I recently purchased a bullet mold from a manufacturer generally unknown about here in the states and thought you all might like a review. That being Hensel GmbH in Waldfischbach-Burgalben Germany. The mold in question was purchased for a Werder carbine. Hensel makes a number of specialized molds for oddball rifles. In this case I needed a bullet approximately .452" in diameter with a hollow base to match the original German bullet. I purchased a Lyman 457124 and was considering milling the bottom groove and band off, but decided against that for now. That pretty much limits me domestically to Steve Brooks or Bernie at Old West for a custom mold. I've ordered from both before, but found Hensel through searching and that he had a mold on the shelf and ready to ship that is made specifically for this carbine. I was also interested in trying something new. Total with shipping and after Swift fees was about $225. Communication with the owner, Heinrich Hensel, was very good and he was able to accommodate by doing so in English. Shipping took a few weeks to get from Germany to the center of the US once the funds had cleared.
The mold comes shipped tied together with a plastic tie in a small plastic box with an "Important Note". The "cutter" or sprue plate is left loose as shipped and should be adjusted to swing freely when hot to avoid galling (scraping).
The mold itself consists of the two blocks which ride on a lower plate that keeps them aligned to the center base core pin. My initial impression was that of high quality machine tooling. After use, the blocks and base plate took on a bit of straw color, so I think they are steel.
This threw me for a loop. The mold does not have traditional venting like we are used to seeing. Instead there appears to be one huge vent cut into the block on the left starting partway on the nose of the bullet down to about the bottom grease groove. This can be barely felt with a finger and I'm guessing can't be more than a few ten thousands of an inch deep. I was skeptical about this, I won't lie.
A view of the screws that secure the halves to the handles and the core pin to the bottom plate. A set of LEE six cavity handles work well. The screws have to be removed to eyeball the hole alignment with the handles. They also have small brass bushings that ride in the base plate grooves (seen under the washer in the photo. The core pin can be adjusted a small amount. I was able to get bullets varying from the advertised 330 grains down to about 308 grains by adding or subtracting small washers under the pin.
I like to use Rapine mold graphite on my molds as a release. After spraying the mold down with brake cleaner, adjusting the sprue plate, and applying the graphite inside and out, I started in. I was running my LEE 4-20 at about 750F with a "soft" wheelweight lead. Once up to temp, the mold threw beautiful (and somewhat frosty) bullets. I found that if I cut the sprue, turned the mold over and opened it upside down, bullets fell right out. They never stuck to either mold half or the core pin (surprisingly). I never experienced excessive flashing along the side of the bullet or at the nose, so the skepticism about venting was unwarranted. Advertised diameter is 11.5mm (.4527"), and I was getting bullets that measured just about that everywhere but the base band, which measured about .454". It's a joy to use compared to some molds which can be absolute head-aches, and I was able to maintain a decent production rate despite it being a single cavity mold. I look forward to using it much more.
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