Experiences With The Lyman Pin?

[AlHunt]

I've been offered an aluminum 2 cavity mold with one cavity having a hollow point pin. I believe it's called a "Lyman Pin". It has the pin mounted on a wooden handle and inserts into the bottom of the mold.

Can anyone who has used this style of pin tell me how well it worked? This is a 22 caliber mold, if that matters.

I've got an MP mold with his sliding pin system. It works fine, the bullets drop out like buttered biscuits. But it has to be flipped upside down to drop the bullets. Definitely a different motion than open and drop. It seems like maybe with the separate pin, a person could open, drop and then reach down to recover the pin.

Thanks for any feedback.

[mattw]

I have an use several Lyman hollow point moulds. They work well, albeit slowly by today's standards. They have the same issue that every other HP mould has, the pin has to be hot to release the bullet easily. I have 2 different ones in .41, a couple in .357 and one in 9mm. I also cast with NOE HP moulds, I find them to be a giant pain until they get very warm. Then they drop very good bullets as well.

[Mk42gunner]

My experience with a Lyman HP mold is that you want to twist and pull the pin before you cut the sprue or even think about opening the mold.

It is a viable way of making hollow point cast boolits, but it is not in any way shape or form fast.

Robert

[mehavey]

Close the Mould
Insert pin/Twist pin to lock
Pour the lead

Crack the sprue cutter open slightly
Twist pin to unlock/Pull the pin
Open the mould
Tap the hinge/drop the bullet

-- Repeat --

[stubshaft]

I usually cast faster to keep the pin at the right temperature.

[gwpercle]

They work well but slowly...S-L-O-W-L-Y ! Think molasses flowing in winter !
But you have an extra cavity so at least you can drop a solid along with that HP .
Hint ...you have to keep the pin hot ...some kind of way ...a cold pin will not give good results .
Gary

[rintinglen]

I have used them in the past, but never will again. Slow, finicky, difficult--They are simply not worth the time or money. Save up your lunch money and get an MP Cramer-style mold if you want hollow point cast boolits. The Lyman are as obsolete as a Model T. Given that this is a 22 caliber, I would pass on the HP in any event. 22 caliber bullets have a small cavity as it is, and require a rapid casting pace if you want good boolits. The replaceable pin Lyman type molds slow you down too much to allow you to maintain that steady, rapid pace that you need to make good boolits consistently..

[Mal Paso]

I've seen guys punch a hole in the tin can covering their mold heating hot plate to hold the pin when it isn't in a mold. One guy had a wire hanger to hold the pin over a propane torch.

[AlHunt]

Thanks for all the feedback on this. It sounds like it works but it's not ideal for any kind of production. A friend of mine has a 9MM and your comments sort of echo his. I think I'm going to let this one pass.

[gwpercle]

Thanks for all the feedback on this. It sounds like it works but it's not ideal for any kind of production. A friend of mine has a 9MM and your comments sort of echo his. I think I'm going to let this one pass.

The only HP moulds I ever used were the 1 cavity Lyman with the pin ... production was so slow I just gave up on hollow point handgun boolits and started using a soft-ish alloy to try and get some expansion. Take the money you were going to spend on this mould and buy a NOE mould with 4 cavities and if you are still wanting HP's get the mould with flush pins , hollow point pins and penta point pins ... like having 3 different 4 cavity moulds all in one ... and cast a lot more during a run .

www.noebulletmolds.com

Gary

[AlHunt]

The only HP moulds I ever used were the 1 cavity Lyman with the pin ... production was so slow I just gave up on hollow point handgun boolits and started using a soft-ish alloy to try and get some expansion. Take the money you were going to spend on this mould and buy a NOE mould with 4 cavities and if you are still wanting HP's get the mould with flush pins , hollow point pins and penta point pins ... like having 3 different 4 cavity moulds all in one ... and cast a lot more during a run .

www.noebulletmolds.com

Gary

This is a bit different, I need a heeled design so my choices are limited. NOE makes one I can use but, like everything else on the planet, it's out of stock. I don't need a HP design but it might have been fun if it weren't the Lyman pin design.