New to Kramer style HP mold..A few ??.

[FN in MT]

Just took delivery of my 9mm Miha group buy mold with two pairs of pins, the round and penta style.

Inserting the pins into the two holes in the mold for each pin...They are fairly light.

After cleaning, getting it up to temp and actually casting, open the mold...Then what?

Push the slug AWAY from the cavity by pushing evenly on the two pins?

NEVER owned or used a hollow point mold before....I don't want to damage my new one.

Thanks in advance,

[Beagle333]

If it is hot enough, then most of the time the pins will slide out with the boolit falling off them as you open the mold..... but it's not a perfect world, and so until I hit that "sweet spot" of temperature where that happens, I do push mine out (away) from the pin side until they fall off the pin. I use a soft pine furring strip as my sprue cutting stick and also to tap the handle hinge nut to encourage any hangers-on to jump off, and I just use that stick to slide the boolit out of the cavity (by pushing [read: gently nudging] on the two pins, as you mentioned) and then if it doesn't fall after it slides away from the cavity, I tap the handle hinge pin. If you lube the pin tips with sprue lube (with a lightly dampened Qtip) and reapply about every 100 boolits, they will fall off when you push the boolit away from the cavity. And when you find that perfect temp where the boolits just won't wait for you to completely open the mold before they are dropping.... cast like your arm is on fire, while the going is good! :wink:

[cbrick]

You've been around long enough to know the importance of mold temp, now keep in mind the importance of pin temp. The pins do not have the mass of the mold blocks and they cool very rapidly. Keep the blocks closed and full as much as practical, keep the pins out of the air & cast fast. Pins too cool will grab boolits like they are welded on not to mention poorly filled out cavities & noses. A hot HP pin is a happy HP pin. Use Bull Plate to lube the shafts where they go through the blocks. HP's is just another learning curve like everything else in casting, have at it and post some pics of your new creations.

I use a gloved hand to open the sprue plate and the gloved thumb to push the pins out with the mold upside down, if the pins are hot enough the boolits will fall off on their own.

Rick

[GaryN]

Good advice above. Also, when installing the pins, make sure the rods on the pins are not tight. I loosen mine a half turn. It seems to help.

[FN in MT]

Great advice Thank you Gentleman.

When entering a new area i'm not afraid to ask for directions.

[Oreo]

Yea, you have to loosen the two horizontal locating pins on each. Breaking them free the first time can be tough since Miha really torques them down it seems. So be careful not to strip out the heads. You want them barely finger tight minus a little, then they'll slide freely in the mold block.

Also, depending on the pin profile it may be helpful to take some 600grit-1000grit sand paper and remove the tooling marks from the bit that contacts lead. It will help the boolits drop free.