NOE Hollow Point Mold

Just got a NOE 4160-405RF hollow point mold. Tried it out today and what a job I had. Like all NOE alum. molds I have it likes hot. With 700 degree alloy I started to get nice boolits. Got to looking at the hollow point and about half were not formed correctly. Too much meat on one side of the hole. My fault. I was dropping the boolit to soon and the HP pin was deforming the hole ?
Now I'm turning out good boolits but not near as many as a regular flat nose . I guess I won't be casting a big pile in a casting session anymore. Quality instead of quantity ?
By the way. This is my first HP mold. :drinks:

It's possible to get a decent pace going. It just takes a little extra work. Hotter than normal is necessary. You do have to wait a bit before trying to separate the mold halves to prevent tearing up the hollow points but it should only be about an extra 3-5 seconds between pours.

Maybe start hitting the top of the mould with a damp sponge?

Give that mold 5 or 10 casting sessions to break in and develop some oxides on the surfaces, and while doing so, you prefect your technique with the "RG" system, as it takes some gettin' use to. Then you'll be casting HPs as fast as FN.

I've found that if one follows the directions and heat cycles three times before beginning casting it takes about 3-5 sessions before the mold really starts to work 100%. But once they do....you can make a pile of boolits with it almost as quickly as you can with any other mold with the same number of cavities.

One thing that I do is use a wooden mold tapper/hammer handle. I tap the hinge bolt before I open the mold. Everything loosens up and I don't "pull" on the HP cavity when I open the mold. I don't hit the hinge bolt hard, just a light tap or two. Works for me and I use that technique on solid and hollow point molds.

I think that also allows me to cast at a faster cadence because I don't have to wait an extra few seconds for the boolits to shrink more to drop free. If I don't use the mold tapper, I have to wait longer between casts for the boolits to be free enough to fall from the mold.

I boiled my aluminum mold in pieces to create and oxide surface. Took the pins to the buffing wheel with some jewelers rouge to polish them up. Been raining boolits for a couple years with the rg style mold. Only hp mold ive worked with and it did have a small learning curve. Keep at it and notw what works and what doesnt. Youll be fine bubba.

Do you just boil the mold in plain water? I'd like to hear more about this technique.

There was a little residual dawn soap on it, boiled in tap water twice. Built up a little foggy patina on it. No sticking pins or boolits with polishing the pins. Dont forget to preheat it and lube the locating pins on the mold face and sprue plate hinge.

Finally have a free day tomorrow. I'm going to fire up and try this beast again ? lol I pc'd my first cast tonight. The weight pc'd and checked is at 370 gr. 50/50 + 2% or so tin for my mix. If they shoot as good as my 405's I plan on putting a bear down this year. I have two bears working my area. Might try the bread and wine thing this fall. :violin:

I am learning. Took me all day to get a 106 good boolits ? This mold is a beast .

Heat is your friend. You need to run fast and hot and about 750 degrees to start with to get mold up to temp. And pour a large sprue to keep the plate hot as well. Once youre getting decent fillout, then you can back down the heat a bit.

Keep working with it. As others have said it takes about 3 to 5 sessions before it really starts dropping lots of good boolits. I am on my second NOE hollow point after 3 sessions I had a TINY little pile of good projectiles. Session four produced just over 300 with very few rejects. The mold was still working great but I was ready to call it an evening LOL.

I just want to hear about the bear success story. You are savvy enough to get it done, let's cook the dang thing. JW

Hollow point pins tend to draw the heat out and take longer to get up to heat.
I start at 750 and after things get going back down to 725.
Once the pins are hot and the mould up to temperature you must wait for the alloy to harden before opening and dumping. You can't speed cast with a HP mould.
I have 4 NOE's that are not HP, the HP boolit is not worth the loss of output to me. I shoot at targets and plinking so I wanted a lot of boolits not hollow points boolits.
Keep working with it, the NOE's , in my case , are sweet to work with.
Once the beast is tamed you will enjoy the ride, but you have to break her in !
Gary

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I see you got it. What I have done is turn the heat up high and then cast . When it all works good then turn down the heat. I have a few NOE molds and mainly look for the HP ones if I have a choice . But do preheat also on a hot plate.