Devestating Discovery

[Blanco]

I will put my post in this section, it seems this one may get a bit more exposure.
I recently purchased the Lyman "Devestator" 45ACP HP mold ( Lyman 452374 SC HP Mould 45 Cal )
As i'm sure others have had issues getting this mold to produce usable product, I was no exception. The nose angle of the bullet makes fill at the bottom difficult.
As with most discoveries mine was quite by accident....
I was heating the pin on this mold in between pours by hanging it in a hole on the shroud of my LPG burner. I was distracted for several minutes and when I smelled the smoke it was too late. The wood knob on the pin was ablaze.
When I tried to use it the knob just twisted off of the pin.
I saw I would be able to use the pin without the knob it would just be a bit difficult.
Thats when I had an IDEA !
I use a big Dutch oven type cast iron pot.
I could rest the handles on the edge and angle the mold into the melt until the pin was partially submerged. Then I could begin the pour with a fully heated pin. My guess was confirmed, the mold started producing beautiful hollow point projectiles. I was so into it I didn't stop until almost 11:00 PM
So there you have it. I'm sure there will be some kind of issue, but it do work quite well

[Bullshop]

So do you still have identifiable finger prints? :wink:

[Blanco]

My right glove has some shrinkage on the thumb and first finger. It has acquired a nice toasty brown color :wink:

[MtGun44]

Sounds like a good idea. Keeping the pin hot is important, which is why
I strongly prefer Cramer type HP molds.

Bill

[Blanco]

Yeah I like the Cramer $tyle :castmine:

[leftiye]

I take the wood off of all of my hollow point pins and work them with pliers. The ones that I make have flats milled on opposite sides for grip. In the melt or on a mold heater, it really helps hollow point production to heat the pin directly while it is in the mold.

[rhead]

Thread the end of the pin and put a nut on it. Have a steel plate handy with a slot cut in it so you can slip the nut into it and lift the mould. then set the mould back on the pin and slip it out to cast again. Some guides will make it easier.

[hickfu]

I dont have a hollow point mold yet but was thinking of getting one, I have read they are a bit harder to use because of needing to heat the pins and keeping them hot. Will my hotplate work at keeping them hot? or do I need to try dipping into the pot?


Doc

[Radarsonwheels]

I run a 329640 lyman devistator mold. It's a single cavity iron mold, and my first mold I ever tried. I bottom pour into it from a Lee 4-20 pot. I got some advice here and went for it. I have not had any trouble with a cold pin at all. I make about 120 boolits in an hour with 90-110 keepers depending on how well I preheat. My technique is to pour, when the sprue frosts I knock it off, pull the pin, and drop the boolit on a towel. The mold gets closed and the pin twisted home immediately. I hold the pin in my right hand and it stays tucked under my pinky and ring finger while my other two run the hammer handle, which gets picked up and put down every time. The pin is only out of the mold for 10 seconds or so each time.

I was nervous about running a hollow point as my first attempt but my second mold a lee 310 gn six cav .44 flat nose boolit has been way more difficult. The sprue plate gets hot fast and needs to be cooled on a wet rag. I can't imagine messing around with a pair of pliers or slowing down enough to need techniques to heat the pin. I thought the guys with wire fixtures attached to their propane torches were doing that for pauses in production like clearing off your towel so the now boolits don't get dented or adding more alloy to the pot or taking a pee?

I don't do any pot dipping, infact dipping the pin a couple times to try and speed initial warmup got me in trouble when I couldn't get all the lead off the pin and it clogged the mold a little. I guess I didn't get it hot enough? In any case I just try to cast reasonably fast with an efficiency of movement and usually have only four or five boolits per run with imperfect hollow point cavities.

Maybe try making a new wooden handle and just casting faster?

Good Luck!

radar

[sthwestvictoria]

Can you top this? NOPE - probably my favourite sticky on castboolits:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?41217-Can-you-top-this-NOPE

[Forrest r]

It's hard to beat the old saeco double cavities with the steel hp pins that had knurling on them, cast excellent hp's. An example of the steel pin handle in a 2 cavity gc swc for the 44mag/spl that casts a 220gr swc & a 200gr hp swc.

98131

A simple design that makes an excellent hp.

98132

forrest r

[mpmarty]

I run two pots. A 4-20 LEE and a Lyman. I took a flattened strip of copper and suspended it over the lyman pot with a small hole in it. The HP pin goes in and soaks in molten lead while out of the mold. Keeps it hot nicely.