H&G molds

[luis7]

Hi all.
I just bought a mold H & G # 50358 146, made ​​about 1940-1941 in very good shape.
This marked Geo A. Hensley as much in the mold on the handles.
I find it amazing that a mold with 71 year old work as well as it is doing.
I cast a lot of points with and are great.
Excites me to know that I bought a piece of history of this brand of molds.
I have several brands as wc mold RCBS, Lyman, etc but this is a special mold for antiquity that has
I wanted to share with you from the other side of the ocean.
Greetings from Spain.

[captaint]

luis7 - As you have seen, the really old ones work just a well as a new one, if they have been taken care of. I'm sure you will keep your old H&G working well.
Also, there is a thread here entitled something like "History of Hensley & Gibbs Molds" Really interesting reading and pictures. enjoy Mike Just looked it up. It's under Classics and Stickies - A complete list of Hensley & Gibbs Bullet Molds by Texasflyboy. He's a master collector of H&G molds.

[casterofboolits]

H&G moulds are in a class by themselves, no other moulds are as easy to cast with.

[mstarling]

I bought two H&G molds new back in the day ... now some 30+ years ago. They are still in use and still superb.

The successor to H&G is Ballisti-Cast. I have several of their molds. Almost as good and I expect them to last as long ... which is longer than I will be around.

The MIHEC brass molds are pretty darned good too. Being brass they won't have the service life, but they are certainly not Lee throw-aways!

[MikeS]

What is the service life of a mould? I'm pretty sure brass moulds will last at least 50 - 60 years if treated properly. In a humid environment I'd say the service life of a brass mould will be longer than an iron mould. Mistreat ANY mould, and it won't last very long. Take good care of ANY mould, and they'll last a long time. Personally I would rather have a brass mould over an iron mould any day of the week.

H&G moulds might once have been in a class by themselves, but today moulds from Mihec, NOE, and Accurate Molds have joined them in that class.

[Balta]

Hi all.
I just bought a mold H & G # 50358 146, made ​​about 1940-1941 in very good shape.
This marked Geo A. Hensley as much in the mold on the handles.
I find it amazing that a mold with 71 year old work as well as it is doing.
I cast a lot of points with and are great.
Excites me to know that I bought a piece of history of this brand of molds.
I have several brands as wc mold RCBS, Lyman, etc but this is a special mold for antiquity that has
I wanted to share with you from the other side of the ocean.
Greetings from Spain.

Can you share some pictures with us ?

[Le Loup Solitaire]

H&G molds for me have been superior performers. I am sure that Balisticast has been doing its best to keep up that reputation. I have not yet had the occasion to try/use the molds made by Mihec, Noe or Accurate, although I would respect their quality based on the favorable testimony of many users on this forum. Modern technology has made this possible plus the maker's careful attention to detail. As for longevity of molds I see no possibility of putting a maximum number into the equation as long as the molds are well cared for, so lets just say "indefinitely". Of course the key words are "well cared for". Casters have different preferences for mold materials for many different reasons and I would not question them as long as the bullets turned out are satisfactory/good and perform well. LLS

[luis7]

I´ll take some soon.

[luis7]

My pictures.
At 25 mt with one hand (right).
H&G #50 and 219 with 357 mg. brass and 2.5 gn Vectan Ba10
Greetings

[sagamore-one]

I respectfully disagree with Mike . The only thing in the same class as a Hensley & Gibbs is another Hensley & Gibbs. When I ordered some Custom Matched Pairs of moulds they were cut and tested to be plus or minus a tenth of a grain over 12 (2 sixes) 16 (two eights) or 20 (two tens) cavities. Have you ever tried to measure a tenth of a grain of lead. Even their regular matched pairs were guaranteed plus or minus one half a grain over the entire pair of cavities.
No doubt the current custom makers make a goood product, but certainly not in the same league.
I may not know anything about boolit moulds, casting, or shooting, but I'll keep my H&G Big Uns . Except for an occasional extra or duplicate which I'll pass along here on this forum.

[MT Chambers]

I agree, I like Accurate, NOE, etc....but H&G will always be in a class of their own.

[felix]

Why? ... felix

[M-Tecs]

Per Wayne Gibbs every H&G mold had every cavity was hand finished with the cherry than each mold was test cast for consistency

[sagamore-one]

I have a Custom Matched pair of 68 bb in 6 cavity that have paid for three trips to Gunsite in Arizona from here in Indiana and still cast the same exact high quality boolit even after 35 plus years of continual use, probably in excess of literal tons of alloy..... I challenge you to do the same with an aluminum mould. I have Custom Matched pairs of #316 in 10 cavity,#355 in 10 cavity, #51 in 10 cavity, #43 in 10 cavity, #519 in 8 cavity,# 68 in 6 cavity, #68 in 8 cavity, and #503 in 8 cavity. I may have an inkling about the extreme precision of the moulds and the craftsmanship of Mr. Gibbs. He stands in a class by himself.

[MikeS]

I won't say yes or no when talking about aluminum moulds, but absolutely a brass mould will last just as long as an iron one. Don't get me wrong, what H&G did with the tools available to them truly is AMAZING. But with todays CNC equipment being run by folks that know how to both program them, and use them, my original statement still stands. While I've obviously never measured, but I'm willing to bet the 10th mould Miha makes in a run will cast boolits +- 1/2 grain from the 20th, or 30th, or 100th! And the same goes for Al & Tom, all three of them truly make fantastic products. I've had H&G moulds, and I've sold all of them, except for one I gave away. It was a 10 cavity #73 that was complete junk. Was it junk when it was made? Of course not, I'm sure it was a fine casting mould, but that was many years ago, and between the time it was made, and I got it, it was used, and abused, and is NOW junk. I mean the NEWEST H&G mould is what? 30 years old? Lots can happen between then & now, and the chances of buying a bad H&G mould are a lot higher than buying a bad mould from one of the makers I named. So, if you want to keep your head in the sand, and not admit that there are mould makers now that make moulds as good, or better than any H&G turned out, that's your business, but it's just plain stupid. I'm sure there are folks here that felt the same until they tried some of the moulds being made by Mihec, NOE, and Accurate.

Sagamore, how many if any NOE, Mihec, or Accurate molds do you own? Have you ever even tried any of them? And please understand, saying that they're good moulds doesn't somehow make H&G moulds any lesser of a mould than they were/are. Another thing to think about, in say 50 years from now it's quite possible that there will be moulds and mould makers that make the current crop seem crude! (that is IF people can still cast boolits by then)

[Dale53]

Mike;
+1

Dale53

[sagamore-one]

Well, if I take my head out of the sand long enough..... I count 37 H&G, 6 NOE, 7 Lee, 8 Lyman, and 2 RCBS.
The only thing that even comes close in terms of workmanship and quality is the NOE, but being aluminum alloy I don't think it will withstand continual use as well as the H&G Mehenite alloy of cast iron.
I have one H&G mould made of some sort of brass alloy in 10 cavity. It shows noticably more wear than the regular iron ones. For long life and extended wear protection aluminum engines have iron liners in the cylinders . Think about it.
And having a strong opinion based on actual first hand experience does not make a person stupid.
One last question. When was the last time you saw a 30 year old, used, 8 cavity ( insert your favorite brand) mould sell on this forum for $300 ?? Or a used 4 cavity sell on e-pay for over $400 ?? Yes, that was mine.

[tomme boy]

Might have a iron sleeve, but most of them are hard chromed to prevent wear.

[Hamish]

It's a shame this one took the turn it did, it was quite enjoyable hearing from another country.

[Dennis Eugene]

Hamish +1 Dennis

[williamwaco]

I don't know about the new custom makers but I own two H&Gs made in the 1960s and they are a joy to use. I can get excited just looking at them.

That said, I bought a Ballisti-Cast four cavity H&G #50 clone a year or so ago and it is every bit as good as the H&Gs That would be Ballisti-Cast #651.

.

[MikeS]

Sagamore, Ok, I'll make it easy. If the NOE moulds you have were made out of iron, would they then be in the same class as H&G? If you'll notice, I specifically stated that I wasn't talking about aluminum moulds, but rather brass ones. I personally prefer to cast with brass moulds, but Accurate Molds will also make their moulds out of iron, and while I haven't seen an Accurate iron mould I have no reason to believe it's anything but the same high quality as his brass & aluminum moulds. As far as your brass mould that shows considerably more wear, did you own it for it's entire life? If not, then you can't vouch for how it's been treated, and ANY tool mistreated can wear prematurely. And even if it was treated great it's whole life, and is just wearing because brass IS a softer metal than iron, does that mean it was any lesser of a mould when it was first made? And, being that it's at least 30 years old, you don't think that it has lasted long enough? If I spend $160.00 on a mould (the current cost of a brass 4 cavity Accurate mould), and even get 10 years out of it, I'm happy. If I can get 20 or 30, that's just gravy. Also, how much you paid for a mould, or how much you sell it for isn't the only indication of quality. Many people will pay high prices to buy an H&G mould just because of the mystique of the brand. Granted that reputation is built on the moulds being quality products, I never said they're not, I just stated that IMHO Accurate, NOE, and Mihec are in the SAME quality level as H&G. Having other mould makers in the same league as H&G doesn't detract from H&G.

[Piedmont]

There was a stone age. There was a bronze age. Then there was an iron age. Iron weapons were superior. If brass is as strong as iron and wears as well why aren't rifle makers using it for barrels? Why aren't precision micrometers made of brass? Why don't we have metal files made of brass?

Brass molds work fine but some of the claims here are ridiculous.

BTW H&G ceased production in 1999, not "30 years ago".

[skeettx]

Hola!!!

To lighten things up.......

I might mention that I LIKE H&G Moulds :)

see below

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/MVC-027S19.JPG

[shtur]

Skeettx..............Mamacita, you do like them!

[tward]

Great photo, and I thought I had a problem! Let's lighten up, a mold is a good mold if it works for you! Tim

[MikeS]

Peidmont, a boolit mould is a far cry from a micrometer! And micrometers are not made from iron anyway, they're made from hardened steel. While brass doesn't have the strength that iron has, it has thermal conductivity that's better than iron. Remember you have to use the proper material for the proper purpose. I mean iron is a lot harder than lead, yet we make boolits from lead, not iron!

[Leadmelter]

I bought a Ballisicast #668 mold during a recent group buy. I used it last week for the first time and it is a keeper. Nice bullets on the third try and went on to do so for the next three hours and 800+ bullets. Weighed a few and they were +/-2 gr.
Gerry
MI

[sagamore-one]

Mr. Luis .
I feel the need to apologize for my part in turning your post into an arguement of some sort. I offer you a sincere apology for that, and congratulate you on obtaining a great bullet mould. I wish you well in your endeavor.
Sagamore-One

[luis7]

Hi.
No problem.
I think these comments are more a good debate than a discussion.
If you come to good conclusions this is all good.
Go ahead with your opinions.
In my opinion and as far as I know, H&G it´s number one. It´s like we say in España this mould maker have "solera" (old status)
Thanks at all.

[MikeS]

Luis, I too apologize for my involvement in the disagreement. As you're on the other side of the ocean from the US, if you're interested in trying a mould from one of the 3 makers I was talking about, Mihec is in Slovenia, much closer to you than the guys here in the US. His website is http://www.mp-molds.com and has several of the moulds he made as group buys available as he usually makes a few more moulds than are in the buy, and he sells them on his website. One of the nice things about buying a new mould is that you're pretty well assured of getting a good mould, as opposed to buying used moulds where it's easier to get a mould that's been mistreated, ruining it. His moulds have been referred to as pieces of art, rather than a tool, suitable for display.