Hollow Point Molds

[megasupermagnum]

Sure, there's no money upfront with MP, but when I sign up for one of these buys I'm taking his word that this will be done, and he has mine that I'll pay. Taking 3+ years to cut some holes in a block of metal is breaking a promise. I can't believe people still defend this guy. If he made just a single mold a day he would have them all out in a timely manner. From what I'm seeing, he uses these buy lists as a fallback for when his regular job doesn't pay out. A good side hustle is a good thing, but this is just ridiculous.

[Good Cheer]

Erik recently modified a .41 SWCGC mold to make it a wide flat nose / hollow point.
The plug is the hollow base plug he had previously made for a .40 paper patch mold with adjustable length interchangeable tips (hollow base configurations, plain base).
Beautiful workmanship.

[AnthonyB]

MSM; we see things differently on the wait, but MP has never ‘broken a promise’ to me. He has shipped moulds I didn’t order and wanted no payment, replaced one mould that dropped bullets out of round, and re-cut another set of blocks that didn’t match the design drawing at no charge. I know going in that his delivery timeline varies and am content to wait; what is there to defend? I am in several group guys now and will continue to order HP designs I can’t get anywhere else or for close to the same price.
Tony

[megasupermagnum]

You can order a mold from Accurate, shipped straight to Erik for $100, then have Erik do the conversion for $100. For around $250 you can have anything you can dream of sitting on your door step in about a 1 1/2 to 2 months usually.

So MP is about $100 cheaper. Is that really worth letting him jerk you around for 3+ years?! If we were talking 6 months, then maybe, but his wait times are lunacy from the days Lee custom was the only game in town.

[OS OK]

And where do you get that stuff?

ACC

"Es una broma!"

That's Tex-Mex for: "It's a joke."

[Petander]

Well I saw 477 in stock and ordered my MP mold last thursday and DHL brought it yesterday,that being four days from order to casting . As usual.

MP slow? Are you people talking about group buys? Miha clearly shows what he has in stock and ships right away. Group buys are a different thing, I recommend shopping directly. I've been in a MP slug group buy for almost a year now I think.

Accurate turnaround time is seven weeks atm, I have an order in.

[AnthonyB]

MSM; I am not trying to convince YOU that a mould from MP is right for YOU. I am trying to provide an assessment of MP moulds to inform new buyers that counters your delivery time is everything argument against them.
Let’s take your example of an Accurate design HP’d by Eric a little further and compare apples to apples:
1. Accurate 4-cavity brass mould is roughly $160. I will stipulate the MP price is about the same to make the comparison easier.
2. Conversion from Eric is $75 per cavity for his inset bar design. Eric says it is better than the Cramer design; I have never used the inset bar and have no opinion. So $300 for the conversion of a four cavity mould.
3. Eric charges $20 per cavity for extra pins that are included in the price of the MP mould. My last several moulds from MP included small, large, hex, and solid pins. Cup pins are sometimes included as another option. Four pins at $20 each times four cavities equals $360 in pins alone.
4. My math says that is $660 in the conversion cost alone.
Again, I am not trying to convince YOU. This is for others considering an MP mould. MP does not “jerk” anyone around; a little research on previous group buys clearly provides the information on delivery timelines for a group buy. I will not include the in-stock molds Petander mentioned that can be delivered in a week; apples to apples.
You are entirely correct that Accurate can provide almost any design I want, and I don’t have to wait for several of my internet friends to agree with what I want and move the design to the active list. However, $160 plus $300 plus $360 does not equal the roughly $160 price of a mould from MP and is far from your $250 example.
The ill-defined delivery time is a deal breaker for you. I understand that. It may not be for others, and to dismiss MP based solely on the timeline does new buyers a disservice.
As for the reference to the old Lee buys, I served as a honcho for some of them, and there is no comparison between Lee and MP as far as quality is concerned.
I maintain my opinion that MP offers a very high quality mould at a price unavailable anywhere else if you have the patience to wait. My point is that ALL of these factors should be considered in the decision making process.
Tony

[megasupermagnum]

Well Tony, I can't argue much with that, other than I'd never buy another brass hollow point mold again. Big mistake on my part. The aluminum is cheaper. $244 is exactly what I just paid in July to have a 4 cavity Accurate mold made, shipped to Erik, converted to HP, and shipped to my door.

I just checked the MP website, and I'm blown away that you are correct. They have tons in stock. This doesn't make me feel better. I'm absolutely furious he is this blatant on not giving a rip about us in group buys. It's inexcusable. I'll never even try to buy a MP mold again, he's jerked me around half a dozen times now.

That's all I have to say, sorry to drag this thread down. I'll let it be from now on.

[alamogunr]

I'm not getting into the discussion of long wait times. I've got more molds than I'll ever use. Many of those molds are MP. They have always performed well, sometimes after some fiddling. Those that I use a lot, I may have two copies.

Regarding hollow point molds, I drank the koolaid for a while. Those molds have sat unused. Just this week decided to try one. The mold I chose was the MP .327 Single 7 Mjolnir. I have put off loading for the Single 7 because of oversize throats and too many others that I could cast, load and shoot without problems. I'm going to start by using the blank inserts for a solid nose. If these work in my gun, I'll try one of the HP pins. This mold is the real reason I wanted to try PC. To try to fit the throats of the gun.

A lot of words to say that this thread, with examples of good results, has prompted me to try my HP molds.

[megasupermagnum]

How big are the throats? Most 327's have .314" throats, this is ideal. .315" would be nothing to worry about, most molds should cast that big.

[alamogunr]

How big are the throats? Most 327's have .314" throats, this is ideal. .315" would be nothing to worry about, most molds should cast that big.

When I first got the Single Seven, most were quoting throats at .312-.313. If the MP mold casts as large as .314, I'll either tumble lube or lube w/o sizing. Whichever works best. If it casts smaller, I'll try PC. PC still seems more trouble than regular size and lube.

[megasupermagnum]

I'm sure there are plenty of .313" around. I doubt very many have been made at .312", and that would not be a good scenario for a cast bullet. I have yet to see a 32 caliber bullet mold that did not cast at least .314". Even the Lee 311-93-1R casts .314". I'm sure your MP mold will cast more than .314", and probably more like .315" or .316".

I currently have an LCR, SP101, GP100, and Henry BB. The Henry will take a .315" bullet, the three revolvers all take a .314". I shoot .314" in all of them.

[AnthonyB]

MSM; I enjoy your posts and there was no perception of dragging the thread down on my end! I appreciate the differing viewpoint.
Tony

[Forrest r]

I've cast with a lot of hp and hb molds over the decades. Don't know why but I really like the 640 series hp molds Mihec puts out. The ability to use a lighter weight bullet (hp version) or the solid nosed heavier bullet is priceless to me. Owned 2 cavity cramer and h&g molds that were setup to cast 1 solid nosed bullet/1 hp bullet. The mihec 640 series molds are 4-cavity except for the 44cal.

Never really found it harder to cast a hp or hb bullet with the exception of the h&g #38 "ness" bullet. The hp or hb bullets can take longer to cast but the extra time it take to cast hp/hb bullets is well worth it to me.

Sad to see these types of discussions about wait times for molds. Earlier this year I ordered a mold from accurate. It was a 4 cavity mold with 2 different rifle bullets. I forget what the website said about wait times/turn around times. Nor did I bother them or count the time it took on a calendar. I was grateful when the mold showed up & sill in awe that accurate produces such a beautiful custom mold and delivers it for so little $$$.

Yes I've bought molds from Mihec's website and had them in my hand within a week. And yes I was on group buys that took over a year. Owned over 20 mihec molds all but 1 of them were either a hp or hb mold. Quality is worth waiting for.

IMHO:
Everyone should try at least 1 hp or hb mold or at least a forester hp tool. There's a lot of knowledge to be gained from using those bullets.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I found that a hot preheat really helps with my MP mold. And also that it has a narrow temp range where it is happy. Has a tendency to get too hot and won't drop the boolits nicely. I run my alloy a bit cooler at about 680. Got a small computer fan but have not set it up yet.

[JackQuest]

I have had 2 molds modified to double HP, a difficult to find 40 caliber "Cowboy" Ideal 400-43, and a Lyman 356402 (shown). Beautiful machining in both cases. He also trued up a Lyman 429421 4 cavity that my dad rode hard and put away full of Pb. Erik Ohlen did the work and it was great.

As most probably have noted, the mechanism to make these moulds work involves little "C" clip retainers. These can be sneaky and disappeared suddenly.

I've run around 250 good boolits from the 400-43. At the beginning of casting one of those C clips disappear, but was found in my cold water dipping bucket. It got 'glued' using High Temp RTV rubber, the red stuff. Photos show how I pushed the ends of the steel sliders into the red goo, forming a little blob that looks like orange/red ice cream on the rods. Let it cure for 24 hours and see if you keep losing those clips.[ATTACH=CONFIG]317508[/ATTACH

[1eyedjack]

I enjoy casting hollow point bullets! I have 2 MP molds that cast beautiful bullets with no more effort than casting regular bullets. Pre heat , run the pot on the hot side 725ish degrees and rotate the mold upside down when opening the mold so the bullets can fall off the pins onto several layers of old bath towels. I do prefer casting outside when it's cold with a fast tempo .There is a learning curve but each mold has it's own quirks whether it's 1 of my lee or Lyman steel molds.
If there is a question of quality it would surface here as there are few bashful members on this forum,!

[BJung]

I own MP Molds and a Lee HP mold. Neither has given me problems after I learned how to use them. First, you have to make sure your mold is heated. A hot plate will help. And, you need to both graphite the pin. I would also suggest you drop the bullet with the pin facing down so the hole isn't distorted by the pin as the cast bullet falls out. the changeable pins in the MP molds are also quite handy. With a two-cavity mold, the weight of my cast bullets are more consistent than bullets cast with my Lee gang mold. My Lee HP mold works fine too but it's a single cavity mold. I don't have experience with converting molds. Try artfulbullet.com if you don't find a good answer.

[44Blam]

I have several NOE and MP molds that do HP boolits. They generally work great. My most recent one is a 45 cal mold and it makes GREAT boolits!

[Krh1326]

I have several of MP’s molds, and several of Erik’s Lee conversions… actually waiting on two more mods, from Erik, as I type. Have had zero issues with either of them. I have one NOE 356-124-TC hollow point mold, that throws great boolits, but the design I really don’t care for. It is the RG version ( Rube Goldberg) that has the pins extending thru the bottom, and held in place by two metal clips, screwed to bottom of mold. I find it uncomfortable sliding it across the rest, while casting.

Side note: I really do like MP’s mold quality, but I am starting to appreciate the Lee ones, even more. They are cheap enough to just buy two, use one as is, and have Erik mod the other. No mold modification going from solid to hp, and vice versa