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stringstretcher
04-24-2008, 01:12 AM
I have a 357 max contender 14" and will be working up a load to hunt deer and maybe hogs with. What would be considered the best all around mold to get to do my own casting, since I have lots of ww around and plenty soft lead to mix. Would love to hear what rations to use for the better hunting boolit and what mold???

runfiverun
04-25-2008, 12:22 AM
something with a flat large meplat and possibly a g/c
of 180-200 grains, pushed 1500+.
straight ww's with a bit of tin, wwand pure 50/50 water quenched. both will work
just fine if you go over@ 1600 you will want the g/c. 1500 will do without.
just expect a hole and some boolit upset not a fancy mushroom, you don't want one
anyway the meplat and hole will do the job.

versifier
04-25-2008, 04:21 AM
I would go with a Ranch Dog 180 gr TLGC. You can find a link to his site on CB at the bottom of the web page. He is a good man and a very talented mould designer for hunting bullets.

stringstretcher
04-30-2008, 01:45 PM
What would be a good starting mixture of WW to tin for these boolits?

runfiverun
04-30-2008, 05:15 PM
just enough to fill out the moulds 1% should be plenty just get your mold nice and hot
and you should have no problems, if it is a good mold 1/2 % could work also.
just don't go over 3%. with the ww's.
if you go with the r/d mold it is essentially a high quality lee mold..

versifier
04-30-2008, 05:34 PM
All it takes is a little bit of tin to get good fillout. Any more than that is a waste of expensive tin. I will add maybe an ounce or so of 50/50 plumber's solder to 20lbs of WW's and stir it in thoroughly - with some moulds I don't need to add any, but I do it to keep the alloy composition as uniform as possible from batch to batch. Moulds with deep square lube grooves are harder to get optimal fillout than tumble lube designs like RD's. As long as the mould is properly preheated though, fillout problems with straight WW's are usually minimal.

BTW, if you do add solder, make sure it isn't rosin core electronic solder - it will smoke a lot and stink things up inside your shop. You can add the rosin core stuff to the smelter (outside!!!) after skimming the clips and before fluxing, then the extra tin will already be in your ingots and you won't need to add anything later.

testhop
06-19-2008, 02:46 AM
String You May Want To Use One Of The Heavy 357 Bulletslike A 180 There Are Some Out For Sillywetsthe Increase In Volicty Should Cause Expandce