Looking for a .312-.314 / 3 or 4 cavity / appox 123 grain / Hollow point mold

[Wm Cook]

Has anyone ever seen or heard of a steel 3 or 4 cavity GC mold that comes out about .312 - .314 weighing around 123 grain in hollowpoint?

If that draws a blank has anyone ever seen a 2 cavity mold with that description.

The rifle is on order and I'm getting nervous. I think I need a total of two molds:

• 123 grain .312 - .314 in HP for self defense and a
• 145-160 grain .312 - .314 in FP for deer

If not steel I would go to NOE for aluminum. I'll double check with Al but I believe +/- 125grain HP isn't available. He does have a nice brass 4 cavity FB in 166 / .314 but its not available at this time. Push comes to shove I'll have to just sit and wait on availablity for that to solve the deer round, but the 123 +/- HP has been hard to find. Must be looking in the wrong places.

Would the +/- 123 grain HP make sense as a group purchase?

Both boolits would run in a Ruger Mini 30 7.62x39, 16" barrel with a 1 in ten twist. As always, thanks for your patience. Bill.

p.s. By the way, this'll be my first attempt at HP casting.

[Wm Cook]

Well I think I figured out part of this. On Al's site he has the options for "drill for probe" which I believe is meant to be used for HP. Since I've never cast HP this will be a rough learning curve.

Is HP a tedious affair or does it flow pretty straight forward?

I went back and looked and NOE has a 314-123-FN-M3 3 Cavity GC in aluminum that offers such a "drill for probe" feature. So that may solve my question understanding it would be aluminum. On the RCBS, Saeco and Lyman side I can't seem to find anything. Maybe I am just dense today.

[mattw]

Drill and probe is for a temperature probe to be inserted into the mould to monitor mould temperature. I have a beautiful brass MP 123 grain that drops between 313 and 314. I do not know if he hollow points that one or not. Wonderful mould for 7.62x39.

[gwpercle]

Drill for probe means the mould block has a hole drilled so a temperature probe can be inserted ...
the probe tells you how hot the mould is .
Has nothing to do with hollow points .

Send Al an E-mail and explain exactly what you want , for what cal. and why you want it ...he may have some good advice as to what would work best .

He's helped me more than a few times .
Gary

[longbow]

Check MP Moulds here:

https://www.mp-molds.com/product-cat...pa_caliber=314

These are top quality moulds usually brass. His HP is a Cramer style and usually comes with multiple HP pins as well as solid version (flat top plug with no pin).

I have several MP moulds and they cast beautifully and right to spec.

Alternately you can go to Accurate Molds and get whatever you want except Tom will not HP but you could send the mould to Hollow Point Molds and Eric will make it an HP mould for you. More expensive that way but... you get what you want:

http://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=2

That's the weight range you are looking for and Tom will cut the mould to cast whatever diameter you want in whatever alloy you want. Also top quality moulds and available in brass, aluminum or iron. His service is excellent and so are his moulds.

Not sure what NOE has currently available but they are also very good moulds.

Longbow

[MT Gianni]

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop...vity-gc-314008
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop...vity-gc-315640

Neither is steel but I would start here if it were me.

[John McCorkle]

+1 on the mp molds



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[Wm Cook]

Lil embarrassed about being clueless about the temperature probe. 3 of the 4 .22 cal molds I have are NOE. And not drilled for pin. Casting .22’s it’s tough to keep mold temp up and I was painting one side black and shooting it with an IR gun from time to time to check the mold temperature. Didn’t work real well.

I have good leads now on both the MP
https://www.mp-molds.com/product-cat...pa_caliber=314
and the NOE NOE 314-123-FN-M3 4 Cavity RG4 GC
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop...vity-gc-314008
NOE 314-166-FN-AS1 4 Cav GC Brass - $120
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop...rass-ed-harris

Availability looks like two of three are available.

How about a comment on casting HP’s? Does that add a great deal of complexity to the casting process?

And thanks for being kind in getting me back on the road. Bill.

[Wm Cook]

My concern about cast Bullets may be unfounded.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...VRRTAP&PC=APPL

[Wm Cook]

Meant Casting HP.

[longbow]

Casting HP's can be an exercise in frustration! A lot depends on the size of the boolit and size of the HP pin. A large diameter boolit with relatively small HP pin is not bad at all in my experience but my 316410 MP mould has a very thin edge at the mouth of the HP and pin is large compared to .30 cal. boolit so it can be difficult to get good fill out because the pins lose heat fast when the mould is open so that thin bit of lead cools quickly.

The trick is to cast hot and fast. Keep up a good casting cadence... don't inspect boolits while casting! Just cast a bunch then check a few with the mould left on a hot plate... and pre-heat the mould on a hot plate before casting. My temperature guideline is to pre-heat the mould until sprue plate lube just starts to smoke. That is actually a bit hot but works for me. Once I reach that point I start casting but it takes a few seconds for the sprue puddle to freeze for the first few boolits then settles in and away I go.

Pins can also be an issue with boolits sticking. If boolits stick on pins I cast hotter and that usually solves it... cast hot and fast! Pins may need polishing if that doesn't work. A bit of powdered graphite wiped on the pins doesn't hurt either and also a very thin smear of sprue plate lube can help with sticky pins. Mostly I find casting hot and fast is best for me... I may have mentioned that.

MP moulds are very nice to cast HP boolits. I cut the sprues then invert the mould and open it then use my sprue plate "mallet" to push the Cramer pins out and the boolits drop off. Carefully close the mould, invert close sprue plate and pour again... fast!

I suppose I should also add that all my brass moulds like to be run hot and especially the HP brass moulds. I find NOE aluminum moulds think they are brass and like to be run hot as well but I don't have any NOE HP moulds so can't comment on their pins.

My Lyman, RCBS and Ohaus moulds cast well at lower temperature than my brass moulds, and my Lee moulds also cast well at lower temperatures than my brass or NOE moulds. Not sure why but there you go.

YMMV (but do cast fast and hot!)

Longbow

[Green Frog]

If he has it in stock, or you have lots of time to wait, the MP moulds would probably be the nicest all around, but I'm too old to wait. Second choice would be NOE's copy of the old Ideal 3118. I don't know quite where the increase in weight comes from, but my plain base solid point drops at exactly 125 grains in COWW plus 2% tin. It's a beautiful aluminum mould, the only one I've ever had I really liked in aluminum. I would guess that Al will add hollow pointing as an option, and although I don't like his quite as well as the true Cramer style, they get the job done.

Froggie

PS I think the mould number is 313008.

[MT Gianni]

The RG molds are a HP system or a cup point. They are not the classic HP of lymans old molds but are functional.

[Gamsek]

https://www.mp-molds.com/product/mp-...-multi-choice/

I would suggest this one. Very flexible with 2 different HP pins. In stock!