View Full Version : Casting with Lyman hollow point molds?
brewer12345
01-20-2020, 10:51 PM
I picked up a long discontinued Lyman single cavity mold for a hollow base minie bullet and it looks like a typical Lyman hollow point mold with the pin in the bottom. I haven't had a chance to cast with it yet, but is there a trick to it? How do you get the bullet off the pin without deforming the relatively soft, freshly cast bullet?
45workhorse
01-20-2020, 11:00 PM
You twist the pin and pull it out with the mold blocks still together, then open the blocks. Boolit falls out, repeat a few thousand times.
brewer12345
01-20-2020, 11:12 PM
Aha. Thanks. Since this will be a shoulder shaking 54 caliber conical meant for hunting charges, I suspect a few hundred will be more than adequate.
StuBach
01-20-2020, 11:12 PM
You twist the pin and pull it out with the mold blocks still together, then open the blocks. Boolit falls out, repeat a few thousand times.
This is how I do it as well. Makes it super easy to get nice quality HB.
Winger Ed.
01-20-2020, 11:17 PM
The Lead cools enough in a few seconds, and doesn't stick to the pin.
Single cavity HPs are a little slow and tedious, but you won't have any problems with it.
45workhorse
01-22-2020, 04:06 AM
To heavy of a charge and you can blow the skirt, base of bullet apart.
brewer12345
01-22-2020, 10:44 AM
To heavy of a charge and you can blow the skirt, base of bullet apart.
With a traditional minie, yes. This is a discontinued mold that was designed with a short, heavy skirt for heavy hunting loads. I will be trying these and maxi balls to see if I can do better than a Lee real.
Mk42gunner
01-22-2020, 06:19 PM
One additional bit of advice: pull the pin/plug before cutting the sprue.
I learned this the hard way while casting some 457122's, no fun trying to twist the pin out when the freshly cast boolit is just spinning in the blocks.
Robert
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