Another HP...

[Rangefinder]

Well, I couldn't leave it sitting on the bench any longer without doing something about it... That AK mold was just calling to me to make one cavity do something different... :D

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l259/hillsjim/DSCF6762.jpg

Lee TL 312-160-2R
With a GC the original actually finishes at 173gr. This one is likely closer to the 160gr. NOW. I didn't even throw it on the darn scale to see what they finish at. I guess I'll do that tomorrow--the really interesting part of the mod is over. Can't wait to go play with this one... ;)

[Rangefinder]

Threw it on the scale this morning---Yup, 161gr with a GC and lubed. Worked out just right!!

[Lively Boy]

nice looking bullet!

[Sonnypie]

Hey! I love that!
Got any pictures to share of the mold and how you got there that you'd be willing to share?
I have a couple of directions I'd like to go.
30 cal, and 45ACP.

[Rangefinder]

Sonnypie>> Here's a complete writeup how I HP my molds. ;) Enjoy!

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=123677

[Sonnypie]

Thanks, Rangefinder!
You are a man after my own heart!

I bought a side-by-side 12 ga many, many moons ago. It was tagged "For decorative use only."
I wanted it for a sawed off shotgun anyway, so I didn't care about the last 12" of barrels.
When I test fired it, it was spotty. So I tore it down further.
Broken firing pins.
I got two 1/4 28 G10 bolts and made my own replacements. With my Sisters hand held drill motor and a file.
To this day (25+ years later) they are working fine, as is the old Crescent Arms Peerless Model 12 gauge. Excellent for skeet or quail hunting.

Here I sit, back at the computer. I went out in the shop to try farting around with one of my cement nails. As I was using a punch to remove the washer from it, I managed to get my left pinky with the punch as it came off.
Would've been a blood blister, but it busted open. I'm on heart medications and have thinner blood than when I was younger. So after some pressure, and Nurse Betty putting a tight band-aid on it, I stopped leakin oil.

I'm a step ahead of you as I am fortunate enough to have two wood lathes that I also can do some metal spinning with. And a WWII Delta bench type drill press I dearly love.
Today the USPS will be delivering my brand new LEE DC MOLD TL452-230-2R. (http://www.titanreloading.com/molds/bullet-molds/45-acp-45-auto-rim-45-colt/lee-dc-mold-tl452-230-2r-)
2 cavity. I might have to investigate the possibilities of a dual purpose mold.
HP? or solid? Just pick a hole and fill-er-up.

Thanks for your write up! I have a lot more respect for the guy who is willing to do things for himself.

I just came back in from the shop. It's 97 degrees and climbing. Going to be 106 here today. But I got a rip-roaring start. Including replacing a lathe belt I broke a while back. Found my spare and installed it.
I'm taking a slightly different tact than you did. I am using the cement nail (concrete nail) from my powder driver stuff.
I spun it on my drill press and used my disk grinder to get the taper. Since the jaws on my smaller lathe won't grip much smaller than 1/4" Dia; I decided to take a 1/4" bolt and make it my main mandrill.
When prepped, I flattened the shank end well (slight dish) and drilled with a #27 drill for a short ways (1/16") and tried the nail shank. A bit loose...
So I dropped back to a #29 and made a 5/8" deep pilot hole in the bolt shank. The nail shank would not go in that hole to my liking. So I again stepped up to a #28 drill and bored the pilot hole. Nice interference fit. I cut the nail to length and drove it into the bolt shank to the bottom of the hole.

My progress so far:
The entire thang. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8250190.JPG)
And the tip. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8250191.JPG)

I plan on doing a 1/4" hole for the Hollow Pointer to live in. And my plan is to have a blank as well to make the mold cast solids. Most likely by reversing the handle when finished.

And granted, the pin is presently a bit long. But the mold hasn't arrived yet either.
The pin is 7/16" long. My thoughts is to finish at 5/16"-1/4".
Until then, I can dream.

Almost time to go do the chauffeur with the Grand-kids. [smilie=s:

Don't try this monkey business at home chillins. :shock:

[Sonnypie]

:castmine:

Giving Credit where credit is due...
Rangefinder,
You created a monster! You threw meat before a hungry dog! :holysheep

Just kidding... :smile:
I made that pin yesterday. I liked it so much I made another one.
My brand new mold arrived USPS Priority Mail. I hardly looked at it, I took it straight to the drill press table and started digging through my air hose fittings drawer for some sort of adaptable guide for centering.
Found one! A steel 1/4" flare to 1/4" adapter with a smidgen of black electrical tape worked very well. The shoulder of the fitting sat right square to the face of the mold block.
Guide in place and clamped in the vise, I put Alumitap fluid in the mold and on the #29 drill. To go boldly where few have gone before... :eek:
I braced and began the drilling for the modification. Bingo! The drill emerged out the bottom of the mold block. Whew, that didn't hurt at all.
In fact, it went so well I moved my guide into the other cavity and did that one as well.
Now I'm totally committed. Or should be committed. I have a brand new mold with two precision leaks in it.
OK, time to decide how deep to drill the bottom for the 1/4" shanks that carry the actual pins that form the hollow points.
These will actually index the pins as well for depth, and mold alignment.
I told you you created a monster.
Today I put it all to work and by the time I pooped out it was mid afternoon. I thought the heat was from the furnace. Some of it was, but when I checked my Indoor/outdoor thermometer it was 106.5 out back in the shade.
I stayed inside and took some pictures to share and drank glasses of ice water trying to cool down. Then we went out to eat with the son.
Here I am finally getting back to this.

A clip full of results. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8260192.JPG) (As they dropped)
And you remember these pins. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8250190.JPG) From yesterday.
A mold gone South. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8260194.JPG) What's them wooden handles?
The channels in the mold. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8260195.JPG) I also shortened the indexing pins, and peened the mold to keep them in place.
A boolit, one pen, and the handle I made from a small wire brush handle. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8260196.JPG)

I have to fix the last 4 pictures. I vill be bok!
I'm bok!

My first (And I think my best) pin. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8260197.JPG)
See the differences. The left one is going to get replaced. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8260198.JPG)
How it lays up in the mold. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8260199.JPG)

And finally, the proof is in the puddin. (http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny%27s/P8260200.JPG)

Darn it! I need more lead. [smilie=w:

[Rangefinder]

Sonny, those are FANTASTIC!! I love sharing the insanity--it's such a comfort knowing I'm not the only nut-job on the block! Great work, my friend! Next we gotta see some shot results on some wet-packs or something. A HP just isn't a HP until it gets to show off some expansion! As-dropped looks great. I'll let out one of my little secrets though--on my .357 HP (especially for the .38's) I give it a little twist with the deburring tool to knock off the fin on the HP rim. I'm nit-picky that way. BUT, what I've found is that little chamfer on the cavity mouth really helps expansion in lower velocity loads.

[Sonnypie]

Hi Rangefinder!
Yep, when I load, I do a final wipe on the exposed lead to wipe away the tumble lube outside where it would collect fuzz and grit.
Right there is where the flash will disappear if it isn't gonzo during reloading.
I chose this particular boolit shape to mimic the original 230 grain MIL ball bullets.
My hope is for good feeding in my 1911 Government model Colt.
The slug comes out slow, but like a freight train. I don't know if the HP will actually help with expansion, but it can't hurt either.

That's my story and I'm Sta-Sta-Stickin toit. :violin:

Thanks for pushin me off the fence about HPing my Lee molds.

I have in mind using a TORX driver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx) bit to make a HP with pazzaz.
I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. Partitions inside the HP hole.

We CAN get two HP boolits from the same mold in one casting.
I'll be PM'ing you. I want to send you a little something to help your endeavors. ;)

[Rangefinder]

Nice! ;) Yup, I've gone the direction of the torx bit, too. all the ones I had on hand were so hard I had a lot of trouble machining them down. Need to buy some el'cheapo chinese bits. BUT, I know exactly where this is going. :D

[Sonnypie]

I use an "80 grit gouge". It's a tool a wood turner back East let me onto.
A 1/4" disk grinder. Air driven. Snap on (Power-Lock) disks.
The second pin was the left over from the first. I will be making a new one for that position from a new nail. The powder driven fasteners for concrete anchoring have a perfect curvature to the factory tips.
Normally I can do a pretty smooth job, but I guess I had a bad day. [smilie=1:
I'm not entirely sold on my method, but for now it seems to work very good/excellent. There is enough interference to hold the pins in place during the casting, but allow them to slip right out. The lead alloy releases perfectly.
I found that if I used the pins to wiggle the cast boolits after I opened the mold it insured better releasing, and the handles stayed in my grip to quickly reset the mold.
It helped to zone-in the casting and minimize motions.

I must have been in some zombie state to be out there casting in 106 + degree heat.

On the TORX bits.
Remember the firing pins? OK, apply that to a "poor man's lathe".
Chuck up a TORX bit in a hand-held drill motor. Now you have a way to drive the material while using abrasive papers, or diamond hones, or my favorite a bench grinder, to work your magic on the tip.
You could also chuck up the TORX bit end to turn the hex to a round.
And there is those screw-driver type cheapies which might be fairly excellent when smoothed up....

Another readily available item would be a Phillips screwdriver bit which another poster mentioned. A #0 or #1 might be superb.
There are several interesting shapes we could imagineer© into molds to make our own custom hollow pointing molds.

If I had a metal turning lathe I could make inserts for the molds... :roll:

My brain is a runaway train. :coffee:

Got to run. I'm the vidiographer for the Grand Sons Pee-Wee football team this season...
I subbed one game at the camera, now I'm the season camera man by request. 8-)
Keep your imagination working. :mrgreen:

PS: Check your PM's.

[greywolf444]

I've been thinking of the torx and phillips tips , too. Probably not neccesary , but, we're way past that anyway. I will try it on a spare lee 310 mold as soon as I find a proper bushing.

[Sonnypie]

I'm just sayin.... :wink:
One could easily go places with this insanity...
Round shanks, handles already attached....

Hummm.... (http://www.amazon.com/Silverhill-Point-Star-Screwdrivers-2-Pack/dp/B001HY25V0/ref=sr_1_71?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1314504301&sr=1-71)

Once you've got a hole in your mold you tend to think about plugs you can stick in it.

[Rangefinder]

All right Sonny, now that link was just..... WRONG!! LOL I love it!

And the madness continues.

"They're coming to take me away--haha, they're coming to take me away--hehe..." I'm sure there are plenty who know the rest of the words to that song... :D


Remember the firing pins? OK, apply that to a "poor man's lathe".
Chuck up a TORX bit in a hand-held drill motor. Now you have a way to drive the material while using abrasive papers, or diamond hones, or my favorite a bench grinder, to work your magic on the tip.

It's so funny that you did that, too. I have a Magnum Research SSP Lone Eagle in .22-250 that I had to turn out a firing pin for years ago--using a DeWalt C-clamped to a desk turning a piece of round stock and working it with a set of jeweler files and emery... The flipping thing worked like a charm ever-after.

[Sonnypie]

When you got it bad, you get it bad, Rangefinder.
I now have matching (and polished) pins.
Must..get..more..lead...
There is a sizer and 6er on the way. Oh the shame of it all... :groner:
I will not modify my molds...
I will not modify my molds...
I will not modify my molds...
I will not modify my molds...
I will not modify my molds...
I will not modify my molds...
I will not modify my molds...
I will not modify my molds...
I will not modify my molds...
I will not modify my molds...

ARRGH! [smilie=6: :killingpc

If you don't lube them you can put them back in the furnace and recast them....
Over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over...

[Rangefinder]

If you don't lube them you can put them back in the furnace and recast them....
Over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over...

If you DO lube them, you can STILL put them back in and cast them over and over and over... All you're doing is fluxing! :D

I reworked the 30 HP at the top of the thread today too. :D Bored it larger to take a recessed taper-point pin or flip it to cast a flat-point for .32 Win Spl paper patching. :D Yah, I got it bad too... I know how ya feel. ;)

[Sonnypie]

I did re-do some of my first boolits. I had a box of gas checks so I made up 1000 - 30 cal and boxed the ones I didn't load for testing. (Well, actually I boxed up the test loads as well.)
But I didn't want the Lee lube in my furnace. One of the things they tought is that the boolit melts under a torch, but not the mule snot.
So I kinda figured it might do ugly things trying to burn it off.
So some thinner took it off like a fire hose takes off mud. [smilie=w:
Then I "reformed" the alloy. And no gunk in the pot. :wink:
(I've been fluxing with ground walnut shells. Lizard Litter it's called. Smells good, if you like wood smoke.)

So you weren't completely happy with your pin as it was? The boolit looked great. :confused:
But that's why fellers like us do our own. The pursuit of perfection.
I tried something the other night with the drill press. I chucked up a Phillips Screwdriver bit (like is used for a screw gun) and set the depth stop to press a star into some HP 45 boolits.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I wasn't satisfied with the results. But they are waiting in the metal to be added to the pot.
Round and round... :2_high5:

[Rangefinder]

Oh, I was happy with it for .30 cal. But then I got to thinking that if I opened it a little more, then did a tapered pin with a shoulder, I could run it through my .32 Winchester as another Paper Patch load and not have to worry about cooking off the magazine. The HP actually looks about the same as it did before, but I can do a flat point with it now as well that will likely replace the previous PP mold I have been playing with since it's a full 20gr. heavier and I was looking for a heavy hunting boolit for it. The 150's were nice, but 170gr. full power loads out of a 32 Winchester is a little bit of a mule-kick on 4-legged critters of the larger proportion. I'll probably test fire a few in the next day or two--have to get 'em rolled first.