First Brass "MiHec" Mold!

[seagiant]

Hi,
I have always been a fan of the H&G#68 boolit for the 45 ACP cartridge. The best I could do starting out years ago was the LEE 6-cav. rendition,which we all know is not a faithful copy although it seems to work very well. I then happened to be in the right place at the right time to pick up a MiHec 6-cav. aluminim clone. This mold looked like the LEE but was a faithful copy of the H&G#68 and the mold was of better quality!

A few days ago I found the same design from Mihec except in a 4-cav brass mold. After using it I have to admit I don't see ANY difference in the final product between the brass and aluminum! Looking at the brass mold I noticed that he used a sprue plate screw stop bushing so the sprue plate could only be tightened down so far. I have never seen this and to be honest it felt a little loose to me but I thought I would try it first and give it a chance. After using it it seems to work fine and I will leave it alone although I have a lathe and could shave a bit off to tighten it up!

I also noticed a nice 1/4" sprue plate and he had ground a channel between the sprue holes for the lead to flow. I would say quite a bit of attention to detail and it is a joy to use!

[barefooter175]

I just finished casting 700 bullets with this mould about 30 min. ago. I warmed the mould before casting and my second pour were all keepers. The only issue I have with it is that there is some flashing at the base of some of the bullets. I have to tap the sprue plate lightly and make sure I keep the mould level to minimize this.

I have another NIB mould as a backup. I may eventually put it up for sale if I don't find a need for it. In the meantime, mould #1 will be my workhorse for the H&G68 bullet.

FWIW...

James

[MtGun44]

Good looking boolits. Load to 1.250 to 1.260 LOA, taper crimp to .471 or so at mouth edge
and you will be about 98% certain to have excellent results. Lube with something well known
like NRA 50-50 or LBT soft blue, size to .452.

Miha makes absolutely superb molds.

Bill

[seagiant]

Hi Gentlemen,
I took the liberty with the photo in the first post to use some of the boolits from the MiHec 6-cav. mold as at that time I had not used the new brass mold. Here are some pics of the boolits from the new (to me) mold.

Barefoot, I wonder if your sprue plate is so loose that you are getting flash between the plate and the mold? As you can see from the pics if you enlarge that I don't have any flash on the bottom but if I did I would either flatten the bottom of the sprue plate and or tighten the screw! I had that problem with an RCBS mold and flattening the plate fixed it.

Mt. Gun,thanks for the info,I like this mold so far but I'm not going to run out and sale all of my RCBS molds! I still think iron is the best!

[MtGun44]

Make sure the plate fits well, hold closed mold up to strong light and see if there is a gap
between the top of the mold and the bottom of the sprue plate. If so, it might be bent
slightly or need a touch of tightening. I have had used molds with warped sprue plates
and flattened them out by polishing on 180 or 240 grit Wet or Dry sandpaper on a
surface plate. Sometimes there is a burr or something like a bumped edge lifting
the sprue up a bit. Might need to dress off a bumped up bit of metal with a fine
file.

Hard to be certain without really close look, but the boolits look pretty good in the
pix.

Are you using Bullplate lube on the alignment features and bottom of sprue plate?
If not, I strongly recommend you contact Bullshop and purchase some, use very
sparingly. Excellent lube for molds, keep out of the cavities.

No question that RCBS molds are excellent, and the Mehanite material that they
are made of is, IMO, superior to Lyman's iron material.

Bill

[cbrick]

Make sure the plate fits well, hold closed mold up to strong light and see if there is a gap
between the top of the mold and the bottom of the sprue plate. If so, it might be bent
slightly or need a touch of tightening. I have had used molds with warped sprue plates
and flattened them out by polishing on 180 or 240 grit Wet or Dry sandpaper on a
surface plate. Sometimes there is a burr or something like a bumped edge lifting
the sprue up a bit. Might need to dress off a bumped up bit of metal with a fine
file.

No question that RCBS molds are excellent, and the Mehanite material that they
are made of is, IMO, superior to Lyman's iron material. Bill

Same as I do except I don't use a file, I use 600 grit sand paper on a glass plate. A few years back I was on the phone with RCBS talking about another matter and I mentioned that a couple of my RCBS molds seemed to have the sprue plate warped. They sent two new ones to me free of charge.

That RCBS is an excellent mold is an under statement. For an off the shelf mold they have no peer's anywhere plus the fact that RCBS in many boolit styles, calibers have such outstanding boolit designs. I have several similair bullet styles in RCBS, Lyman, SAECO molds and the RCBS boolit out shoots the others in almost every case.

Rick

[41 mag fan]

Seagiant...that mold looks illegally made...like a counterfeit....you need tosend it to me and i'll do a forensics on it and make a bunch of casts up to make sure its a legit. timeline for returning is unknown at this time :bigsmyl2:


Nice looking mold you got there...Miha does works of art on brass molds.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Well, I sold what Lyman molds I had years ago and don't plan on buying any ever again. I've got to the bend in the road after 25 years of casting that if RCBS dosen't have it I will just get a custom mold,MiHec,NOE,ect.!

[41 mag fan]

Still looks like a counterfeit mold to me!! Brass doesn't look shiny enough....better send it to me for inspection!!! :kidding:

[mkf350]

Love them MP molds have a couple.

[Trey45]

Congrats on your new Mihec mold! I have the exact same mold and once it's heated up properly it runs like a champ. I have a disability that limits the amount of time I can sit or stand in one place, casting becomes a chore after an hour, 90 minutes at the most. I have to make the absolute best use of my time while casting and trying to get a tempermental mold to work wastes valuable time, I don't have that problem with Mihec molds. I see you don't either! Be careful! Mihec molds are addictive, they will spoil you quickly and you'll find yourself turning your nose up at even some of your current favorites in favor of using the Mihec instead.

In my humble opinion, the best casting molds that I own are H&G, Mihec and NOE, I also have one LBT mold that will give my H&G's a run for the money. I also have one 4 cavity Lyman that will run like an H&G. However, that is the ONLY Lyman mold I have that will compare to an H&G.