NEI 54 CAL BULLET MOLDS ARE DONE

[hp gregory, 9128]

i got my 54 cal NEI minie mold thursday. at first glance it looks very nice. i cleaned it up and mounted it on some lee 6 cav production handles. these are the cheapest and in my opinion the best handles out there. i cleaned the mold and fired up the lead pot. once i got the mold up to temp i ladle poured some minies. when i got some good ones i let them cool and used a starret mike to check the diam. they are dead nuts on .538 the length is 1.100 the minie weighs 500 grns
due to this length he was able to get 3 grease groves instead of just 2. the hollow base goes into the bullet about half way. the skirt is just a tad thicker but i dont think thats gona be a problem due to past experiance with the 58 cal international bullet. that bullet had a skirt much thicker and shot great.
the shape of this bullet is just plain old standard minie. nothin far out here. just a nice lookin bullet that is believe it or not ROUND. the one thing i have to mention is that the screws that hold the automatic base plug plate to the mold do work loose as you cast. i have mentioned this to NEI but its not a hard thing to fix yourself. just place a slug in the screw hole and fit the screw length so that it bottoms while leaving the proper clearance for the plate.
its rainy here this weekend and low light so im gona have to wait to see how this bullet works. i have 3 differant 54s to try it in. so far im very pleased with what i see. the mold is very well made and will last you two life times with the proper care. im looking forward to see how the bullet performs.

hp gregory

[John Holland]

HP -

Thanks for the update! I look forward to hearing the test results. I would also be interested in knowing just what the spec's are on the three .54 barrels, rate of twist, 3 L&G, or mulit-groove and how many. Stuff like that.

Thanks for spearheading this project.

John

[hp gregory, 9128]

john the rain held off here longer than i thought so i had about an hour to try out the new minie, first let me say that the rapine minie i had been using also had 3 groves. same as the new one. but the groves are slightly deeper on the nei minie just as i had asked.
i grabbed my favorite mississippi off the rack. this one has a don green barrel with a 60 twist. i normaly use a rapine 534-400 mold that i have lapped out to 540. the bullet engraves slightly when loaded. i normaly shoot 43 grains of goex 3f with this bullet. so i choose that powder and charge to begin with. i was afraid the .538 bullet would be two loose in the bore of this particular rifle but as it turned out it was a very nice slide fit. i fired one into the bank to clear the bore. i sandbagged the rifle in a position as close to shooting offhand as poss. the first shot at 50 yards was a 9 bumping the 10ring. i took a little more time hunting for the front sight in the overcast light and had no problem duplictaing what the other bullets i use have done. i was very pleased with the group.
then came the real test. i moved to 100 yds. i fired 3 shots into a nice golf ball sized group. light was fading fast so i tried a few shots offhand. i found i could call my shots. in other words the bullet went where i pointed it. some good and some bad. i moved back to 50 yds and found the same thing. the nice thing was i took the same sight picture as with other bullets i use and it felt like the zero was pretty close to the same.
this is just one rifle and a very quick first look at this bullet but im realy realy happy with it. its raining here today and i have work to do so the testing is on hold for now. but when i load my ammo for the early bird this is the bullet im gona be using. i guess you can call it ORT. on the range testing.
im gona say this for the last time. i have nothing to do with the sales of the mold. i just asked the folks at NEI to make it. i payed the same as everyone else. if you want one call NEI and talk to joel. im sure he can help you. the results you have in your rifles may be good or bad. im just telling you what i have experianced so far. many thanks to all of you who offered your suggestions. this bullet is a combination of them all. you guys must realy know what you are talking about.

hp gregory

[John Holland]

Thanks HP....I guess I'll be ordering one soon!

Does the mould have a number to reference to use when contacting NEI?

John

[Yancey von Yeast, 8073]

What do they cost?

[hp gregory, 9128]

i paid 150.00 plus 12 bucks shipping which is not bad for a custom mold. i think rapine was geting over 125.00 for his 54 minie mold when you could still get one. this one is heavy made iron with a very thick sprue cutter. it has an automatic base plug plate like an rcbs minie mold.

hp

[ms3635v]

I just received my NEI .54 caliber hollow base minie mold yesterday. The mold is very well constructed (all steel) and with very minor fitting attached easily to Lyman large block mould handles. The sprue plate has a nice size pour hole that lines up perfectly with the mold. The captive base plug is attached to the base of the mold with four screws. I took a few minutes and measured the mold with my dial calipers and these are the specs that I measured. The mold measures 2.073" long by 1.358" wide by 1.355" tall. The sprue plate has a thickness of 0.183" and the base plug plate thickness measures 0.195" thick and attaches to the mold with four screws. This is a substantially constructed mold. I'm going to clean the grease off today and coat it with mold prep. It is currently snowing in suburban Philly, so hopefully, before the weekend is over I can get the furnace going and cast some rounds.

Has anyone else bought one of these molds and tried it? I am hoping the round will do well in my Euroarms Mississippi rifle.

Mike Santarelli 3635V
Co. B., 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry
MA Region

[ms3635v]

I was able to cast yesterday and HP was dead on. My mold casts minies exactly .538 in diameter and 1.107" long. After about 6 rejects, I started getting shootable minies. All were well-cast and there were no voids in the base of the bullets. The mold weighs just a little more than an RCBS Hogden mold and I was able to cast about 200 rounds. Now to get to the range and see how the minies perform. I will say the only complaint I have is the screws that hold the base plate in place do work loose as previously mentioned, but I fixed that by putting set screws in the holes then cutting the screws so the plate fits flush with the base of the mold and allows the plate to move freely. Other than that, the mold performed well.

Mike Santarelli 3635V
Co. B, 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry
MA Region

[Wayne Shaw, 1985V]

Mike Put on your long johns grab your new bullets and come to the regional shoot tomorrow at Ft Ross! Should be a great way to test that new mold. Wayne Shaw Harlans Light Cav

[Scott Kurki, 12475]

Has anybody tested this bullet with a Bill Large 8 grove/land barrel? If so, how did it go?