End of year lead

[Beagle333]

I cast some more of my favorite HPs yesterday, but I think I didn't have my rhythm right or something. I didn't get complete round fillout of the nose like I wanted. I had it at a good temp, but I guess I wasn't pouring fast enough or was keeping the pin out too long or was watching squirrels or..... Anyway, they ain't too pretty, but they'll shoot. They only gotta be good enough for minute-of-turtle.





I also cast some 356135s just for fun. I might load a few in the .38 since I don't have a 9mm. They drop at .359, so they'll size just perfectly for the .38

[Beagle333]

The color varies because I don't dump out the cup when I add a different powder. And I don't shake the cup, so some get lots of the old colors and some get all new color.


A closer look:


It's mostly HF red, but there is still remnants of dark blue, dark green, zombie green and others in there. I kinda like it.

[Mike / Tx]

Your just gettin plum silly with that stuff now aren't ya.

[Beagle333]

It sure helped them ugly TB's. They still ain't good lookin', but they'll shoot.

[chris in va]

Can you switch to a bottom pour? Might help speed things up.

[Beagle333]

I got a couple of bottom pours.... but I really just like dippin'.

[Rangefinder]

Looks like a cool pin--seeing some wrinkle inside the nose cavity. Just a thought.

[4719dave]

well looks just like my pid controler lol

[Beagle333]

Looks like a cool pin--seeing some wrinkle inside the nose cavity.

Yup. I think next time I'll try my technique of hanging the pin between the coils on the hotplate while I'm dumping. I don't think I've ever cast a single pin mold on a day that cold.

[Beagle333]

My latest effort is the MiHec 358156 with the hp, penta, and solid pins in it. This mold is really neat. I have never tried this bullet before.
70% pure, 28% WW, 2% tin.
I'm going to powdercoat these and gas check em and see how fast they'll go.

[Mike / Tx]

Your not going to like that mold at all, trust me I have one, and am trying to save you a ton of aggrivation.

I'll give $20 for it and throw in a Lyman SC 358-665 to boot.....Heck just cause I am a nice guy and all, I'll even cover shipping both ways.





Ya know for just about every MP I have I got all pin sets with. I figured I might as well that way I always had the option later on to pour which ever I wanted, plus it is almost like getting 3 or more molds for the price of a really good one.

Those "penta" pins for me though have really been more of a "PITA" than anything. Most of them I have had to take a small stone or file and polish up some of the tool marks on so the lead would drop free. I tried just about all of the suggestions on getting them to drop freely like the rest do but they just want to be stubborn and hold those bullets like they were soldered to them.

I spent one Saturday messing with my 411-258 until I FINALLY got them to drop free. It was not easy heating it up pouring bullets then letting it cool just so I could pull a pin out and polish it up a bit more. Those looked like they had been cut with a low toothed hacksaw. Plenty of rough for the lead to cling too no matter what I tried. I think it is more pronounced with the smaller diameter pins than the ones which ship with the 44 or 45 caliber molds though as those seem to run OK with no piddling around on them.

Anyway, that offer is good till about noon today. Think hard on it now.

[Beagle333]

Tempting.... but I already got a 358665. Besides, that would only leave me with the PB 358156.




As for the rough penta pins... you'd swear this would never let go of a bullet:



You said you have tried all the tricks for easy release, but with my MP's that have penta's (I don't always order those with it), when I just barely moisten the pin tips with some sprue lube on a Qtip, about every 50 bullets, they jump right off.... and also have that nice wood-grain look inside the HP.

[Rangefinder]

MAN, Beagle, nothing like a little boolit **** to make a guy's mouth water! Too darn cold to do much casting in my neighborhood lately--it's rather upsetting!

[Swampman1]

My latest effort is the MiHec 358156 with the hp, penta, and solid pins in it. This mold is really neat. I have never tried this bullet before.
70% pure, 28% WW, 2% tin.
I'm going to powdercoat these and gas check em and see how fast they'll go.

I certainly wouldn't mess with those beauties...leave them "naked".
"70% pure, 28% WW, 2% tin"- just curious, what BHN does that get you?
Secondly, is the Mihec mold the main contributing factor in nice bullets like that, or more the alloy?

[Swampman1]

Those "penta" pins for me though have really been more of a "PITA" than anything. Most of them I have had to take a small stone or file and polish up some of the tool marks on so the lead would drop free.

Mike, I was thinking the same thing when I saw the pic. I don't own MP molds (yet) but I wonder what the reasoning is, in NOT smoothing the hex pins, considering the mold itself is such a high quality specimen?

[Beagle333]

"70% pure, 28% WW, 2% tin"- just curious, what BHN does that get you?

I have no idea. You'd have to use one of the alloy calculators we have posted here and there in this forum. I just kinda add more pure lead ingots than COWW ingots if I'm wanting HP's to go "splat" and less for just SWC's.

Secondly, is the Mihec mold the main contributing factor in nice bullets like that, or more the alloy?

It's the alloy and the temp.
These are from a NOE mold.


These are from a Lyman


These, from an Accurate mold.


I couldn't tell which, if I didn't own the molds.

[histed]

Beagle - I'm just getting started in this. What mould were you using for the first pic? They look like HP wadcutters and if they work on turtles they should work on short range groundhogs this summer. (IF I can master the technique)

[Beagle333]

Lyman 358432. I found a ornery, grizzled ol' mountain man way back up in the hills who claimed a bit of know-how about making a WC into a HP, and he drilled 'er out and hollow pointed it for me.
The 358432 doesn't come standard as a HP mold, like the Devastators.
If you're confident with a drill press, you can do it yourself, or get Erik at hollowpointmolds to do it, or Buckshot at castboolits.
But, it does come in 148 and 160gr. Be sure you get the 160gr version if you're going to HP it, unless you want a really light bullet.

But it's my favorite bullet. If you make the pin adjustable in length, you can do all different weights of it too.

[histed]

Sweet - thanks for the info

[Mike / Tx]

Well your certainly getting top notch on your pictures nowadays....not to mention standing all your "tin soldiers" up in formation. Someday, I'm going to spend some time and do that again. For now however they go form the mold into the padded pan, and from there to the zip lock freezer bag with the date, alloy and mold written on them.

I wonder what the reasoning is, in NOT smoothing the hex pins,

The main reason is time means money. Figure 4 pins per mold in most cases and multiply that times upwards of a hundred molds and well you can see where you would spend more time polishing than actually building the molds.

Actually they aren't overly bad in most cases. Just the ones REALLY I wanted to use were. I have others that like Beagle said will fall off perfectly with just a touch of lube on them. The others though didn't matter what I did, short of hammering them off they weren't going to come off. After I polished them up a bit they did get where they woudl drop but only within a very narrow window of heat and I really didn't like that. With the round pins however, they fall like rain when you open the molds.