Here is proof they really did exist (Cramer HP)

[happy7]

Well, I am lucky enough to have gotten my hands on an original Cramer HP mold. With all the MP and hollowpointmold.com knockoffs, I knew there must be originals out there, but I had never seen one anywhere. Now I have one and can cast with it. It needed some loving care and cleaning up, which I did this afternoon, but it is now in great shape and i can't wait to cast with it.

It is a no. 11, which is a SWC 38 design.





If anyone else has any original Cramer HPs, please share photos and specs. Thanks.

[PatMarlin]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

[rintinglen]

That is the first I've seen in nearly 40 years of boolit casting. Congratulations on the find. The first molds I ever bought were a Lachmiller 2 Cavity 150 grain WC and a Cramer 3 Cavity 16h, bought at a yard sale while I was still in the Marines. I cast a Garbage Can full of wheel weights into boolits with those two molds.

[Dennis Eugene]

What a treasure! Congrats and enjoy casting with it. Dennis

[bbailey7821]

Very Cool! Thanks for sharing with us...

[adrians]

very ,,very ,,nice
.
congrats on a great find.
carftsmanship, pure craftsmanship,.
wish it was mine

[Glen]

Yes, I have several Cramer Hp moulds. That's how this whole thing got started -- I sent one to Erik to get it fixed and he looked the design and liked it, and figured out how to do the conversions. He has pictures of that original Cramer mould on his website.

[happy7]

Ah, Glen. I was wondering... That is very interesting to know the origin of how this got started. They sure are a great improvement over the pin method.

[crazy mark]

I have 2. One is a 311-140. the other one is one cavity HP and one flat nose 358-162. I posted pictures of how one was built over a year ago. I don't know how to find the picture though.

[Jack Stanley]

I have a Cramer thirty caliber mold , double cavity with one being a hollow point . I've used it just enough to know that my aught six likes it . Sorry I don't have a picture though .

Jack

[Glen]

Here's the mould that got things started. A number of years ago, John Taffin mailed me this mould that he had picked up for cheap at a gun show. It was missing the HP pin. John knows how much I like cast HP's and figured I would find a way to make this mould functional. It sat on my lathe bench for about a year before I got around to looking at it seriously, and in that time I had started working with Erik Ohlen and getting some moulds converted to drop HP bullets using the tradtional HP pin that Lyman uses. I asked him if he was familiar with the Cramer system, and he responded that he was but only in passing. I sent him a picture of a .38/.357 SWC 2-cavity HP mould that I have for reference, and then on a lark I asked him if he wanted to try his hand at restoring one. I sent him this mould, and what you see in the picture is the result.

http://www.hollowpointmold.com/repla...?picture=41#41

He did a very nice job fixing that mould, and then did the calculations and lay-out to figure out what all needed to be done to do the conversions, and he's been doing them for several years now.

Here's another Cramer mould that he made replacement pins for me:

http://www.hollowpointmold.com/repla...icture=611#611

[MtGun44]

happy7,

Thanks for the posting of the original Cramer, and Glen - thanks for the history lesson and
THANKS for redeploying a wonderful lost technology.

Good to know. I have a number of these and really like them. Several are converted by
Erik and several are MP originals.

Bill

[JIMinPHX]

So that's what a Cramer looks like...
The sprue plate design looks just like the one on a Modern Bond mold that I made some sprue plates for. That's interesting.

[Glen]

Bill -- I didn't "re-deploy this technology", Erik did (followed closely by Miha). I just had the plesaure of playing with their handiwork!

[Alan in Vermont]

I've never used a HP mold so I'm a total cherry about them. Forgive my ignorance but what makes the Cramer pins pop out of their position in the mold? Since the boolits are left stuck on the pins, how do you get them loose, turn the mold over and rap the handle hinge?

[MtGun44]

Well Glen, I doubt if things would have gotten rolling with the Cramer HP system becoming
so common if you hadn't been involved. Eithern way, these were pretty much out of the
market and now they are commonly available, at least to those of us that hang around here.

Just having all these boolit hobbyists getting together to swap information has made things
a whole lot better. We have a number of new players in the mold business today turning
out extremely high quality molds, and doing top quality mold modifications and repairs. I
had barely heard of Cramer and had never heard of the sliding pin type of HP molds before.
The Lyman single pin type certainly works but is much slower to use and limited to single
cavity molds, plus AFAIK Lyman no longer offers HP molds at all.

Very cool that a number of people are making at least part of a living (maybe their whole
living) off of supplying us boolit nuts with slick new equipment. The net has made a lot of
difference, bringing this hobby together and improving it tremendously. Knowledge is power.

Bill

[Blammer]

alan in vermont, after you open the mould take your gloved hand and push out the pins on the side, it will release the boolit from the sides and the pin all at once. Of course doing this with the bullet to drop down from the pin helps.

[MtGun44]

Glen,

I thought of the correct analogy. You were the catalyst for the Cramer pin reintroduction.
Didn't take part in the reaction, but were critical to the speed and completeness of it.

An analogy for a chemist.



Bill

[Dannix]

Thanks for the history lesson! Is the insert bar route essentially a modern take on the cramer idea?
http://www.hollowpointmold.com/inset.../?returnto=650



With Extractor Link

[Glen]

Bill

Dannix -- yes, Erik looked at the Cramer idea and decided to make it both simpler and stronger.