Erik the Mold Master!!!

[358wcf]

Wow, Wow, Wow!
I just tried my first casts with a mold just received back from Erik Ohlen at Hollowpoint Molds in Corvallis, OR (God's green country!)- all I can say is Wow!!
The mold in question is a Lyman 2cav 375248 plain base flat point for my 38-55Win. Produced new in 12/08, this mold dropped excellent bullets at .3755-.3765 diameter- this did not cut the mustard, as the bore of this excellent Model 94 rifle was .378 What was to be done?
I noticed in Erik's website he showed a .22cal bullet where he had to increase the diameter of the driving bands to correct an undersize cavity-- my problem was the same, only on a much larger cavity.
Shipping the mold to Erik, I spoke with him personally to discuss what I needed done, why, what alloy was being used, desired velocity, and general rifle usage.
Since this is a hunting rifle for small game, deer, and pigs, I requesed he add a hollowpoint pin to one cavity as well as opening the bands. He agreed, but was somewhat cautious in what to expect on the final driving band diameters. I was requesting something (as cast) about .381-.382 so I could size it down to .379 for loading.
The mold was returned by USPS yesterday, and looked fantastic! Clean, crisp machining shows his expertise and patience, and the hollowpoint pin and resulting cavity are a work of art! The pin leaves a mildly tapered cavity .115 diameter at the nose, tapering its length of .425". It looks totally appropriate and original on this vintage hunting round, as I desired. The beautifully cut cavities now drop boolits at .384diameter, and size easily down to .379 in my RCBS LAMII.
Lubed weight is 231gr for the HP, and 240 for the FP as modified by Erik, compared to the unmodified 244gr with my 20/1 alloy.
Casting was easy, at a high temp of 775-800 degrees, to facilitate good fillout of the HP cavity. About a dozen drops to get things started, and off we went with steady production of excellent boolits!!!
This is the way things are supposed to happen, and I can't wait to get these boolits loaded and onto the range. I know I will have the only 38-55 in California shooting classic lead hollowpoints this deer season!
Give Erik a try- you will be extremely please with the quality of his work, and he is just a great guy as well! Did I mention that his turn-around time was only 10 days from mailing the mold to him to getting it back?
Wow, Wow, Wow!!!

[geargnasher]

Yes, I know. But there is a HUGE problem after dealing with Erik, everyone else you do business with now will seem slow, rude, incompetent, careless, and money-grubbing. Sucks to be spoiled. Wish I could find a gunsmith as good as Erik! (Or a doctor, or dentist, for that matter!).

Gear

[putteral]

I had my Lyman 9mm 147FP mold hollow pointed by Erik.
The workmanship was beautiful. He is the best!!

[462]

Recently, I bought a mould from Erik and can say, without any qualms, reservations, or fear of contradiction, that he is epitome of a fair and honest businessman.

Erik described the mould as used, but as far as I could tell it was in absolutely new, unused condition. The original factory perservative was still intact, and there wasn't a sign that any of the screws had seen a screwdriver since the mould left the factory, or of a handle ever being attached.

If any site member is ever in need of a mould, do yourself a favor and drop Erik an e-mail. His price of $48 includes shipping. A real bargain in today's world of hyper-inflated auction prices.

[fredj338]

Yep. Erik's work is top notch. He has HP several molds for me as well as making some add'l. pins for other HP molds. Pleasant guy to deal w/ & obviously cares about his work & customers.

[mtgrs737]

Erik has removed the bevel base on four 4 cavity molds for me, two of which he has pictured on his website. The last two I got a week or so ago and have cast up some samples. Erik does excellent work and I highly recomend him as he is fast and very accurate. I refer to him as a Micro-Machinist, he is very good at what he does.

I have also delt with Buckshot here and find him to be extremely competent and a real asset to our hobby. We are very lucky to have two excellent Micro-Machinists to help us along with our hobby needs!