This Old Mold

[Time Killer]

214318

Did a little casting with the above mold i purchased off eBay. Its a Hensley and Gibbs. With 4 different cavities. H&G # 26 Weighing in at approximately 98gr, H&G # 67 Weighing approximately 115gr, H&G # 87 weighing approximately 83gr and what appears to be a bored out cavity dropping bullets .410 and weighing approximately 154gr.

Its unknown how old this mold is but the 4 cavity design hints to possibly the depression error according to the H&G information I have read.

Molds like this make me wonder. How many bullets have been caste by this mold. How many people have caste with the mold an how many guns have shot these bullets. It shows use, possibly heavy use but still drops bullets that look good.

I was originally looking a purchasing a new mold to cast some bullets for my 7.62 X 25 until i saw this one. I decided to give this old mold the chance to cast some more bullets. I am going to use the 83gr to shoot in the 7.62.25 and the 98 gr I am going to try in my 300 Black out and the 7.62 X 25. May use the 115 grain in some reduced 308 loads and the .410 in my 40 cal when i start loading for it. I have a Glock so I am not planning on reloading for it any time soon. Plan to purchase an after market barrel eventually though. But I still have plenty of factory ammo for the time being. Just saving the brass for when I get ready to reload for it.

Just thought i would take a minute and share this old unique mold with people who might appreciate how many bullets and how much fun/table fare it may have provided individuals in the past.

[Thin Man]

That is one very interesting mold. In the past I have seen only a fey molds that were cut with different mold patterns. Most common is a double cavity size block with both cavities on the same side of the blocks, followed by a single cavity block with the mold cavities on opposite sides so they face each other. Now we have the ultimate in variety of cavity selections in your mold. That puppy is neat! I can understand your guess that this one was built during the depression years as a cost saving approach toward buying what you can afford in order to get shooting. This must be the Swiss army knife of the boolit mold world. Thank you for sharing the photo.

[Victor N TN]

I have often wondered the same of my 2 H&G molds. They both have the San Diego location stamped on them. I got them from a friend whose father got them used about in the 1950s. The 45 casts 6 at a time and the 38 casts 8. They are iron, and very heavy.

[dale2242]

I went to an estate sale at the H&G shop in Murphy, Or. a few months ago and bought 15 H&G molds that were in the personal collection of George Gibbs.
Most were 4 cavity with a couple of 2 cavity.
They all had from 2 different calibers/designs to 4 different calibers/designs per mold.
Only one was a double sided 2 cavity. One side round ball the other a wadcutter.
I assume they were test/experimental molds.
I have cast with most of them to see what diameter/weight they cast.
Some very interesting and rare molds....dale

[Bigslug]

Surely someone has H&G ordering instructions that contain directions and costs for special orders like that. Today, Accurate is charging $15 for each additional caliber in one mold. . .so figure plus about 10% per hole. Such a pricing structure gets you 4 molds for the price of 1.3. Probably a fair economy if you aren't trying to shoot a lot. I figure you'd only do something like that if you were trying to save money, space, or weight. . .and had plenty of time.