Cast Hollow Points

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IllinoisCoyoteHunter

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For all those who have never seen one of these this a two-cavity brass mold with cramer-style hollow point pins...sometimes referred to as cramer molds. This style of HP casting has many advantages. The main advantage is that the pins stay hot because they stay in the mold and use the heat from the mold to stay hot. Casting with these molds is fast and easy. To do so, pour alloy as usual and break sprue. After breaking the sprue, turn the mold upside down, open the cavity, and slide the pins out (towards the opposite mold block half). The bullets fall off the pins. Carefully close the mold and start over. Great design!

This mold happens to be a .453 HP mold with round HP pins and Pentagonal HP pins. Plus, either set of HP pins can be turned around and flat nose bullet can be cast. 3 different styles of bullets in one mold. The bullets in the pic are sized to .452" and lubed with WhiteLabel BAC lube. Expansion test to come in the future...

Mihec45HP005.jpg


Mihec45HP003.jpg
 
I have 2 molds on order from NOE. Expecting both by the end of the month. They let you customize your mold however you want...within reason. Their RG style molds are kind of like cramer style molds...but just a little different. I am having a gas check cavity and a plain base cavity cut on both my molds on order. This gives many options along with hollow point or flat point (molds come with HP pins and flat nose pins). So you can have a plain base HP, Gas check HP, plain base flat nose, or gas check flat nose. And yes Shane they do offer multiple cavity molds...but those are not capable of hollowpointing (unless you have someone else HP it after the fact). But, say you want a 6-cav mold with 4 plain base cavitites and 2 gas check cavities....no problem. When my molds arrive I will be sure to give a full review.
 
I no longer buy Lee, Lyman, or RCBS molds. They are ok...don't get me wrong... I just prefer custom molds. Quality is higher and the mold-makers really stand behind their products...and if there is a problem they are extremely quick to fix it at no charge. BTW Shane, your stuff will be on it's way tomorrow.
 
This a a mold by NOE (Night Owl Enterprises). Al Nelson does great job on these molds. This is a 180 grn WFN or 170 grn HP .360" mold (I size down to .358 for 357 Mag). I have one plain base cavity and one gas check cavity. I like the versatility of gc/pb and flat point/HP. It is truly a work of art!

noe360-180002.jpg


noe003.jpg


GP100Man, if I remember correctly, I owe you some of these......
 
Guys, I'm a slow learner. I watched a DC mould like this go at auction recently. Couldn't figure out how the pins were removed. I am still wondering even after looking at these pics up close. Especially the first pic, pins have no handle. The second steel mold appear to have flat bases on the pins, but that would be hot also.

It ain't even Friday, but help me out here. I may have to check these sites out and order some of these HP moulds too.
 
The first mold is a brass mold and the second one is aluminum. The pins on the brass mold must be pushed once the mold is opened and upside down (you can't see where the pins stick out on one side of the mold. When the mold is closed, they stick out a bit). The boolits fall off the pins under their own weight. Then when you close the mold, the pins are pushed back in postition, ready for another pour. The same goes for the second (aluminum mold). Once the sprue is broken, the mold is turned upside down and opened. The pins slide away from the cavity (on the steel guide) and the bullets are then pulled off the pins under their own weight. Closing the mold resets the pins, and you are ready for another pour. Both of these styles are advantageous because they keep the pins enclosed in the mold, thus keeping them hot. Other HP'ing techniques use a removeable pin (that is completely removed from the mold) that was a pain in the butt to keep hot. A cold HP pin is very hard to cast with. These methods are much quicker, too. :D
 
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Hey Coyote,

Your original post really has me intrigued. I have been casting with steel moulds for over 50 years, tried a Lee aluminum mould about ten years ago and just did not like the aluminum mould. I know other folks like them, and you can chalk it up to old dog not learning new tricks, but I just don't want aluminum moulds.

I also don't like single cavity moulds. I had a couple of nice hollow point steel moulds that made good bullets, but I hated making one bullet at a time and sold my hollow point moulds. Again, the old dog & new tricks thing I guess. Then you start this thread with what looks like an absolutely amazing mould. It is hollow point and double cavity, and it is not aluminum. I never used a brass mould so I don't know how that would go, but I think it ought to be better than what I disliked about aluminum moulds.

I am very interested in the mould you pictured, but I did not see who made the mould and how much it cost and where to get information. If you did provide that information, it went over my head, and I beg your forgiving my miss. Would you mind giving me some more information on those moulds? At my age, I shouldn't be buying any more stuff, but I really would like to have a 200 grain 10mm Ray Thompson type design cast bullet with a gas check groove. I have never seen any such mould, so I continue to buy commercial 180 grain bullets for my 10mm. Any information would be appreciated.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile
 
Mr. Wile,

Both of these molds were purchased in a Group buy over on Cast Boolits. The site has a handful of custom mold makers...and they ALL do an awesome job! http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

The first is a brass cramer style HP mold made by MP molds. It is a one man show run by Miha Prevec, from Slovenia. He makes custom molds. The mold was right around $100 delivered. It drops 200 grn beauties for my 1911. Included with the mold are and extra set of pins to make flat nose bullets, and a set of pins to make the pentagonal shaped HP.

The second mold is an aluminum mold made by NOE (Night Owl Enterprises). Al Nelson makes molds in his spare time after work. This mold is great because I have much versatility with it. It is a 2 cavity mold, with one cav being a plain base design and the other a gas check design. It drops bullets right at .360", which i size to 358 for my 357 mag. The pin options are hollow point pins and flat point pins. HP's run 170 grain and the flat points run 182 grain. Cost...$100 plus delivery. (BTW, this is an RG2 mold....it also come in RG4 which is a 4-cavity HP mold).

Cast Boolits has many group buys going on at any given time. There is a group buy section, with 4 subsections. Go over there and check it out. Anyone can get in on them.

It looks like they only have one going right now....it is still in the preliminary stages. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=73869

If you join up there, you can put up a "feeler" thread to gauge interest. If there is enough interest, then a mold maker will pick it up...or you can specify which mold maker you want to produce it.
 
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Good lookin' boolits Rich! I like the gas checks on my 358156. I like to push that bullet HARD. You should be getting some goodies soon...prolly monday. You will notice that the Flat point boolits I sent you have a slight HP. When the pinds were machined, they were made a touch too long. If I close the mold upside down, the pin sticks into the cavity even a little further and makes the "HP" even a little deeper. You will notice if you compare the flat point boolits. This may just work out as a great hunting boolit. The full HP is very exposive. I have a feeling the shallow HP (flat pointed one) will expand more than a FP, but retain more weight than a full HP. I will have to test it. Enjoy!
 
Thanks ICH !!

& look out water jugs!!!!

This alloy gives up around 1250 fps & starts strippin a little .
 
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I think it should be pointed out that both the MP brass molds and NOE aluminum molds have the ability to cast solids as well as hollow points simply by reversing or changing pins. So one mold can do double duty. These are very versatile molds! I have both and love them.

PS: Both makers make gang molds as well for volume casting.

Here is a view of MP's 41 mag offering
41magHP_mp_molds_Gas_check_e_shop.jpg


Here is a view of NOE offering (a .360-180gr wfn hpt)
360180RG2.jpg
 
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