New to casting, great results with NOE 217-20-RF-CE6 4 cavity alu.

[superchikn]

Been wanting to try pellet casting for a while now, have cast lots of lead sinkers over the years using some fairly primitive methods, and finally got to start using my new NOE 217-20-RF-CE6 4 cavity aluminum mold.
I have had the mold and Lee handle for two months now but was a little apprehensive about getting started.
I have a little dipper for pressure pour method - Thanks Wayne for the great video on that.
I got a Lyman 10 lb Big dipper pot and have probably 100 lbs of pure lead in the garage.

I've been holding off to get a lead thermometer and to build a PID, but I quit procrastinating,  heat cycled the mold a few times on Friday night and went to work at it yesterday.

First few tries were pretty good with most filling out fully.
Cast a hundred or so and took a break.  Time to take a closer look.  There are obvious cull I see when casting but on closer inspection there are more not so obvious, incomplete skirts.  Maybe 30% rejects.
Mold needs to be a loittle warmer and I need towork more slowly.  Also had to file the pour spout of the little dipper more round for a better seal.

Cast 5 or 6 hundred today with a much better cull rate.

Need more work on my technique and practice in general but pretty happy with this new rabbit hole I've found.

Shooting results-

My Akela likes them - a lot!  It looks like even better than H&N 18 Baracudas which are nickel accurate or better at 50 yds.

My Liberty spirals them at any distance.  Curious why that is.

Really amazed at how well this works and the quality of the NOE mold for these to shoot like they do.

[Back_Roads]

 Looks pretty good, I do think one or 2 of the pins need to be set just a hair deeper, those are the ones with the ring and a bit of flash on the skirts. 

[superchikn]

Looks pretty good, I do think one or 2 of the pins need to be set just a hair deeper, those are the ones with the ring and a bit of flash on the skirts. 

Thanks James,


I agree on the pins.
What is the preferred method for doing this, tap on the pin bracket?


 

[Insanity]

What I have done was get the mold at casting temps then adjusted the pins by loosing the screw pushing on the pin and tighten it. For me that helped center the pin then if I still had issues I tapped the pin holder not the pin to drive the pin deeper into the mold. I had to do this several times on one pellet mold to not have flashing.

I'm sure others will chime in that's just what I ham fisted my way into better castings.

[Wayne52]

For tweeking the depth of the pins I use a tiny Crescent wrench and it works really good to finely adjust the depths of the pins that need it.  Ray those pellets are looking really good, my favorites from my Benjamin Cayden are the NOE-24-RF (Magnum Hunters), but basically I'm not a target shooter at heart and more of a hunter.

[Spacebus]

I had a two cav aluminum that I got too hot, but liked it so much I ordered a two cav brass mold almost three weeks ago, still waiting on it!

[Wayne52]

I had a two cav aluminum that I got too hot, but liked it so much I ordered a two cav brass mold almost three weeks ago, still waiting on it!

DJ I'd give Al a call and ask him about it.  I've had to do it in the past myself, the mold never was picked up by USPS.

[superchikn]

What I have done was get the mold at casting temps then adjusted the pins by loosing the screw pushing on the pin and tighten it. For me that helped center the pin then if I still had issues I tapped the pin holder not the pin to drive the pin deeper into the mold. I had to do this several times on one pellet mold to not have flashing.

I'm sure others will chime in that's just what I ham fisted my way into better castings.

Thanks Matt,
I had actually whacked one of the pin brackets when trying to knock out a stuck pellet and it caused that pin to then stick in that side of the mold.  I tapped it the other way to take tension off the pin.  lesson learned


Now that I know what needs to be done I will get the mold tweaked. 


Need to sort the ones I already cast.  the photo above was the first batch on Sat and unsorted except for the obvious culls.

[Wayne52]

Ray that's why I like 2 cavity molds because you've only got two pins to contend with.

[Wayne52]

Another thing about pressure pouring with the lil dipper is holding the spout in the sprue plate insures a tight pour as well.  It's makes cutting sprue nicer IMO.

[Spacebus]

I had a two cav aluminum that I got too hot, but liked it so much I ordered a two cav brass mold almost three weeks ago, still waiting on it!

DJ I'd give Al a call and ask him about it.  I've had to do it in the past myself, the mold never was picked up by USPS.

I sent an email last week but didn't hear anything back. I suppose a call is in order.

Ray that's why I like 2 cavity molds because you've only got two pins to contend with.

I'll have three aluminum molds with four cavities and pins plus a two brass molds with two cavities and pins. The one mold I have without pins is definitely the easiest to cast with.

What I have done was get the mold at casting temps then adjusted the pins by loosing the screw pushing on the pin and tighten it. For me that helped center the pin then if I still had issues I tapped the pin holder not the pin to drive the pin deeper into the mold. I had to do this several times on one pellet mold to not have flashing.

I'm sure others will chime in that's just what I ham fisted my way into better castings.

Thanks Matt,
I had actually whacked one of the pin brackets when trying to knock out a stuck pellet and it caused that pin to then stick in that side of the mold.  I tapped it the other way to take tension off the pin.  lesson learned


Now that I know what needs to be done I will get the mold tweaked. 


Need to sort the ones I already cast.  the photo above was the first batch on Sat and unsorted except for the obvious culls.

Do you have a good scale? I bought a "gram" scale for doing apple cider, but I'm finding it can be off by as much as .05 grams, which is not quite accurate enough for weighing castings for sorting. I had to tweak the pins in one of my molds, but I've been lucky with the rest.

[superchikn]

For tweeking the depth of the pins I use a tiny Crescent wrench and it works really good to finely adjust the depths of the pins that need it.  Ray those pellets are looking really good, my favorites from my Benjamin Cayden are the NOE-24-RF (Magnum Hunters), but basically I'm not a target shooter at heart and more of a hunter.

Wayne,
The crescent wrench sounds good.  Going to be interesting to find the point where they are all the way in but not sticking like the one pin was.


Thank you for saying they look good.  I see more "issues" when I zoom in on the photo than with just my reading glasses on. 


Not sure if I am getting the mold temp quite right.  I lay it on top of the pot to warm up but I don't leave it there that long, maybe 5-8 minutes.  I am concerned with overheating it and possibly warping it.  The mold is aluminum if that matters.

Does it matter how the mold is heated?  sprue side down, pin brackets down, on one side or the other?
I assume the mold can overheat and warp if left on the pot for too long!?


So much to learn.


I punch paper for and shoot spinners and whatever else in the back yard, I enjoy that type of shooting, but I also hunt and pest.  The backyard shooting is practice and confirmation of how the gun, pellet and shooter are performing, because ultimately if I can't make the shots there then I am definitely not going to be very successful taking Hosps, starlings and pigeons out of the barns and off the silos where I pest.
If I am not feeling that I can make a headshot on a groundhog at 50 or 60 yds then I wont take the shot.
 
These pellets shoot better than I hoped from the Akela, and with some careful sorting, it looks like I can use these for my pesting and hunting.

[superchikn]

Ray that's why I like 2 cavity molds because you've only got two pins to contend with.

That makes sense.
When I bought this it was the only configuration available at the time.

[superchikn]

Another thing about pressure pouring with the lil dipper is holding the spout in the sprue plate insures a tight pour as well.  It's makes cutting sprue nicer IMO.

I hold it in but the spout was a little out of round and sometimes I had leakage. I have since dresses the od bevel of the spout to be more round, I have not tested this yet.  I had leakage other times too but that was me not being careful enough.

[superchikn]

I do have a gram scale but I am not to that point of sorting. 

[Wayne52]

This is my scale, they've almost doubled in price since I bought mine.

[Insanity]

I use that same scale.