I had a new mould to try out and it looked like a good day to try it. The temp was shirtsleeve and there was a gentle breeze for comfort. I fired up the gas burner under the 25 pound pot full of 20 to 1 and while it was settling at 735 degrees I did a little yard work. The new (to me) mould was an old small block Lyman in 419181 that I was hoping to cast large enough to use in .421 in my Wesson 2-trigger. As I always cast with 2 moulds, I picked a Lee 459-405 HB (one of the newer ones with the size and weight stamped on the top surface instead of one of those funny numbers on the side that tell you nothing about the bullet) as my second one. The small block Lyman was mounted in old Lyman tapered handles that are so comfortable in your hand and so well balanced with a small block mould. What are they thinking about today with those wide-spaced rake handle ones that put a heavy block our where there is no way to balance it? Anyway it was so pleasant to cast with the old Lyman and the Lee HB (which just drops from the base plug by just turning the mould over.) My goal was to just cast long enough to get 60 of each. I ended up with 62 so I timed that pretty close. The 419181 lived up to my hopes by casting .4235 and the Lee cast .4595. A good morning. Forgot to add that I really wanted to thank whomever it was that suggested years ago prewarming moulds on electric hotplates. The first thing I do is set up the $13.95 Walmart hotplate and turn it on up to the "d" in Medium and place my molds flat on top. When the lead is ready so are the molds;-)

That is really rolling them out! But it kind of takes the fun out of it - especially when it comes to sorting and weighing that many bullets. I just realized that I had forgotten to thank my ladle for helping make my casting so pleasant. It is an original old Lyman eggshell thin and smooth as silk. Not to mention that the nozzle actually fits the sprue plates. Why has the technology been lost for making a smooth, light ladle? I guess the current clumsy, heavy, rough ones are made in some Chinese locomotive factory.