BBQJoe's official Lee 9mm 356-125 2R HP thread!

[BBQJOE]

I just had Erik ship me this mold. It should be here shortly. This will be my first HP mold, and attempt at casting such.
I can't wait to see what challenges are ahead of me.
I thought I should hurry up and reserve some bandwidth here for this, because lord knows even after researching tons of HP threads I'm bound to have questions. :-)

[runfiverun]

your pin is too cold.

[BBQJOE]

your pin is too cold.
I see that coming. Can I preheat it with an oxy-acetylene torch? :roll:

[Dakotared]

you can once!!!:D

[harley45]

Get a hot plate!!

[dverna]

Is this premature ejection? Or premature rejection?

Take a blue pill before the act and if your session lasts for more than four hours, call a qualified professional.

[runfiverun]

make a wire hanger stand from a coat hanger.
and set it up so the tip of the pin dangles in the melt.
some use a torch and the stand to do the same thing.
it will depend on how quickly you can get everything apart and back together and filled again.

[Love Life]

Run the melt hotter.

[BBQJOE]

72294

I stopped by the post office yesterday, and ta-da the mold arrived.
Today I shall take my first whack at HP's.
I'm curious though. When I go to open the mold after a pour, do the pins just slide out with the weight of the bullet, or do they need a little tap.
Erik sent along some black wax for lubing. I know the sprue hinge needs a little, as well as the alignment pins. Does anything else need to be lubed?
He also sent extra c clips. Do these get lost often?

[BBQJOE]

Let me ask this more directly.
Do the sliding pins need to be lubed?

[BBQJOE]

Here's the results of today's casting. This mold was a breeze to work with, and started casting gems almost right off the bat.
There's a few rejects in the bunch with poor fillout. But hey, whattaya want for homegrown?
It appeared to be happiest around 750°+.
Thanks for the suggestions, and thanks Erik

72388

[azrednek]

make a wire hanger stand from a coat hanger.

Not wanting to change the gist of this thread but I had to jump in and comment. I needed a metal coat hanger a couple weeks ago. Finally in closet #4 I found two. One hanger the horizontal portion was a cardboard tube. They have all been replaced by plastic. I see the plastic coat hanger as the end of an era of Yankee Ingenuity. The metal coat hanger probably has as many different uses as a pair of pliers. If you have any, grab'em before the wife replaces them with plastic as my wife did. Like what Will Rogers said about land "they ain't making anymore".