New guy, new to me mold, HP trouble

[The Kid]

Start off by saying hello fellas, I've been reading and absorbing knowledge here for some time. Until now I hadn't registered because I hadn't had any questions I couldn't answer by reading old threads.

I have just started casting again this winter, have a new to me mold, and am having some trouble with it not dropping the bullets. It is a Cramer 1D/1E combo mold designed for the 45-70 best I can tell. One cavity is the old standby RNFP 405gr plainbase, while the other is a HP with a huge cavity. When I can get a good bullet out of the HP cavity, rarely, it only weighs 245gr sized and lubed. The hollow point pin extends at least halfway down into the length of the bullet, it is .250 at the nose tapering to .187. The trouble is that even after I found out, from reading here, to heat the HP pin for good fillout, I can't get the nose to turn loose of the pin. I've smoked the pin, scrubbed it with steel wool, then scotchbrite when that didn't help, and finally gave it a very gentle buffing on a sisal wheel with 555 compound. None of this seemed to help in the slightest even with the pin shining like a new nickel.

I finally gave up and turned a new HP pin on my lathe to be used Lyman style, although I shouldered the pin so I wouldn't have to modify the mold. I just let the weight of the mold hold it against the shoulder of the pin while the pin's handle sits on the bench top. I made this pin to cast a smaller HP lubed and sized they weigh 264gr when using the new pin.

I would like to be able to use the original pin as I like the Cramer setup, and think they would be dynamite on deer out of my 1886 when cast softish. If you have any ideas I'm all ears, thanks for having a great site with lots of shared knowledge.

[zuke]

Turn up the heat in your lead pot,the pin take's a lot of heat away.
That's been my finding.

[41 mag fan]

How are you heating your mold? Are you preheating on a hot plate or dipping into the melt? Sometimes it takes awhile for the pins to getas hot as the mold itself. If your first few casts are no good, try leaving the melt in the mold an extra few sec to bring the pins and mold up to temp.
If that dont work, take some bullplate on a q-tip and wipe the pin, then with the dry end of q-tip wipe off excess on pin.
This should help them to fall off. The first few will be wrinkley inside the hollow point, but they fill out after a few casts.

[CWME]

I would try the bullplate or some 2 stroke mix oil first. I do that for my fishing sinkers etc and it helps. You might try backing the pin off or turning it down some seeing as you have a lathe.

[cbrick]

Welcome to CastBoolits Kid,

You didn't say what your pot temp is but if it's 700-725 degrees there is no need to turn it up and it would be detrimental to the tin in your alloy.

The reason boolits fall from the mold is because as they cool they shrink and no longer fit the cavity that made them. It's the same thing with the HP spud, as the alloy (boolit) cools it shrinks and will fall off the spud. If your casting too hot it will take longer for the alloy to cool enough to shrink. It takes more time for enough cooling from a 800 degree pot temp than it does from a 700 degree pot temp.

Yes, the mold and the pin need to be at proper casting temp but a 700 degree pot is at least 300 degees over proper casting temp of the mold & pin. 300 degrees is plenty heat to keep the pin & mold properly heated. You need the pin kept hot, faster casting normally does this, stop inspecting the boolits while your casting, keep casting and look at your boolits when your finished. The pin has far less mass than does the mold and thus it cools much faster than the mold. Keep the pin in place and the blocks closed as much as possible, re-fill ASAP.

I highly recommend Bullplate on the sprue plate but not anywhere inside the mold, ever. Proper casting should solve your problem, oil in the cavities will cause problems.

Rick

[uaskme]

Take pencil lead and coat the pins with that. If you get oil anywhere in the cavity it will cause problems.

[The Kid]

I would love to cast faster but can't get the finished product out of the mold:). The last bullet I cast before switching to my shop made pin, I couldn't pull off the pin after it cooled with my hands. I wonder if maybe some buffing compound residue caused some sort of sticking or soldering effect, I cleaned it with MEK after I polished it. Beats me, sure is a neat mold though, casts great 405s.

[uaskme]

In the past year I have bought 8 of his molds. Coat the pins with carbon, trust me. I also heat the mold on a hot plate. Since I have been coating the pins with pencil lead I have had no problems. My first mold I too had to take a pair of needle nose to get the boolits off the pins. I have since learned how to use them and the boolits fall like rain. You have to push the pins out with a push from a wood mallet or such.

[cbrick]

Try pre-heating the pins more, a too cool pin can be a bear.

When I first started casting HP's, both conventional pin and Cramer style I had the same issue with sticky bullets. Almost seemd like they were welded on but a hot enough pin should solve the problem. Once the pin is hot enough they should fall off and you can cast fast enough to keep them hot. Once the pin is almost hot enough they should start falling off better but the noses may not be well filled out. The solution there is the pin isn't quite hot eough, keep casting.

Rick

[DLCTEX]

I dip the pin in the melt to warm it, the wipe the lead off with a cotton cloth if any clings to the pin. I preheat the mould on a hotplate. I agree with using a #2 lead pencil on the pin if necessary.