New LBT mould

4.8K Views
Last Post 16 September 2012

Standard Member

John Grantham posted this 16 January 2012

I recently aquired a LBT mould for my 30br. I did the lead slug thing as they suggested and sent them the case and plug used. I told them what I was shooting( twist etc,) and said make a bullet that they thought would work. I used to cast bullets commercially. In all, I have over 40 moulds and have access to 30 or 40 more. All of the blocks that I used were cast iron or cast steel. The LBT mould came. I opened the box to an aluminum set of blocks with a sprue plate that I didn't think was near thick enough and couldn't do the job. I opened the blocks to find only one set of air vents. At that point I was disheartened. Maybe I wasted my money. BOY WAS I WRONG. THIS IS THE BEST MOULD I HAVE. First of all, due to the fact that the blocks are aluminum they heat up in no time. Even with preheating a cast block it still takes me 15 or so pours to start getting acceptable bullets. Not with the LBT. From a cold mould it took 12 pours to get good bullets. The cavities are well centered. The bullets fall out when you open the blocks and they are round bullets that weigh the same. Due to the inclement weather I haven't been able to shoot any of the new casts but if the shooting goes as well as the casting has, a shooters paradise can't be far away. THANK YOU LBT. :dude:

Attached Files

14 Comments

Order By: Standard | Newest | Votes

Standard Member

Wayne S posted this 16 January 2012

Yes LBT makes great molds, I might suggest picking up a single burner “hot plate". Put an old circular Saw, aka “Skil Saw” on top of the hot plate, place your molds on top if it , it per-heat your molds, good bullets on the 1st or 2nd time.

Attached Files

CBA Member

6pt-sika posted this 16 January 2012

I ordered four molds from LBT thru one of Jeff's group buys a year or so ago . And let me just say they all worked marvelousely !

Two of them were not even things he had in his catalog . I told him what I wanted and he made it no problem . Of course they were a basic design but in a different weight .

Matter of fact I used the LBT 433-340GC in a 444 to kill a bear this year , the LBT 433-320GC to kill a deer and the LBT 433-375GC to kill a deer this year . Still have the LBT 433-400GC yet to shoot on game but I see no reason based on what they did on paper to not expect it to do well on deer , bear or piggies !

Attached Files

CBA Member

6pt-sika posted this 16 January 2012

I never have gotten a “good” pot meaning Lyman or RCBS for casting . I'm still using the old Lee 10-4 I bought when I first started 12 years ago . I use the bottom pour feature exclusively . I did however buy a second Lee 20-4 to melt down WW's and make ingots .

But lets get back to the question at hand !

"Wayne S” advises to get a hotplate with a circular saw blade on top as a pre heater , which is a pretty darned good idea .

I don't have one of those myself . I usually set a mold on the back of my Lee 10-4 and by the time all the alloy is liquid that mold is heated enough to start . And while I'm getting that one totally up to temp I set another on the back and let it pre heat while I get the wrinkles out of the first mold . I never cast with more then two molds at once anymore and if I'm using one of Ranch Dog's 6 cavity jobs I just cast with it alone .

Anyway the pre heating on the back of the pot has generally worked well for me and usually I will discard maybe the first 5-15 sets and then keep the rest !

But my time is a little easier now as I cast indoors and usually no more then 100-150 per bullet at a sitting .

Attached Files

Standard Member

John Grantham posted this 16 January 2012

When I was casting bullets for sale I had 3 Master Casters from Magma. I converted all my own moulds and made the sprue plates to work on the Master Caster. Now that I cast for just me and a couple of friends I've put the original plates back on most of my moulds and now ladle pour. A lot of times with the softer alloys I run 3 or 4 moulds at a time. I generally preheat on the edge of the pot. If I'm in a hurry I just dunk the mould in the pot for about 20 seconds, brush the blocks off with a brass brush, and start runnin' bullets. I started out 18-19 years ago with a Lyman pot. Used it until I came across Magma Engineering. A 40lb pot makes it a lot easier to hold a constant tempature.

Attached Files

Standard Member

hunterspistol posted this 17 January 2012

:coffeeTHIS IS THE BEST MOULD I HAVE. Makes you wonder why you spent so much time on those heavy, clumsy iron molds, doesn't it?

LBTs are a thing of pure beauty.

Attached Files

CBA Member

6pt-sika posted this 17 January 2012

hunterspistol wrote: LBTs are a thing of pure beauty.

They are , the no longer made BRP molds were and the Mountain Molds products are as well !

An even though Lee makes them , the ones Ranch Dog sells are pretty darned nice as well ;)

Attached Files

Standard Member

John Grantham posted this 28 March 2012

John Grantham wrote: Due to the inclement weather I haven't been able to shoot any of the new casts but if the shooting goes as well as the casting has, a shooters paradise can't be far away. THANK YOU LBT. :dude:

I finally got to shoot a few of the new bullets. I'm am impressed and encouraged. When I get the load tuned I'll post a picture or two of the groups.

Attached Files

Standard Member

[email protected] posted this 15 September 2012

i bought a .50 conversion unit for my glock. they reccomend a lee bb 255 gr mold. i dont like nor ever have liked bb molds. i need a pb mold for my .50 glock and i would prefer a 185 gr mold with a wide meplat. does anyone make such a thing? please dont tell me no;}

Attached Files

Standard Member

CB posted this 15 September 2012

A 185 gr .50 cal mould would be a really short bullet which could cause feeding problems. I don't even see a 255 gr 50 cal mould on LEEs website, they're all running over 400 gr. The 255 gr bullet appears to be a 45 cal.

ETA- a 50 cal round ball weighs approx. 180 gr itself. I don't believe you'll get a usable 50 cal bullet in the weight you're asking for.

Attached Files

Standard Member

cityboy posted this 16 September 2012

I have three 30 cal LBT moulds and have had nothing but trouble from them. The vent lines were very generous but fill was poor and tried every trick I could think of. Fill was especially poor with WW alloy. Never had any trouble with my iron moulds.

Jim

Attached Files

CBA Member

Duane Mellenbruch posted this 16 September 2012

The LBT mold I have came pre-owned so it cast perfect from day one. Your difficulty with three molds makes one suspect something you are doing, or not doing.

Perhaps we should make up a check list of factors that would lead to “Trouble with all of them"?

Alloy temp? Well cleaned mold and what was used? BP or Ladle?

Alloy flow and drop distance as well as down the center or splash off the side of the sprue hole. Is ambient air temp/breeze a factor. Length of casting session or number of bullets dropped per session. How many sessions?

What exactly is the trouble you experienced? Poor fill out? Wrinkles? Sunken sides? Occlusions? Undersized casting? Partly frosted? Bubbles? Shrinkage voids? Duane

Attached Files

CBA Member

Ed Harris posted this 16 September 2012

Jim,

WW alloy needs a bit of tin added. Also, I expect your alloy isn't hot enough. Try adding as little as 1% tin to your mix and run temperature to 800 degs. F, checked with casting thermometer and it should work. Light smoking of a new aluminum mold helps until you have run 1000 or so castings from it.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

Attached Files

Standard Member

CB posted this 16 September 2012

It does sound like there is a temp problem here. My LBT moulds perform best with a 750+ alloy temp, and the moulds themselves need to be pretty hot. All of my aluminum moulds seem to work best with this technique. If you've having problems with wrinkled bullets, keep casting at higher temps until the wrinkles go away. You're simply burning off the cutting oil Veral uses when he cuts the mould. Wrinkles will go away, they always do, but it can take a couple of sessions to burn off the bear grease (I'm not kidding, that's what he uses).

Attached Files

Standard Member

Pigslayer posted this 16 September 2012

Ed Harris wrote: Jim,

Ed,

I see that you are suggesting a temp. of 800 degrees. Is this just for beak-in? I ask 'cause that's really hot! I'll run mine really hot for a break in period but not for normal casting. I have several custom AL molds from Accurate & Mountain & I run those at 625 tp 650 F.. Just asking.

Pat

If someone else had of done to me what I did to myself . . . I'd have killed him. Humility is an asset. Heh - heh.

Attached Files