Brass & HP's

[Fernando]

Trying to pick up a brass mould to try and would like to try my hand at HP's.
Is there any big deal to learning to use both at the same time?
I have used iron and just tried some aluminium - don't know if I care for
AL or not yet - it's ok I guess.
Also any special considerations with more than 2 cavities?
The only mould I used for years was my dads Ideal 148WC single cavity.
Now I'm getting in the deep end of the pool and got to learn the rest of this hobby.
I'm actually ready to mix some stuff instead of just pouring whatever and putting
on top of some bullseye.

[cbrick]

The biggest thing with HP's is that the pins have to be hot. That does not mean higher pot temp, it means getting and keeping the pins hot. Boolits will stick to a cool pin like they are welded on. Sounds like you have enough experience to know about mold temp, now you'll learn about pin temp.

Aluminum is a good mold material but those that learn on an iron mold have trouble at first with aluminum because they loose heat much faster. The opposite is true with people that learn to cast with aluminum and then get an iron mold.

Brass is an outstanding mold material, takes a bit more to get them to proper casting temp but once there boolits fall out like rain.

Regardless of mold material there will be a bit of a learning curve to get and keep the mold temp correct.

Rick

[winelover]

I learned on iron, graduated to brass. With any mold there is a learning curve but differences aren't that major.
Have a few aluminum, but their not my cup of tea. Hence, I avoid them when I can. For instance, there is a current group buy underway for a obsolete Lyman mold that I wanted but it was only going to available in aluminum. So instead of waiting a year or more for something I wasn't enamored about, I had Tom @ accurate molds, cut a 3 cavity brass one for me, with only a two week wait.

As far a HP pins are concerned, I spray only the pin with Drop-Out mold release. Who cares if the cavity is a tad wider! I have it, so I found a use for it. YMMV

Winelover

[cbrick]

A hot hollow point pin is a happy hollow point pin. The pins because they have far less mass than the mold will cool much quicker. You need to keep the blocks closed and full as much as possible. Inspect your boolits at the end of the casting session, while your admiring your boolits those pins are cooling off, rapidly.

If the pin is properly heated the boolits fall off, if it is too cool it's pliers time to twist them of the pins. It really is that simple.

Rick