lyman 429303

[twotoescharlie]

I have this mold, with my alloy cast up at 205 grains, very accurate in my 44 special. was wondering why a pointed boolit? this was given to me about 25 years ago by a friend that was moving to another state. easy to cast, carries a gas check. anyone know about this mold?

TTC

[runfiverun]

it's for shooting through things.

[J..]

Handbook of Cast Bullets, (ca. 1958) has a two page article in it detailing the genesis of the "High Velocity Penetrator" or "HiVeloPen" as they called it. It is implied that its designer, Carl Hudson, wanted something that would live up to the metal-punching promise that the .44 Magnum made but didn't quite (in factory ammo) deliver on. Guys I know who shoot it want it for penetration on thick muscled/furred animals (i.e. bears) out in the boonies. Some history.

[Iowa Fox]

Handbook of Cast Bullets, (ca. 1958) has a two page article in it detailing the genesis of the "High Velocity Penetrator" or "HiVeloPen" as they called it. It is implied that its designer, Carl Hudson, wanted something that would live up to the metal-punching promise that the .44 Magnum made but didn't quite (in factory ammo) deliver on. Guys I know who shoot it want it for penetration on thick muscled/furred animals (i.e. bears) out in the boonies. Some history.

Interesting history read. I have both those molds and they do produce bullets that are fun to play with. For sure it takes the correct top punch and seater stem to keep that nice point.

[twotoescharlie]

v e r y i n t e r e s t i n g, thanks

TTC

[Hardcast416taylor]

If you get a blank top punch from "The Perfessor" here on the site, you can make your own custom top punch.Robert

[John Allen]

I just googled it. It is a pretty cool design. Here is some more of the writteup

Handbook of Cast Bullets (ca. 1958) has an article on the introduction of the #429303 by it’s designer, Carl F. Hudson.

“Here is a new bullet I call the “Hi-Velo-Pen” (for High Velocity & Penetration )……It passed time and time again through these 3/16″ steel plates as no other .44 projectile had ever done for me” – HCB, 1958

[Shuz]

I've had this design in 2C and 4C with the gas check shank as originally designed, and I've had a 2C with the gas check shank milled out. None of these moulds was easy to cast with because of the sharp deep lube grooves. l literally had to beat on the hinge pins to get the boolits to fall out on all moulds. I tried mould release and that helped some. Accuracy was never there with this design for me, so I sold all of my 429303 moulds and never looked back. One thing I did not sell was the 303 Lyman top punch, I've found it to be very useful on many designs for which I did not have the "correct" top punch.

[garandsrus]

I have the 429303 mold in a 4 cavity. I expected difficult casting based on what I read but have no trouble with it at all. Not much different than other Lyman 4 cavity molds. I guess I got lucky...

When I got the mold, I also received a seating die stem that matches the bullet. It doesn't deform the tip at all when seating the boolet in the case.

[rintinglen]

I have the 429303 mold in a 4 cavity. I expected difficult casting based on what I read but have no trouble with it at all. Not much different than other Lyman 4 cavity molds. I guess I got lucky...

When I got the mold, I also received a seating die stem that matches the bullet. It doesn't deform the tip at all when seating the boolet in the case.

You, Sir, are very lucky. I had an 357-093 and went out of my way to produce good boolits with it, but when I went to seat them, my nice points got flattened. I tried to order a seating stem for that boolit, but ever since the Lyman's sold the business to Leisure Products, they have produced less and less stuff for the caster.

[Poygan]

I have had the same experience as Shuz. The boolits are very difficult to get to drop from the mold. The best results I've had was to cast with pure lead and the shrinkage seemed to improve the release. With a gas check they worked reasonably well and mushroomed nicely but that would seem to defeat the purpose of the pointed design.