NOE mold HP .452 need help, User issues?

I didn't know exactly how to word the title, but I' having a heck of a time getting good boolits out of this mold, and I'm pretty sure its me, not the mold. I have a NOE .452 HP 4 cavity mold throwing 230gr HP boolits. I use it off and on, and sometimes i get 50% good boolits and sometimes worse %. Once i got perfect boolits every cast, so i ran as many as i could. The problem is repeating that feat, i haven't been able to. That was before i got a Temp on my alloy and the mold. I have a RCBS Thermometer on the alloy and NOE's Digital probe on the mold. The alloy is 800-700F, and I preheat my old to 340F (best i could get with my hot plate) then cast a few trying to get it up to temp. I had to cast very fast to get the mold temp to 412F and i couldn't get it above that. The boolits were 70% too wavy, with about 20% good and the other 10% look like i ripped them out of the mold and they "tore". I have to tap with a wooden handle several times to get the mold to open, which makes it slow going.

I have 8 mold of different types 6 cavity down to 2 and get about 95%-100% on all of them just about every cast, so this one is my only HP and its the only one i have trouble with. Lastly I just got the probe holds drilled and only have probe mold temp data on this mold.

Any help could be really appreciated. Now i think of it, i just came in to write this and i threw all the bad ones back into the furnace, so i don't have pictures right now, but can do it over again and post them if i can't figure it out without them.

Help!

Steel185;
First of all, it's probably NOT the mould (the only way I could be sure would be to cast some with the mould). Wrinkled bullets almost invaribly involve a mould that has not been properly cleaned. After trying many ways over the years, I now use Dawn Dishwashing liquid, hot tap water and and old toothbrush. Scrub the dickens out of the mould cavities. Rinse in VERY hot water and pat dry with clean tissues (no tissues having lotion in them, etc.). Then pre-heat the mould as you have been doing. I do one other thing and take special attention to my hollow point moulds. I lube the alignment features of the mould with Bullshop's Sprueplate Lube. NO lube in the cavities but the alignment pins. That should help opening the mould. When you use hollow point moulds such as the Mihec (MP molds) or NOE, you have two competing techniques - you must have the mould hot enough (and particularly the pins) so that you get good fill out. However, alloy has to cool before you can get the bullets off the pins so that you don't crack the bullets at the hollow point cavity. I discovered that using a mold release on the nose of the pins (graphite spray from an auto parts store or Home Depot works about as well) allows the bullets to drop off before the pins cool too much. I suggest you apply the mold release (to the part of the hollow point pin that makes the hollow point) and let it dry. You'll end up with a matt surface - you do NOT want any build-up.

Try those tips and see if they don't help. There should be NO binding in opening and closing the mould.

Keep us posted of your progress.

Dale53

tap gently on the handle nut to crack it open, and only open it ENOUGH for the boolits to fall out. Then close quickly, helps keep heat in.

Sounds like you need a hotter mould. I wouldn't get my allow hotter than about 725. Dale gave some good advice. I use bullplate like stuff on my pins. After I heat up the mould with the hotplate I dip it in the alloy until the alloy will no longer stick to it. Then the first ten or so fills of the mould I just dump in the sprue pile. Sometimes less than ten fills. It depends on what I see happening. If I have a problem with the pins being too cold I give em' a shot with a trigger controlled hand torch. But I stress just a short shot. Keep the torch (if you use one) away from the aluminum. Once you are up to temp on the mould it will all flow like clockwork. But you have to keep moving or the mould will cool off. And I don't use a wet rag to cool the mould. It might be useful on an iron mould but not aluminum. I also use a bullplate substitute on the alignment pins and both sides of the sprue plate. I also put it on the top of the mould. Just don't get any in the cavities. It will screw up your boolits. You can tell when you need more bullplate on the sprue plate. It will start to stick again. Also do a lot of reading in the mould forum. This question comes up at least once a week sometimes more. There is some excellent advice you can find just by looking in past threads.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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