Casting Technique with a Lyman 358395 HBWC

[Ken in Iowa]

I have an old Ideal non-vented mould in good shape. Looking to load 38 Special for my K38 and various other pistols.

In reading up on some older posts and will try 3.0 of 700x or 2.85 of bullseye for powder. Lube the lower groove only with 50/50 beeswax/Alox. Lead would be in the 8-10 BHN range. It sounds like you need to cast fast and hot with the melt 700-750.

My question is regarding technique. Do you remove the base plug before opening the mould? I could see a case for opening the mould first, using the base plug to help extract the boolit.

Any advice would be welcomed.

[.22-10-45]

I have that very mould. If you open mould before removing base-plug..your going to have a very hot bullet stuck on the end of that pin..kind of a pain to remove! Or worse..that pin might just drop out of mould & onto floor..if it's concreat..Ouch! I always cut sprue, remove pin with a twisting motion..this seems to help release bullet when blocks are opened. Replace pin as soon as bullet drops so as to maintain temp. Best of luck!

[runfiverun]

the pin is one of those areas where mold release is actually a good idea.

[bhn22]

Smoking the pin has always worked for me too. I always remove the pin, hollowpoint or hollowbase, before even breaking the sprue.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Someone somewhere in time rigged up a jig for the propane torch to have its flame running on the pin to keep it hot until things were put together for the pour. I used the system for a hollow-base 41 mag bullet and it worked well....no wrinkles. The pin must not be allowed to cool or you will get them. LLS

[Ken in Iowa]

Hmmm. If smoking and heating the pin would be good, perhaps an oil wick candle would be useful.

[runfiverun]

oil bad.

[Ken in Iowa]

oil bad.

A wax candle would not be good either then..

Perhaps a lazy, smoky gas flame?

[Bullwolf]

Someone somewhere in time rigged up a jig for the propane torch to have its flame running on the pin to keep it hot until things were put together for the pour. The pin must not be allowed to cool or you will get them. LLS

I'm pretty sure Larry Gibson made the original Hollow Point pin warmer jig, using a propane torch. There used to be an image of it on somewhere on Cast Boolits, but apparently my Search-Fu is weak since I can't seem to locate it now. I still wanted to give credit where credit was due.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=136736&d=1428549865&thumb=1

I made this one (roughly) modeled off the original image I saw here. Mine is holding the Hollow Base pin from a 12 gauge Lyman Slug mould in the picture.

It's incredibly simple to make. You can easily create one of your own using an old metal coat hanger, or even a piece of welding rod like I used - after looking at the image.

Works quite well to keep your HP or HB pins warm. A bit of Bullplate on a Q-tip, or even lightly smoking the pin will also help if you still have sticky H.P. pin issues. (That aren't related to a cold pin) Polishing the HP or HB pin/pins on your mould will also help make them release easier.





- Bullwolf

[Ken in Iowa]

That looks simple enough.

Thanks for the pic Bullwolf!

[bhn22]

It would be a lot simpler to just cast really fast. This mould will freeze quickly, and if you keep up with it, the pin will never get cool enough to worry about. A slight coating of smoke is all you need. Hollowpoint and hollowbase moulds should have their own dedicated casting session. If you try casting with a second mould in tandem, you will experience great frustration.

[Bullwolf]

It would be a lot simpler to just cast really fast. This mould will freeze quickly, and if you keep up with it, the pin will never get cool enough to worry about. A slight coating of smoke is all you need. Hollowpoint and hollowbase moulds should have their own dedicated casting session. If you try casting with a second mould in tandem, you will experience great frustration.

I do agree with most of the points you made.

If you cast with a really fast cadence, your boolit mould will eventually get warm, and stays warm. Also hollow point and hollow base pin moulds are definitely not well suited to casting in tandem with.

Smoke can indeed help a sticky pin release sometimes.
I've found that a nicely polished hollow point (or hollow base) pin often doesn't even need smoking.

However, I really like using the pin heater for the same reasons that I like to use a hot plate to pre-heat my moulds with.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=114714&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1409027142

I don't have to start right off with a cold mould, and discard my initial wrinkled messed up casts while warming up the mould when I use a pre-heating device. I have yet to break the sprue cutter on a Lee 6 cavity mould (knock on wood) or do the 1,2,3,4,5, all warmed up 6 cavity dance, I suspect due to preheating my boolit moulds.

With my boolit mould and HB pin already up to temp, I tend to cast more consistently right from the start, and I seem to create less discards to remelt later.

If for some reason I have to stop for a moment (say to go to the restroom) I find that it's much easier to pick things back up again thanks to the preheated boolit mould and base pin, rather than starting up again cold.

While not a requirement, preheating sure helps things flow easier.

You can get by fine without preheating though simply by casting very quickly, and throwing the first handful of boolits back into the pot until the mould warms up - If you so prefer.

I like getting more keepers, and less rejects right form the start, especially with a pot drainer like the Lyman 525 grain hollow base shotgun slug, so I prefer to go with both the mould and base pin pre-heat.

I've done things the old fashioned way as well. I've cast with an old spoon and a cast iron pot over a campfire. I've dunked moulds into the melt, and I've also warmed up boolit moulds with a fast casting cadence while it was windy, or even freezing (snowing) outside. I don't want to go back to doing things the old ways anymore. It was a hassle then, and took longer for me to get into a good casting rhythm.

I prefer the modern conveniences of electric and bottom pour pots, and preheating with an electric hotplate now. Since I often have a propane torch around me while casting, the pin warmer seemed like a good idea. I found that it helped as well.

As with all things, your individual mileage will likely vary from mine, and my way is definitely not the only way to skin this cat.




- Bullwolf

[Good Cheer]

Cool, uh hot designs. Thanks for the ideas.