of the pin, which will avoid this problem.... Yes, the pins are touchy to adjust, but once you get it right with the brackets tight, they will stay that way....

Bob

K.O. · « **Reply #247 on:** June 25, 2018, 10:34:48 PM »

bracket screws were all the way tight on receipt but pins did not fall... very little bend was needed...

rsterne · « **Reply #248 on:** June 25, 2018, 10:45:42 PM »

OK, now the pin adjustment is out of the way, I can report on my first casting session with the .25 cal NOE mould today.... I have a new PID controller for my pot, and it took a while to get it to "learn" how to control the pot so that the temperature is stable.... but it holds it within 2*F once set.... I am not really sure what the temperature is, however, because I get 3 different readings.... I ended up setting the PID at 900*F to get the analog manual thermometer to read 850*F, which my IR digital thermometer says is really only 800*F.... and that is the way it casts, like it is set to 800*F.... I have been convinced for some time my mechanical thermometer reads high, so I was surprised when I had to crank the PID up even higher, but it is what it is, and at least once I find a setting it holds it perfectly, which I could never get before....

I installed the deepest and shallowest HB pins today, 2 of each, and the weighs were 35.0 gr. and 38.5 gr. using 40:1 alloy from Rotometals…. Tomorrow (time permitting) I will cast the medium HB and flat base pins.... I tried 2 different temperatures, and using the IR digital, at 800*F I was getting about 25% which had a very slight dimple in the bottom edge of the skirt.... probably usable, but not perfect.... With the temperature 40*F higher the shallow base pellets were all virtually perfect, but I had about 15% of the light pellets with a bit of flashing on the outer edge of the skirt on one side (I think one pin is a whisker low)…. The deeper base pellets are certainly fussier to cast than the shallow ones, as one might expect.... I had the same thing on the .30 cal, but overall these are MUCH better, with much FEWER rejects.... probably because I am casting hotter.... I am pretty sure that when I get the perfect temperature (next time I will try 820*F) and casting cadence I will be at less than 10% rejects, which is about as good as most of the bullet casting I do, and better than a lot of my HP bullets.... Overall, I am very satisfied with the quality.... I won't be testing them until I have all 4 weights cast....

Bob

KnifeMaker · « **Reply #249 on:** June 26, 2018, 01:11:08 AM »

I wish I weren't electrically challenged .Would love a PID. Can't get my RCBS over 800, even though it is set at 850.

Knife

KnifeMaker · « **Reply #250 on:** June 26, 2018, 01:14:08 AM »

So sorry for the double post, Put in the cast bollet section by mistake. GRRR. We are talking about bth cast bullet and pellets in both threads.

OK, here is what I tried. while on the Cast Boolit forum, I was reading about problems with HP bullet casting.

Several people were talking about when pouring the lead into the sprue plate holes, not to pour it straight in but rather to pour it on the side of the funnel in the plate holes.

They claimed that it alllowed the lead to bypass the pin long enough, to not be influenced by its temp difference.

Also, it allows supposedly, a little bit of air to escape, giving better, less contaminated HP's.

As the pellet is nothing more than a reversed HP, with the hp being in the rear, decided why not.! Give it a try, And give it a try I did.

I must admit, the bases , (Most of them anyway) were no longer thicker on one side that the other.

In weighing them, they were no longer all over the place. Most fell in 33. 4-6 grains and 34. 4-6 gr. Odd don't ya think?

OK the test

Groups shot with the 33.4-6 were not good. Another failure.

Knew from experience the 34+ gr. would be worse.

However this turned out to not be the case. Strange things were happening, but still, MUCH Better![size=78%] [/size]

However, odd, as I said. First Group was 5 you could cover with a nickel, plus three fliers. One 1 inch right, and down 1 inch, and two more 1 inch left, and level with the target. Weird!

At least the first shot would be a kill shot, along with a good follow up, is now possible.

Shot several more groups, with similar results. Happy, but confused!

Knife

KnifeMaker · « **Reply #251 on:** June 26, 2018, 01:31:38 AM »

Pic' form todays test. sorry for the misinformation. Those 18 pellets were JSB 25 Gr. opps!

KnifeMaker · « **Reply #252 on:** June 26, 2018, 01:33:27 AM »

as you can see, getting better, nice clusters, but with unexplained fliers.

Upped the power a bit. These are @56.50 fpe.

Knife

rsterne · « **Reply #253 on:** June 28, 2018, 04:45:12 PM »

I cast up the new NOE pellets today, using the new pins.... The mould comes with 4 sets of RG base pins, and they produce 3 skirted pellets and one solid with a flat base.... They look like this....

The weights in 40:1 lead/tin alloy are 35.0, 37.0, 38.5 and 42.6 gr.... They all chamber perfectly in my .25 cal LW Polygonal barrel, but that is not surprising as I cut the chamber to allow for bullets as well as pellets.... I have my BRod set up with a Cothran valve and the WAR adjustable regulated tank block, set at 1900 psi.... I checked the velocity of all 5 pellets (including the JSBs) and got the following averages for one 8-shot magazine of each....

34.1 gr. JSB = 947 fps (67.9 FPE)
35.0 gr. NOE = 937 fps (68.3 FPE)
37.0 gr. NOE = 919 fps (69.4 FPE)
38.5 gr. NOE = 906 fps (70.2 FPE)
42.6 gr. NOE = 871 fps (71.8 FPE)

I was only shooting inside my shop, with the backstop 20 feet away, and all groups were one ragged hole, with no real difference between any of the pellets.... That is encouraging, because some pellets or bullets can't do that when shooting through the Chrony at that distance.... and those that do usually shoot pretty good at least out to 50 yards....

My summer is taken up with sitting at the Motel reception desk waiting for guests, and we are entering our busiest season now, so it is unlikely I will get to try these at distance any time soon.... but the velocity and energy is right where I want it for testing.... I can't wait....

Bob

Nomadic Pirate · « **Reply #254 on:** June 28, 2018, 05:05:38 PM »

Those pellets look Niiceeee

Wayne52 · « **Reply #255 on:** June 28, 2018, 05:30:37 PM »

Bob I did one more run with the 35 grainers yesterday and also did a 20 yard group of 8 with them.

These molds are really finicky when adjusting but I think I finally got them right on this try

My next casting session will be with the brass mold, haven't tried it yet.

KnifeMaker · « **Reply #256 on:** June 29, 2018, 12:56:23 AM »

ONe issue I am running into, the rear most pin damaged the skirt wall area, making a divot. GRRRR!

Not sure how this happened, but it is really causing casting issues. And fliers.

With a standard hp mold, such as hollowpoiint mold services system, this can't happen.

Knife

Wayne52 · « **Reply #257 on:** June 29, 2018, 08:10:15 AM »

Well I went and did it, ordered a 55lb-61lb pig ingot of 99.9% pure lead from roto metals, in reality if I did start trying to find all my lead with my metal detector it would take forever besides the fact of the gas I'd burn up going from site to site. I'll still definitely keep all the good lead that I do find with it though, I just won't be so zeroed in on the big targets with my detector but I sure won't ignore them either. Roto metals is really the best deal out there IMO.

HunterWhite · « **Reply #258 on:** June 29, 2018, 10:42:00 AM »

Wayne52, how do you cut it into small pieces that you can put into the pot?

KnifeMaker · « **Reply #259 on:** June 29, 2018, 10:53:23 AM »

When I bought from Roto, I just bought their 5 lb ingots and put the end in the pot and let it eat. LOL

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.25 cal 34-38 gr. Pellet Mould at NOE - In the Store

Author Topic: .25 cal 34-38 gr. Pellet Mould at NOE - In the Store (Read 41783 times - 2 votes) )

Nomadic Pirate

Author Topic: .25 cal 34-38 gr. Pellet Mould at NOE - In the Store (Read 41783 times - 2 votes)
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