Got a question.

[mudd turtle]

Yesterday I received my long awaited bag mould from Rapine.I could not wait to cast some balls with it . This morning I got out my small lead melting pot and began to melt lead. I took my new bag mould and cleaned it good. Then I lamp blacked the inside of the mould. I began to cast some ball. It took a little while for the lead to get hot enough to cast ball and during the wait I put the mould on the side of the pot to heat it up. The mould casts a 0.440 round ball. All the ball that came out deformed or were not worth keeping went back into the pot. When I finished casting the ball with the 1 pound of soft lead I had done 80 ball in all. Now the question. The part of the mould that received the lead began to turn blue. It is a deep blue now. Have I ruined this bag mould? Some one let me know something soon. Thanks for your time and sorry for the long post. mudd turtle.

 

[LRB]

Nothing is damaged at all! Clean steel will turn colors with heat. That is only normal. You likely would do no damage if it was heated to red. Rest assured, it is fine. Just be sure to oil it when it cools down enough.

 

[Ridge]

My old .600 from him is blue as...well blue. It almost looks like the finish on a new rifle barrel.

Now, let me ask you a question. When you close yours and hold it to the light, can you see a gap in the mold?

When you cast the ball, can you clearly see where the mold came together?

The last couple of bag molds I've gotten from Rapine have not given me the warm fuzzies. I think his quality has really gone downhill. I'd like to have one more but I'm not sure I'd want to order from him now.

 

[mudd turtle]

Thank you Wick. you made my day. mudd turtle.

 

[mudd turtle]

Ridge: After reading your post I held the mould up to the light and you are right there is a faint bit of light coming through the mould . If you squeeze the mould tightly the light is not seen. Is there anyway to fix this problem and if not is there anyone in the U.S. that could make a bag mould. let me hear back from you. mudd turtle.

 

[tg]

". If you squeeze the mould tightly the light is not seen. Is there anyway to fix this problem "

Squeeze tightly when casting, I have had some moulds that had to be held firmly to close up.

 

[Ridge]

It's not much of a problem if you can squeeze it tightly and the light disapears. It'll just burn your hand more often is all.

The last mold I got from him squeezing didn't help. I should have sent it back...but I'd sent a couple of others back and was was so frustrated that I just said the heck with it. It's not perfect but it casts a ball "good enough I guess".

I'm looking for another source of a quality bag mold. So far I've came up empty.