Casting Hollow Points? Suggestions?

[David Bachelder]

I'm relatively new to casting and my experience is limited to two molds. The first a Lyman .358 4 cavity 150gr and the second a Lee .358 six cavity 124 grain. I have learned to cast pretty good boolits using these two molds.

Now things change. I decided to try my hand at a hollow point mold. I bought the mold on line, it was a LEE conversion. I have not tried it yet, but it looks as good as my other molds. I'm sure it will cast great once I learn to use it.

My question; I'd like to hear all the advice I can about casting hollow point boolets before I start. My nature is to dive in with both feet ..... sort through the carnage call it a lesson and move on. This time I want to hear from the experts .... dive in with both feet .. sort through the carnage .... call it a lesson and move on.

If it makes any difference the mold (was made by Erik Ohlen at hollowpointmold.com (http://www.hollowpointmold.com/)). It's his part #187, .358 two cavity, 158 grain RF, conversion. The price was reasonable, communication was great and the work looks first class to me.

Any suggestions?

[Iron Mike Golf]

All my HP molds are made by Mihec. What I have learned is the pins need to be hot, or boolits might not release from the pins. The pins are not big, so they don't hold heat good. A brisk casting cadence helps. Pre-heating on a hotplate is pretty much mandatory for me.

I have also had good success with hitting the pins with a dusting of spray-on graphite.

I have had HP cavities get deformed by the pin if the mold is tilted a lot when releasing.

[rintinglen]

My experience with hollow points is that to get good boolits, you need to run the pot hotter than normal. My Lee pot normally runs at about 7, but for HP molds, I run it all the way to the top.

I cast as fast as I can to get the mold hot and I try to keep the mold closed on the pin(s) as much as possible. The problem I have encountered is that due to the necessity of fiddling with the pins, I cast slower than I normally do. That is why I crank up the heat.

[Sonnypie]

Try diving in head first.
Feet first is jumping in.


You have experience, get out there and cast until you catch on.
It's not rocket science.

[David Bachelder]

Try diving in head first.
Feet first is jumping in.


You have experience, get out there and cast until you catch on.
It's not rocket science.

OK. I didn't say I dive in feet first. I indicated that I take my feet with me when I dive. Orentation was not mentioned.:wink:

[John in WI]

Let me know how your Erik Ohlen mold works out. I contacted him about converting my Lee 158gr SWC mold to a pyramid shaped hollow point. But I held off on getting the conversion done until I can do some testing on my split-tips and drill-press/redneck hollow pointing works. If they don't work out well, I am still seriously thinking about the conversion. I hear he does excellent work.

[lead4me]

I say just do it, I mean you will learn quickly by just casting them. The real beauty here is you really can't mess up. If they don't turn out great in the beginning you just toss them back in the pot. I find that for me I enjoy the journey of learning and the satisfaction when things work. I like casting as much as I like shooting, sometimes after making up a batch that really look good i ALMOST don't want to send them down range.

[MikeS]

I have 2 of Erik's HP Lee moulds. They're truly great moulds to cast with. I think that I can cast quicker with one of his HP modified Lee moulds than I can with a stock Lee 2 cavity mould! I lube the mould with BullPlate or similar lube, both the bottom of the sprue plate, as well as the top of the blocks. the V groove alignment points, as well as the inset bar of the HP conversion, and the HP pins themselves get a very light coating of lube. When opening the mould, just hold it upside down, and when you open the mould the boolits will just drop right out!

Let me know how that mould works out for you, as I've been thinking of getting it too.

[MBTcustom]

The only tip you need has been given succinctly by the knowledgeable folks above.
HP molds are pickier about holding onto the boolits if the heat is not right. Hotter is better and if you get frosties, back off the casting speed until you get to that perfect temperature where the boolits drop shiny but they drop off the pins as soon as you open the mold (if it is a captured pin style mold).
Another thing I would add is be picky about cleanliness when running HP molds, carefully inspect whether the mold is closing all the way or not. There are a lot more opportunities for a little fleck of lead to get stuck somewhere it doesn't belong and start beagling your mold for you (I keep a copper brush handy just in case)
If you are running an aluminum mold, use bull-plate (if you managed to get some) on the HP pins, and especially on the sprue plate.
If you don't already, it helps to cast with a gloved hand rather than a wood stick. This way, you can nudge stubborn boolits out with your thumb.
Keep a pair of needle nosed pliers handy in case you don't get the mold hot enough! Those blinkin boolits can hold onto a HP pin like grim death!
You'll figger it out.

[captaint]

It's funny. I have HP molds that cast fairly normally. Don't really have to do much different - then I have HP molds, from the same maker (MP) that I have to cast at light speed to get the boolits to drop off. I mean seriously as fast as I can cast. I think after we use these molds a few times they tend to improve, in terms of boolit drop off. They do like heat. You may want to avoid overheating your melt, though. I have caused myself problems on occasion by overheating my pot. Won't be doing that anymore. enjoy Mike

[dragonrider]

Welcome to the forum Dave. Molds that are clean and hot is the key when casting hollow points. As soon as you can you will want to get in on a group buy for a MP (Mihec) hollow point mold.

[zuke]

Run'em hot and add some tin.

[David Bachelder]

Great tips. I'm casting my own Lyman#2 alloy, 90:5:5, lead, antimony, tin. I use Tin and Superhard from Rotometals along with pure lead from my dads fishing weights stash. He quit casting weights years ago and the lead was just sitting around.

Eriks mold looks great, but I do have an untrained eye for machine work. I have to admit most all machine work looks great to me.

On another topic, I'd like to find a better price for tin. Tin is getting out of reach.

[zuke]

use "leadless solder". It's 95% tin

[Iron Mike Golf]

Pewter is often cheaper than solder

[Blackwater]

The only thing I can add to the above is that, in my experience at least, I found plain WW alloys produced fragmenting in the bullet I used to use a lot (Lee 150 SWCHP) but if I added some tin to the pot, they expanded MUCH better and still held together much better.

[fredj338]

I don't seem to have teh big issue others do with heat. I cast LHP the same temps as solids. Just keep a steady pace, & I get 95% good bullets. I do pressure cast though, helps fill out the nose. For best results a tin/lead alloy epands better across a wider vel range than straight clip ww.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/44-272.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/452-268-1K.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/9mm-136-1200.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/45-215gr.jpg

[Oreo]

I've been doing some reading in the lead alloy sticky. Sounds like 2% tin and 3% antimony, 95% lead gives 12bhn, and is an ideal hp alloy. Less antimony will soften it up if you need more expansion and can make that shoot without leading but more antimony will make the alloy more brittle then one would like for hps.

However, the article did say that arsenic allows for heat treating for additional hardness. This effect is best when antimony is >4%, and not effective when antimony is 2%. So I wonder if heat treatment would be beneficial at 3% antimony? If so, controlled expansion hps could be made for magnum loads.

[fredj338]

I think HP design is as important as alloy. Shallow cup points give a wider vel range for expansion w/o fragmentation @ highe vel, above 1100fps. For low vel stuff, a larger HP will yield better results. I just tested some 45-70 @ 1600fps using a modified Lyman to cup point. The bullets load @ 348gr cast of range lead. Expansion was well over 1" & the bullet weighed 341gr! I'll have to take some pics & post them. I am going to try water dropping these as accuracy was only so-so.

[Hurricane]

Erik has a reputation for high quality work on bullet molds. You will like your mold. Getting the mold and the pin up to molding tempature is critical. The easyest way to do that is with a an electric hot plate. I put my molds on the hot plate when I start melting the lead. When the lead is ready the mold will also be ready for good bullets either on the first try or very soon afterwards. Heat the pin by touching the tip of the pin to the heating element of the hot plate. Be careful not to burn the pin handle. Good luck with your boolits.