During a rare phone call to an internet buddy, the subject of my truant Ruger came up. His recommendation was to check out NOE Bullet Moulds. He has a couple of their moulds and had high praise for them. A quick look at their web page had me sold. They offer both brass and aluminum moulds in a bewildering variety of sizes and configurations, and I found a mold that may just solve my problems.

The mould I chose is a four-cavity aluminum listed as being .432" and 258 grain SWC profile. The cavity design looks virtually identical to the Lyman 429421 that I currently own. I went with aluminum not for the lower price, but for the lower weight of the four-cavity design. Friday morning I emailed the company asking about "as cast" diameter and handle selection. I received a reply within minutes and a follow-up call about a couple other details was handled in a courteous and friendly manner. I was sold and placed my order online. Imagine my surprise when my new mould and handles arrived Monday morning!

The moulds are works of art. Following the company's suggested breaking-in process, I was soon casting bullets. Bullets dropped from the mould with a gently shake rather than the pounding on the handle hinge-bolt needed with my Lee and Lyman molds. With my alloy bullets weighed 258-259 grains and were sharp and clean on all edges. Diameter measures an average of .43270" (borrowed a friend's five-place digital micrometer for precision - which also proved my bore and chamber throats are .4322" rather than the .4325" my mic read - not earth shattering but helpful) which would allow for a quick pass through a .432" sizer (special ordered from Lee and not on hand yet) to clean up and uniform the bullets.

The handles are very well made and are pinned to keep the wood from working off during use; a very welcome idea.

Once I get my sizing die I'll let you know how things work out. In the mean time I will be sizing a few to .430" to try in my other .44s. I strongly suggest anyone looking for reasonably priced quality moulds to check out NOE. I think you will be as impressed as I am.

why not try without sizing? Cover them with some liquid Alox and load them... it might surprise you.

And that's sure a nice and well-made mould.

That was my original thought and, time and weather permitting, will give it a try. The .432" sizing die is for uniforming diameters since even the best mould seldom drops perfectly round bullets. Forcing them through the throats and bore may "round" them, but consistent accuracy might suffer. Won't know until I try. It's all a matter of trial and error at this point!

they look great to me Mate, keep us posted.

I'm with Aloys Triple S...a quick tumble with ALOX and see how they go. I used to size .30 cal projectiles for my 30.30, but since then have found improved accuracy by lubing them as dropped with ALOX after seatinga gas check (we also played with the aloy mix as well, bringing it down to around BRN 11 - 13).

Give it a try mate...nothing ventured, nothing gained. The NOE Moulds have a very good name. If memory serves me correctly, Gelandangan uses these moulds for his 45.70 and maybe .300 Whisper.

Yes them NOE molds are excellent.
I got a few of them and every single one perform nicely.
Al Nelson is very nice to deal with.

Another great maker are MP Molds - Miha's brass molds are a dream to use.

When it comes to casting I'm rather long on theory and short on actual practice. I've not done a lot of casting other than .357 (1970s), 45/70 (1970s-1980s), .38 Special and .45 Colt (current) and now my .44s. I welcome and appreciate everyone's advice and ideas.

I now have a small batch of the NOE bullets unsized, lubed and loaded for testing once my weather cooperates. We'll see what happens. Those over-sized bullets definitely prove the value of seating and crimping in two separate stages! I do this anyway by using a spare seating die at my final press stage with the seating stem removed. I don't use Lee Factory Crimp dies with cast bullets because I have found that in many cases they also size the bullets down as well. Not part of my goal!

Single Shit wrote:

... I don't use Lee Factory Crimp dies with cast bullets because I have found that in many cases they also size the bullets down as well. Not part of my goal!

Using the LEE FCD shouldn't be a problem, so long as you crimp into a crimp groove. Having said that, I have only ever used a gentle roll crimp on cast bullets in straight wall cases where I felt a crimp was necessary. You will find that unsized bullets will more than likely have good neck tension anyway.

Another tool I found very useful when seating cast bullets is the LEE Neck Flare die. It adds another step to the reload process, but it is worth considering, and the die comes with the necessary parts to flare pretty well any case, from .22 and up.

Perhaps it is the thickness of my brass (IMI and Starline) but the Lee Factory Crimp die resizes the body of the case at the same time it crimps. With the bullets being a bit over-sized as it is, the cases have a very slight bulge outlining the body of the bullet. The Lee die, since it restores the entire cartridge to close to factory specs, irons this out and squeezes the bullet at the same time. The bulge doesn't prevent chambering the cartridge, so I'm good there without worries. I also use a roll crimp on all revolver cartridges (taper on semi-autos) provided by that spare seating die. I do use Lee Factory Crimp dies for my .45 ACPs since they all have very snug chambers and it's good insurance.

I did cut a little off of the bottom of my Lee expander/powder die to allow for a bit more belling by screwing it deeper and still keep the die from contacting the shell plate on my press (Lee Loadmaster). This created just enough flare to start those oversize bullets without a lot of dithering but still doesn't over-work the case mouth and normal size bullets still work fine..