First experiences with a H&G

[jdgabbard]

Well, I bought a H&G 50 a while back. Cast a few up, but didn't really distinguish between them and the 358495.

The other day, last week on Sunday, I decided it was time to so some casting, so I broke out the Cadillac, an went to work. It's a four cavity, and it didn't take long to have a mountain of beautiful #50s. I was truly surprised at how easily they dropped from the mould. It was truly a pleasure to work that thing.

The next day I sat down at the loading bench, and began to run them through the Lyman 4500. Now I had long been lubing all three grooves on the 358495. However, those loads were very smokey, and made for a very dirty gun. So I had always heard that two is better than three, and one is better than two. So I said to myself,'I'll load up 150 with two grooves lubed, and if it doesn't lead, then the next batch I'll only lube one groove.'

After lubing with carnauba red, I set up my press to throw 3.2 grains of bullseye, filled up the powder hopper, and started cranking out rounds.

Then today I went to the range taking my S&W 65, and my SP101 along with the 150 loaded #50s and a box of 358429s loaded over 5gr of Unique (tribute to Elmer). I was very happy to see there was substantially less smoke, an the guns were not as dirty. But even happier when after the session I checked the guns and found no leading. So I guess I will be lubing only one groove next time.

And accuracy wasn't too shabby either for two iron sighted wheelies, one 2.5" and the other 4". The target was shot at 25 yards with my fuzzy eyes.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/14/neja4eqe.jpg

[Jack Stanley]

Careful or you'll find yourself hooked on those old iron molds ! I was running an old six cavity just the other day and enjoying every minute of it .

Nice shooting by the way , save the target to compare to the one groove test >

Jack

[fecmech]

The H&G molds will spoil ya! I have a 4 cav #50 and two 4 cav 39's (158RN). The bullets just drop out when I open the mold and rarely a bad bullet. I've shot the #50 for years with one groove lubed,3.1/BE and anything that's not inside of the 3" 10 ring on a 50 yd target is entirely my fault.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

The original "how many grooves to lube" article was done by Col. Harrison in the NRA Handloading Book under the title of "Making 38 Special Target ammo (or something similar). He started with 3 grooves and worked down to one. Three smoked a lot, crudded up the gun and did not shoot as well as lubing only one groove. I tried it on my own, using H&G #251, (in a S&W M-52) and he was right. It was the same story with a revolver. As for H&G molds, they are smooth running masterpieces and with the multi-cavity versions one can crank out huge numbers of casts in relatively short time, but the amazing stat is the low number of rejects, that are found when the inspection, weighing (if you do that) and culling are done. If treated right and properly cared for, the H&G's can last and keep on doing a good job for a lifetime. LLS

[41mag]

I have an older Hensley #50 6 cavity that I picked up from a fellow on here. I have poured up a pile of those little critters but have yet to load any.

I figured they would be great for the wife to shoot out of her GP-100, but I have been having too much fun with other things to get to them.

If mine shoot as good as yours she will be tickled.

[jdgabbard]

I think she would be very happy with the boolit, for sure! I've had good luck with the 358429, but this just seems the be the better of the two. I highly advise people who haven't used it to give it a try.

On a side note, does anyone know if the ballisticast molds are of this quality?

[NoZombies]

On a side note, does anyone know if the ballisticast molds are of this quality?

I have a Late H&G and a ballisticast of the same design. They are equal in quality and ease of use.

[jdgabbard]

Well, that's good news. May have to pick one up in another design in the near future.

[GaryN]

I have a Lyman 429421 that I sent to Erik to rework. It's a four-banger. He opened up the bands to .432. Then I cleaned up the sprue plate holes (one was undersized). After I was done fixing the mold I went out to cast. After 3 or 4 hours I quit. I had 55 pounds of boolits. I was having a good time with that thing. I could make boolits faster than any mold I have. Too bad it didn't come that way from the factory.

[PS Paul]

I just got the H&G 50 in a six cavity from a fellow on this forum and my experience with beautiful boolits and "just dropping from the mold" was the same.

It's heavy and needs to be fed sideways under the bottom-pour pot, but it's worth all the effort!!

Good times and nice post!

[NoZombies]

It's heavy and needs to be fed sideways under the bottom-pour pot, but it's worth all the effort!!

Man, the 10 cavity version takes some real work to make work with a Lee pot, but the results are worth it!