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Thread: Hollow Point Casting Technique

  1. #41
    Boolit Bub
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    QUESTION? with cast hollow point bullets made of linotype being a hard alloy will they expand as a hollow point should, or will they just penetrate the game and not expand like a regular hp would could someone explain this to me as i am new to casting my own bullets

  2. #42
    Boolit Grand Master



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    Wow, guess it's been awhile I looked at this thread. Sorry you didn't get an answer a bit quicker.

    Lino is a very brittle alloy (22 bhn and 12% antimony) and a very poor choice for HP's. The nose would break off and the higher the velocity the faster it'll break up, once the nose is gone the now much lighter boolit will penetrate less. With lower velocities the nose wouldn't break up as quick but again less penetration.

    Hope this rather late response helps.

    Rick
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  3. #43
    Boolit Buddy Jjed's Avatar
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    45 cal devastator pics

    a couple of lyman 45 cal devastator boolits recovered after passing through 4 1 gal milk jugs full of water, they both expanded to around .740. I couldn't find them at first, jugs where setting on a table with about 7 inches of snow, well the snow melted this week and i found them laying on the table.
    sorry for the poor pic's best i can do.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 45 devastators.jpg  

  4. #44
    Boolit Master mikenbarb's Avatar
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    I have found the same as many others that the pin must be kept hot so I made up a holder for it that attach's to a small propane torch. When the pin is out it immediately goes into the holder by the flame till its replaced back to the mold for the next pour. I made the holder so its just out of the flame but it is close enough to maintain the pin preheat. I find this very helpful when casting my 38 HP's and 12 gauge slugs with a large base pin that needs to stay hot to fill out the base properly. I will try to post some pics tommorow.
    ** Please bear with me for a day or two if I dont reply quickly.**
    Mike B.
    Gun Control= Being able to hit your target.

  5. #45
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Heavy lead View Post
    What is this beautiful long swc, I gotta get one!
    Lyman 358627, stated to drop at 215gr
    Some where between here and there.....

  6. #46
    Boolit Buddy Tippet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mikenbarb View Post
    I have found the same as many others that the pin must be kept hot so I made up a holder for it that attach's to a small propane torch. When the pin is out it immediately goes into the holder by the flame till its replaced back to the mold for the next pour. I made the holder so its just out of the flame but it is close enough to maintain the pin preheat. I find this very helpful when casting my 38 HP's and 12 gauge slugs with a large base pin that needs to stay hot to fill out the base properly. I will try to post some pics tommorow.
    Awesome Mike, looking forward to the pics!

  7. #47
    Boolit Buddy Tippet's Avatar
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    hey having this thread in two different forums is problematic

  8. #48
    Boolit Master

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    Just found this thread. I have a small 4 lb. Lee pot that I got at an auction for $2. I took a small strip of aluminum flat stock and drilled a hole in the center a little bigger than my hollow point pin. I fill this small pot with lead and lay the aluminum strip across the top. When casting HP as soon as I remove the pin it goes into the hole in the strip with the pin now sticking into the melted lead. This keeps my pin at the right temp. without over/under heating.
    Larry

  9. #49
    Boolit Buddy desteve811's Avatar
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    How do you get those bullets to come out so shinny?

  10. #50
    Boolit Master
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    I bought a Devastator mold a couple of years back and I've had nothing but good luck with it. I'll admit there was a learning-curve of sorts before I actually started casting more good bullets than bad.

    When I started casting with it I was using straight water quenched Stick-On WW's. These Devastator Hollow Points would expand to nearly the size of a quarter. When I went to a slightly harder alloy, it was just as stated above; the hollow point would shear off on impact and leave very little to penetrate any further.

    The only remedy I could come up with was to put together an Adjustable Hollow Point Spud. This allows me to cast these Devastators with more of a "Cup-Point" rather than a "Hollow Point."

    With a slightly harder alloy the "Cup-Point" configuration gives me just about the right amount of expansion without loosing the nose of the bullet on impact.

    Also; although it's still essential to casting good hollow points, with the hollow point adjusted to a shallower depth, it seems that the work involved in maintaining the correct temperature of the spud is reduced to some degree.

    HollowPoint

  11. #51
    Boolit Man
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glen View Post
    3. Strike the sprue earlier than normal (you've got a heat sinc cooling the bullet in the HP pin so the bullet will solidify sooner than what the sprue tells you)
    heat, good castings live & die by it, I am by no means a great caster of bullets, but let me draw some parallels that I know and understand.....

    the last job that I had (milling rail car couplers) I had some quality problems (voids) with the steel castings in the tail where a 2 3/8" dia pin was inserted to mount the coupler to the draft gear

    the problem turned out to be with what is called "chill pins", they are inserted by the caster just before the steel is poured into the green sand casting mold and their job is to cool the molten steel quicker to keep the mold from shifting, the void problem came about because they did not "fuse" with the casting and become one (I had to wait on the engineers and quality control from my company and the supplier company to tell me what I already knew ... )

    so the analogy of the hollow point pin acting like a heat sink is in all likelihood correct, and everyone here stating that they heat the pin in one way or another is the correct action, some pins are longer, different taper, and wider than others and certain variances must be observed to correct the problem

    other than the pin heat it appears that alloy is the next culprit in the lineup

  12. #52
    Boolit Buddy Tippet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tanstafl10 View Post
    I have had more success with a 257 cal mould done by Buckshot running the lead hotter than usual. No thermometer here. I just trial and error until I get good nose fill out. Mine is a spire point and can be finicky(SP).

    A 311 291 HP and a 358156 HP are run the same way and I like the results. I use WW w/ a little linotype melted in for these two and I have been using pure linotype in the 257 mould. With pure linotype, I flux a bit more often, especially when the bullet noses go to pot.

    I think I got an image attached to this to show the final outcome of the 257. It is not the best image, but i am still trying to get the hang of the camera.

    Do not know if this is specific enough 45NUT, but best I can do at this time and place. I have found that I must run HP's hotter than the other moulds. But I am Not an expert, I am still learning that is why I do not post too often.

    Keep trying Rugerman1, best advice I saw here one time was "do not be afraid of mistakes, they can be remelted"
    I'm looking to find a good mould to start casting for my .257 Roberts. Can anyone tell me what mould made these? I gather Buckshot hollowpointed it. Kinda looks like an RCBS .257-120-SP, but then it kinda doesn't.

  13. #53
    Boolit Master


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    Reading between the lines it looks like more tin in the alloy may be helping along with casting fast and hot. No experience with HPs but I do add tin rich alloy to my WW alloy and it fill the molds very nicely.

    David

  14. #54
    Boolit Buddy Tippet's Avatar
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    Fine as long as that doesn't compromise expansion. Make it too hard and you may as well just cast non-hp boolits.

  15. #55
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    Interesting techniques, each and every one. I too had the issue of nasty looking hollow points and finally narrowed it down to what all of you have -- the pin stays too cold and never heats up, when it does the rest of the mold is too hot, arrrrgghhh!

    SO, for another $10 for a second hotplate I did this. I found an old block of steel I had laying around the shop. I measured and drilled a hole about the same size as my pin, stuck the block of steel on my extra hotplate and stuck the pin in the steel to get it preheated.

    Works GREAT but I don't have any pics not that you need any. If I could find a bigger piece of steel I'd just drill a bunch of hole so every HP pin had it's own hole.

    Works a lot better than running your mix too hot or burning the carp out of myself or setting house on fire with a propane torch running and isn't expensive.

    Don't ask me why I worry about burning myself or burning down the house with the propane torch trick...................

    Just another way to accomplish our goals. MAN I love this board...

    Art

    OH! And with HP's??? USE SOFTER METAL or you will have nothing more than a hollow point bullet that frags on impact, guess that could be handy but not for what I hunt..............
    Last edited by Tazman1602; 12-02-2010 at 01:00 AM. Reason: added
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  16. #56
    Boolit Buddy mannyCA's Avatar
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    I know it must sound crazy, but I used to have trouble with the hollow point getting stuck in the boolit, use a little bull lube on the pin when its hot, wipe off with a paper towel and no more stuck pin..
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails attachment.jpg  
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  17. #57
    Boolit Mold


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    Dang!
    Now ya's has me lusting after HP mold mod's.
    After 30 years of solids, I'm gonna have to cough up some shekels and try this!
    Geezer, veteran, mostly retired, mostly libertarian, Magma Engineering fan ... hey, y'all come eat some BBQ...

  18. #58
    Boolit Master
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    Having never cast any HP boolits, I have found this thread very interesting. I do have a question though. I've noticed in the pics, that some makes of HP pins have a handle, and others do not. Do all of them have a handle & the others were just not pictured with them or what?

  19. #59
    Boolit Master
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    The “old” standard is a single pin with the wooden handle. Several newer styles are available such as the multi-cavity “CRAMER” currently being produced by Miha at MP and the 2 & 4 cavity RG series by Al at NOE. Go over to the Group Buy section and take a look at molds being produce by these two sources. Although I have some of each I still rely mainly on the old single cavity single pins for many of my HPs !

    I love casting hollow-points !

    Jerry



    S&W .38/44 Outdoorsman Accumulator

  20. #60
    Boolit Master
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    Thanks! I'm in the process of getting a HP mold or two. It's gonna be fun to figure out,,,!

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check