Poured up some Mihec H&G 503 HP's today

[captaint]

I've kinda been puttin this off for a while. You know, the stories about the HP's and all that.. My first time for HP boolits. So, cleaned the mold three times, put er together, hot er all heated up on the hot plate, got the melt to 700, put the propane on the pins for a second, did all the bullplate and that. Reults - not bad at all. The HP part of the deal was the least of the troubles. Wrinkles, wrinkles, wrinkles. Frosty boolits and still wrinkles. Hollow points look good. Finally I said ok, take it apart, get it cool and clean it four more times, got it back up to temp and rock & roll.
One problem though. The one HP pin was REALLY tight. Actually had to tap the pins with my little bat to move them in & out. Slowed me down some. I even tried a little bullplate on the pins. No good. Seems it got even tighter.
All things considered though, I ended up with 10 lbs of winners. I'll have to see if I can't do something with that one pin. Tried the other pins I got with the mold (3 sets) and they were all OK. Mic'd the pins and they were MAYBE half a thou larger than the others. Tight tolerances Miha. Very nice mold. Makes beautiful boolits.
So, all in all I'm pleased. Had no trouble getting the boolits to fall off the HP pins and the boolits dropped right on out of the cavities
I know. No pictures. I'm a knucklehead. enjoy Mike

[Crash_Corrigan]

I have had similiar results with this mold. I lube the pins (HP pin slides thru the block) with Bullshop Sprue Plate lube and tap the end of the pin with my hickory club lightly and the boolits fall off. Excellent mold and they shoot pretty good too in my CA Bulldog Pug .44 Spcl. Over 4.5 gr of Unique I am getting decent accuracy and recoil I can live with. Fire more than 50 of these babies and you like pain.

This is a light gun with a nasty recoil. In full factory loading this thing about tears your hand off. You will not want to shoot a full cylinder of these factory loads unless you are wearing a very good shooting glove or you like pain.

I see a lot of potential in the caliber. I would like to get my paws on a Ruger BH in this .44 cal with a 5.5 inch bbl. I could live with a SS Bisley even.

I had a Ruger RedHawk with the 7.5 inch tube and it had a lousy trigger and even through tough to shoot it was pretty accurate. The gun was built about 3 x as strong is it needed to be. I really am wanting to get my hands on the new Ruger .44 spcl with the old flatopt style and smaller frame. I have smaller hands and that old plowhandle grips really is a joy to shoot for me. I have one in .38/357/9MM and it is slowing no signs of any use at over 4,000 rounds fired. I load light!

I have another in the .30 Carbine caliber and although a lot hotter it is also a fun gun. The .45/45 ACP with the 4 5/8 tube and a brass frame is not so great for me. The frame with the jigged stag grips is just a mite large for my smaller hands. On the rest the gun shoots good but from my hands not so good. Maybe it is time to let this one go.

[Matt_G]

Mike, I had the same trouble as you with one pin. Took some crocus cloth I had left over from my A&P days and polished it up. Worked great. The cloth I have is probably the equivalent of 600 grit sand paper.

[Edubya]

I cast some today. I cranked the heat up to over 800* and was into such a tempo that I didn't want to quit. I was hand cutting the sprue and if they didn't fall off when I opened the mould. I'd bang it with the side of my gloved fist. It was the most productive bit of casting I've had to date.

EW

[RP]

I have gotten three of his molds I just sprayed with some carb cleaner and let dry. Fired up the pot set mold on top to preheat and go to casting maybe third pour got good boolits. Now as far as the pins sticking yes I have had that problem its more in the pins and not the block with me. What I did was back one mount off some allowing it to run free. Not much just a quarter turn maybe the pins will slide back and forth very easy then. Oh and of coarse I used some lube on them. I have ran a 1000 plus in each mold I love them. PS if you dont want the 503 mold I buy it from you I missed out on that one.

[captaint]

Ricky,
Just came up from the basement. Tried your trick of cracking one pin loose (just a hair). Majic...
Like it's greased. Amazing. Thank you. Now, I can't wait to use it again. It is a beautiful mold, and makes great boolits. Thanks again Mike

[Shuz]

I have gotten three of his molds I just sprayed with some carb cleaner and let dry. Fired up the pot set mold on top to preheat and go to casting maybe third pour got good boolits. Now as far as the pins sticking yes I have had that problem its more in the pins and not the block with me. What I did was back one mount off some allowing it to run free. Not much just a quarter turn maybe the pins will slide back and forth very easy then. Oh and of coarse I used some lube on them. I have ran a 1000 plus in each mold I love them. PS if you dont want the 503 mold I buy it from you I missed out on that one.

I have a Mihec 503 and all my pins stick. I've used crocus cloth on them until my fingers are sore. I finaly got them to slide somewhat, but I still have to tap a few with a mallet. If I understand your "back one mount off", do you mean you unscrew one of the sliding pins out of it's hollow point pin?

By the way, I've lost several of the "E" clips that he furnished, and have replaced them with tiny hinge pin clips. Much easier to install,.......... and find when dropped!

[ghh3rd]

Those hex HP are a good conversation piece :-) [gotta go softer on the lead - tried some from straight WW and all of the 'petals' broke off on their way through water filled milk jugs]