New to me H&G 130 mold...boolits undersized

[lablover]

Just bought a H&G 130 mold of here and did some casting. She cast great however my boolits seem to be undersized. They seem to be casting at around .451 maybe a tad bigger. Running them thru my .452 sizer gets very little contact on the driving bands. Range scrap lead and all my other molds cast right on the money with this lead.

Is maybe the mold designed to cast at .451? Like I said, the boolits that come out of this thing are beautiful! She also seems to cast a bit heavy as well. Should be 185 gr I’m getting 195.

Thanks in advance for any help

[leadhead 500]

Sent you a pm

[georgerkahn]

I have five members of the H&G #130 family in my wee collection. Three are plain-Jane 4-cavity moulds, and two -- one each 6- and 8-cavity -- are bevel based (130bb). Bion, mine also cast at just a smidgeon more than .451"; and, they weigh in (average) at about 196 to 198 grains. Hensley & Gibbs had these moulds listed, if I recall correctly, as "200 grain" moulds, so the weights we get is, at least to me, no surprise. I hardly use the bevel base moulds simply because I now find them a tad too heavy for my continued use. The others all seem to cast consistently great bullets. I have a complement of fifty or so H&G moulds, and I've -- through the years -- found them pretty much all to be VERY alloy- and temperature- dependent to get the size I desire. Often times I'll use alloy, "what's in the pot", and the bullets will all drop a smidgeon or two on the small size. *MY* solution is generally to add a bit more tin, and sometimes lower the alloy temp a bit. Bottom line? I doubt if there's anything amiss with your mould. Play a bit with your alloy and temp, and I'd be quite surprised if you shan't be able to pick up another thousandth or two in diameter. H&G, indeed, made great moulds!
One added possibility I need add is that H&G did in fact make many custom sized moulds, too. The diameter with their alloy/casting temp is generally stamped on one of the mould halve's side, if this be the case. Good luck, and enjoy your wonderful mould!
geo

[lablover]

I do cast a bit hot. 750 deg ish. The lead I get from a buddy who has tuned it for the master caster and I have great luck with it in my accurate molds. I really like the accurate 160 gr mold and it’s spot on. I may experiment with mor tin on a pot or so just to see what it does. Like I mentioned it cast beautiful bullets.

[jsizemore]

My original H&G 68 mold cast a little small. Changing my alloy to COWW with 2% pewter (94%+ Sn) dropped my liquidus temp temp to 550degF. Boolits cast .001+ bigger. Changing to 50/50 + 1% pewter brought liquidus to 575degF and boolits cast at alloy temp @ 675degF .0008+ bigger than the original. Driving bands now had a shine all the way around when sized and my pistol liked them better with the fast powder I was using. From pour to cut the sprue is about 20 seconds in my 4 cavity mold. Boolit consistence is spot on from the feel as they pass through the sizer. Shoot great too as they pass through the barrel.