Mold Reccomendation

[gregs]

Interested in what molds guys are using. I have 3 Glocks and am looking at casting bullets for practice and a woods carry gun. Have searched and been reading older threads, thanks...Greg

[Taterhead]

Here are the molds that I've used, and thoughts.

Lee 401-175-TC 2 cavity. Great all-around bullet design. Absolutely my worst casting mold. Hate it and I don't use it. Probably the 6 cav would be better.

NOE 403-180-RF 5 cav. A round nose fp design. Beautiful mold. Aluminum. Good bullet design. Alas, I sold that because it drops really fat. After adding diameter with powder coating, it was a lot of sizing.

Accurate 40-200F. Beautiful aluminum mold. Good range bullet. This one is a keeper!

LBT 402-200-WFN 4 cav. This is your woods carry bullet! This is my single favorite mold to use. I had one cavity cut for a gas check, but would skip the GC if I did it again. No need. The LBT WFNis the profile that is copied by several mold makers. To see the bullet design, go to Montana Bullet Works. They cast the plain base version of this like 3 of my cavities. Veral Smith knows how to design a mold, and it makes me look like a hero caster. If someone wants an authentic LBT style WFN mold, better hurry. Veral is getting up there in age.

Lyman 401638 4 cav. A 175 gr TC design. I recently picked this one up. The profile is similar to the Lee. Nice bullet. Unfortunately, the mold is with Lyman while they deal with some warranty issues. I like the profile. It drops
.401" and 178 gr. Perfect diameter for powder coating. Hoping that Lyman follows through. If so, I like iron molds and it should serve as one of my high volume molds.

All of these are powder coated, sized with  NOE sizers, and shot through my 10/40 stock Glocks.

[The_Shadow]

I started with the RCBS 175 gr. which was TC with a small SWC (semi wadcutter) and it is an accurate bullet which cuts clean holes in the paper. 
I have the Lyman 401638 4 cav.  175 gr. TC design.  This makes plenty of bullets fast, they also are accurate.
I have the Lyman Devastator 156 gr. which is an obsolete single cavity cast hollow point mold, it is the same bullet as the Lyman 401638 175 gr but has a hollow pointer pin.
I also have the RCBS 200 gr. TC SWC to have a heavier option when needed.

I run all of mine through a 0.4015" STAR sizer and currently using White Label Carnauba Red lube...



I do recommend using two steps for  seating and taper crimps, to avoid bullet material shaving while the bullets are pressed to proper COL.  With some dies the crimp section can start closing in the caseing so they will need to be raised up about 1/8" to avoid contact.  I use a 1/8" spacer to raise my RCBS die so I don't have to re adjust the locking ring that is set for the taper crimp.  After I have seated all of my bullets , I remove the spacer, back out the seater stem and rum the cartridges to finish the taper crimp s there is no bullet movement.

[sqlbullet]

My mold stable for 10mm includes:

Lee 175 Gr SWC TL 2 and 6 cavity:  My first molds.  Have shot many thousands of these and have many thousands more cast and ready to go.  Tumble Lube works fine, but is messy and smokey.  Especially problematic is the build up of lube in the nose of the seating die, which impacts COAL.  I have run a good many of these through a lubrisizer and put traditional lube in the tumble lube style grooves, and that works just fine and eliminates the issue with the nose being all gunky.  I find these bullets very accurate and have pushed them pretty hard with no issues as long as they fit.

Mountain Molds 205 Grain WFN 2 cavity:  I got this mold on a trade.  It is a custom mold that the original purchaser intended as a 38-40 mold.  It has a crimp groove that is useless to 10mm, but also sits inside the neck where I don't see it after loading.  The mold produces top quality bullets, but is only two cavity which limits the output speed.

NOE 200-402 RG2 5 cavity:  My favorite mold.  The RG2 molds come with nose pins for a WFN profile at 200 grains in this mold, or a hollow point at 180 grains in this mold.  I most cast the 180 grain HP profile with the mold and it makes great bullets.  I have powder coated these as well as traditional lube and push them as hard as I want as long as they fit.

Alloy:  My preferred alloy is isotope lead, which is about like clip on wheel weights, mixed about 7/3 with pure lead, and with about an ounce per 10# pot of tin to ensure good fill out.  I usually air-cool anymore and end up around 13-15 bhn, but this alloy can be water dropped and will harden up to the mid-20's and remain there.

[Taterhead]

Here is a pic of the bullets mentioned in my post above.

Left to right.

Accurate 40-200F
LBT 402-200-WFNGC (sans GC)
LBT 402-200-WFN
NOE 403-180-RF
Lee 401-175-TC
Lyman 401638

[MyAlias789]

With my experience with the 200 gr boolits:

Anything with a meplat of 0.30" or smaller will allow you to load to 1.250" OAL.

Larger meplats bind in the mag after the 5th or 6th round unless you load them shorter. However, this also takes away some room for powder.

[sqlbullet]

What gun?  I have had no magazine bind issues out to 1.260 with any of my loads.

[Taterhead]

I started with the RCBS 175 gr. which was TC with a small SWC (semi wadcutter) and it is an accurate bullet which cuts clean holes in the paper. 
I have the Lyman 401638 4 cav.  175 gr. TC design.  This makes plenty of bullets fast, they also are accurate.
I have the Lyman Devastator 156 gr. which is an obsolete single cavity cast hollow point mold, it is the same bullet as the Lyman 401638 175 gr but has a hollow pointer pin.
I also have the RCBS 200 gr. TC SWC to have a heavier option when needed.

I run all of mine through a 0.4015" STAR sizer and currently using White Label Carnauba Red lube...


...

Shadow, those are nice looking bullets. I really like RCBS molds, but the 2 cav makes boolits a little slow for my volume. I wish they made 4 cavs. Hang on to that Devastator. They are becoming collectible!

Curious, are you still lubing, or have you moved on to a type of coating?

[MyAlias789]

What gun?  I have had no magazine bind issues out to 1.260 with any of my loads.

Glocks.

[The_Shadow]

I started with the RCBS 175 gr. which was TC with a small SWC (semi wadcutter) and it is an accurate bullet which cuts clean holes in the paper. 
I have the Lyman 401638 4 cav.  175 gr. TC design.  This makes plenty of bullets fast, they also are accurate.
I have the Lyman Devastator 156 gr. which is an obsolete single cavity cast hollow point mold, it is the same bullet as the Lyman 401638 175 gr but has a hollow pointer pin.
I also have the RCBS 200 gr. TC SWC to have a heavier option when needed.

I run all of mine through a 0.4015" STAR sizer and currently using White Label Carnauba Red lube...


...

Shadow, those are nice looking bullets. I really like RCBS molds, but the 2 cav makes boolits a little slow for my volume. I wish they made 4 cavs. Hang on to that Devastator. They are becoming collectible!

Curious, are you still lubing, or have you moved on to a type of coating?

I am considering doing some poly paint coated someday soon.  Have a bunch casted to work with...

[Taterhead]

I really like the PC sold by a Vendor Sponsor on the Cast Boolits forum named Smoke4320. Great stuff. No mess or smoke or leading.

[gregs]

Ended up with a MP Molds 180gr HP 4 cavity brass, thanks for the input.

[Taterhead]

Congrats gregs. MP has a stellar reputation, so hopefully you'll have great results. I hear those pins need some heat to run right.

The castboolits forum has a lot of guys who have taught me a lot about casting. Recommended stopping there if you run into any trouble.