need mold recommendation

[Beagle333]

Dang. Now I want one! That thing is beuteeeeful!

[skizzums]

i know right!!!


i am so pleased with it, the internals are a little rough and i may do some smoothing(stripping it down looks pretty intimadating though), and i would prefer a peep sight over the bullhorns, but i really like it overall, i was worried for a minute after reading a couple rants, but it seems like a quality built firearm

the finish is brilliant and the trigger is WOW, i can tell this is pretty much going to be the only rifle ill shoot for awhile

really excited to work up some loads

[skizzums]

i tried all kkinds of different rounds today, they all fed perfectly, i was not experienced with the gun enough yet to pick one over the other in terms of performance, the only the thing i had to judge was how easily i could thumb them into the magazine, the only ones that were tough were the gas checked fire egine red ones

so i like them all, so i just need to pick a nice mold and roll with it

[skizzums]

THANS AGAIN BEAGLE!!!!

its fun showing off your bullets

[Beagle333]

the only ones that were tough were the gas checked fire engine red ones

Those were custom from an Accurate mold with a 81% meplat. 'Maybe it's just not meant for thumb loading... I never put any thru a rifle.

Good to know all the others work though!

[skizzums]

as of now these have to be the favorite, not only being heavy, but they have to be the prettiest cast bullet i have ever seen, the camera phone doesnt do it justice, the HP is sooo deep

these appear to be the same mold as the penta pinned Zombie Killers, between the two, i have about 10-12 left to makke sure groups are as tight as the others, but as long as this mold is available and not a billion dollars, i am goignto give it a good look

do you recall the mold of the top of your head? i assume w/o the pin these would have to be nearly 180gr

[Beagle333]

That would be this one.
MiHec 359640
It only has 34 names on the list and was started in August, so it might get cut by Christmas. It's a really nice bullet and very popular.

[skizzums]

how does the group buy work? do you pay up front? or pay when shipped?

[skizzums]

nevermind, i am signed up

[Beagle333]

Congrats! You'll like it. I'm #2 on the list if you noticed, and I already got one of em!

When it is decided that there are enough names, Miha will tell the Honcho to close the buy. Nobody knows when there are enough names. Some (like the C358-165) closed back around Christmas with only somewhere around 32 of us confirmed, but it hasn't been billed out yet. Some get around 165 on the list before they close.

Anyway, when it is announced that it is closed, he begins cutting the molds. After the molds are cut and boxed up (usually about 2 months), he will invoice you by emailing you a PP bill. As soon as you pay that, it takes about 11 days from Slovenia for the mold, and you're the proud owner of a MiHec masterpiece!

[skizzums]

awesome, guess ill grab a lee RF for the time being, the only 358 mold i have is the TL148-WC which def is not a candidate for the lever, but it is a great mold for powder puffs in the revolver

[Mike / Tx]

That one sittin atop the scale there is going to ruin you on anything else you want to shoot, especially once you get your alloy down for it. Just look what it did to pour ol Beagle, he is on his second one ....

Seriously what I have found with the 640 type MP molds is that as long as there is powder behind them being lit up by a primer they pretty much all go into a big ragged hole. You will appreciate it once you get it up and running.

There are a dozen and a half different ways to blend up a good alloy for them as well. You will find plenty of reports that say to stay away from anything with antimony in it, an just use the pure blended with tin. Well to be honest I went that route to begin with and found it used up more tin than I really wanted to be using.

As such, I already had some 1/3/96 alloy on hand that I started playing with. I knew the antimony would be an issue, but I started pouring HP's with it and then adding in a little pure at a time until I started to see the fractured pieces start to go away and instead leave a ring where the base would simply drive through the expanded noses. Around that point I started playing with adding a little bit of tin to try and equal the antimony. The result was fully rolled back noses in some of those pretty mushroom pictures you might have seen me post.

It will take you a bit of playing, but if you will use the alloy calculator it will great help you figure out what is needed to be added to what in order to end up with your desired alloy. Not to mention it already has most of the better ones listed so it makes duplicating them fairly easy.

Don't get discouraged with the wait on that MP either. Some might go several months before production some might go two years like one I am on. When they show up though, you will have something that will produce bullets from now on with a little care and oil.

[Beagle333]

You can't go wrong buying a Lee and banging out a bazillion b̶o̶o̶l̶i̶ ̶ bullets on one and getting comfortable casting with aluminum. Then you'll be ready to try a NOE HP mold.
The Lee molds also seem to resale for about 5 bucks less than new. I don't think you can really hurt one as long as you don't physically ding or bubba the thing.

[skizzums]

i will let you guys in on a little dirty secret of mine, i have exactly one mold, and have casted exactly 100 boolits, they actually turned out better than i had expected for the first go arounds, but i am green as can be

i have spent the last year just stockpiling lead for getting into casting, if is wasnt for beagle sending me all the super cool boolits and the lowering cost of buying lead cast(about 32$ per 500), i probably would be casting alot by now

but i have been waiting to get a nice mold or two and mainly focusing on staching lead, as it stands i have about 1200pds of ingots of WW and 900-1100pds of pure lead; so feel like i am ready to take the plunge and start really focusing my time on casting

i was really waiting to find some nice molds and figure out the route i was going tot ake (ie; lee bottom pour or lyman dipping), i have settled on the bottom pour, should be here in a few days

i have also been stockpiling tin, i have about 100 pds of 50/50 lead/tin solder so i think i am ready, i would have started a long time ago: but its hard to justify 8hrs worth of work for something i can spend less than 50$ on, but i feel once i start it will be more rewarding than i can imagine(just like when i first started re-loading) so miike and beag, be prepared for a zillion questions in the next few weeks as i am really just about to start the actual casting process and i am really ignorant and very excited to start

thans guys, thsi re-loading hobbby and all the other things that have come with it have really been a life-changingexperience for me

i used to race gran prix motorcycles and became very profecient in the sport about 5-6 years ago, that was a full-time job that was alot of fun; but it didnt nearly pique my interest like re-loading/shooting has

believe it or not, i have had a davis industries 380 in my nightstand for the last ten years which i never shot even once, my entire gun hobby has commulated in the last 13 months and i have nevr been so into a hobby like i have this one, i took my first shots from a firearm about 1 year ago, and i have really just dived in, i absolutely love it and i feel its been a very healthy hobby for me

my wife has been really understanding and gives me about 0% s%^& about it, i might spend a decent bit o cash, but nowhere near the 500$ every sunday i was spending on track fees and tires, i owe alot to beagle and will forever be in debt to you, and you mike; will be bugging you very soon about alloying etc, snce you seem to be the authority on that part of things

sorry to rant, just wanted to give out props to the ppl that needed it and want to thank TFL for being here and attracting so many helpful members

and to FTRpilot, cant leave you out, since you supplied the coponents that ended up being the first bullets i ever made, looking forward to our range time next week


THANKS TFL AND ALL THE GREAT PEOPLE INVOLVED, you have really given me the knowledge and tools to start me on a track to a great hobby and meeting some great ppl, i am just an uninformed, lowly paramedic who is new to guns; but hope to be able to contribute to a younger new guy just gettng into the sport for the first time

cant leave out the good ole Barack for leading me to buying my first guns in the first place, went from one crappy 380 to 9 gunsof all types since he took office, and helped me fiind a lifelong hobby

[Mike / Tx]

s it stands i have about 1200pds of ingots of WW and 900-1100pds of pure lead;

Danged you got more put back then I a do. I'll have to work on that I guess.

As for when your pot shows up, a couple of the best things you can do are to monitor your pot temps, hope you got a thermometer, and take good notes on each of your molds, and alloys. Just get a couple of those wire top note pads, they don't have to be fancy, and set one up for alloy and one up for molds. When you get something out to work with, jot down on the page, the date, which mold your using, with what alloy, and what temps your pouring at. Then below jot down how they turned out, and any other details you can think of.

In the alloy one, when your blending up a new alloy, keep it up like a recipe book. Put down the metals used, the weights of the metals used, what temps you blended them at, how it worked for the purpose you used it for, and what the hardness was when you initially poured it into ingots and when it has aged a bit. On the hardness pick an equal number of weeks like 2, then 4, and so on from casting. Also if you plan on water dropping any of them check them the same way. This will give you a big heads up on down the road if you need something to do a certain thing or for a certain purpose. One thing I found that was VERY useful was to pour up half a dozen or so, of flat nosed bullets, each time I was pouring up any other bullet, or even when I poured up ingots. I simply threw them in with the ingots or bullets I had poured and they let me check the hardness not only then but later on as well, without having to try and jack with a HP or RN. In other words I always have the same type sample to check the hardness with and I use the flat noses on them for the pointed end of my tester. It works out great.

When I started out, all I had to check hardness was a set of the pencils that they talk about over on Castbolits. They were close enough to get in the ball park of where I wanted or needed to be when I started to blend up a couple of alloys. It only took getting my first HP mold though before I knew that wasn't going to work much longer. I saved up and got me one of the Cabine Tree Testers. It is IMO, one of the easiest to use, and is plenty accurate and repeatable for determining about where your at with your hardness. Just like any of the other ones, you have to start with a known alloy no matter what it is. Even if you call it Alloy XYZ and it has a hardness of 8. You go from there making it harder or what using those original numbers.

Anyway I'm by and far no expert in this by any means. I am fortunate to understand quite a bit of the metallurgy being as I was wanting to go int the workforce as a machinist, and through the years I also welded and fitted for quite a while. The number one reason I got good so quick though was doing TON of research, and asking direct questions about what I needed to accomplish. This will get you FAR better answers than simply just asking what alloy works best for HP's.

So pull your new drip o matic out and polish up the pointed portion of the stem and the seat first off so you have a better fitted valve. You will be ahead of the curve once you do that. Then get to pouring and let the questions come. I guarantee we can get you close if not on target.