MiHa 452-270-SA (first casting)

[HiVelocity]

Well, I finally got around to trying out the new mold.

After the 20-30 to break-in the mold, they all started dropping like they were escaping from jail. As noted many times here, be sure to lube the sprue cutter and the HP pins where they fit in the brass mold. It makes a difference. Temp was around 750. The mold seems to like the higher temps. Avg Wt was 268.5 grains for this configuration; haven't tried the "regular" HP pins yet.

Now, anyone happen to have a good recipe to push this bullet out of a 7 1/2" SRH?

[Dale53]

HiVelocity;
REALLY nicely cast bullets!

I use the same loading data as for the solid 45-270-SAA as shown in Brian Pearce's article on that bullet. He gives loads for three different strength levels of guns. EXCELLENT data!

If you want that data, send me a private message with your E-mail address.

It is in Handloader Magazine #246 (April-May 2007). You can get a copy of the magazine from Wolfe Publishing (Google).

Dale53

[HiVelocity]

Dale 53,

Thanks for the information. You (all) will love this mold, and before you all moan and groan about waiting times, "ITS WORTH IT!".

Casting quality bullets is almost effortless if you do your part and do a little homework reading this forum (saved me a lot of time and trouble).

I bought the 2 banger for a simple reason, its easier to handle and maintain the heat over a larger mold. Even this 2-banger is quite heavy. I can throw 2 at a time just fine, thank you!. Good Luck!

HV in SC:bigsmyl2:

[Rickk]

Has anybody done some testing of the HPs? I normally cast with straight WW metal, but wonder if it will be too brittle for this boolit? Or is there another thread I should be looking at?
Thanks
RickK

[Dale53]

Look at the "Group Buy Results" and you'll see lots of information regarding results and alloys.

For velocities up to 1000 fps, I suggest 50/50 WW/Lead+2% tin. The tin IS important in helping to make the alloy more malleable (it holds together better instead of shattering).

For velocities above 1000 fps, the 80/20 WW/Lead+2% Tin works better.

It is a balancing act - harder to shoot better and softer to expand better.

I also suggest the smaller hollow point pin for higher velocities and larger animals such as deer.

YMMV
Dale53

[Triggerhappy]

I finally got the chance to cast a bunch with this mold today, as well as the 359640. This is a beast! After casting a couple hundred I sized and lubed them. They can eat up some lube.

The mold worked flawlessly, easy drop from the pins. My only dislike would be the size as cast. I wish it was 1 or 2 thousandths larger. When sizing with a .452" die it trues it but doesn't size much. Seems to work though.

Can't wait to load some up.

TH

[101VooDoo]

High Velocity,

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/HL%20246partial.pdf

Has the article on-line.

Jim

[Dale53]

101VooDoo;
Thanks for the link. That should help anyone else that has this bullet.

For everyone's information, I am running a group buy on a MiHec, four cavity, brass, solid bullet mould. It is up and running and should be a perfect companion to the two cavity hollow point mould for those that want/need a higher rate of production of a solid bullet:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=89429

Come on in, folks, the water is FINE!!:drinks:

Dale53

[joeb4065]

Received my 452-270-SA mold in the mail today, what beautiful workmanship. I can't wait to cast some.

Joe

[Dale53]

I ran another batch from my 45-270-SAA MiHec mould Saturday morning. I ran 20/1 lead/tin this time. That should expand and hold together at typical .45 Colt velocities. This is another of those moulds you can put in the "Special" category!

Dale53

[joeb4065]

I found time to cast with the new Miha mold, all WD WW, loaded them with 13 gr HS-6, (suggested load from John Linebaugh).

I had decided that age had crept up on me to the point that I would never again be able to shoot tight groups, as I had just about exhausted my patience with the old 454424 Lyman mold and every powder I could think of, never could do better than 3-4" at 25 yds. Younger days I could do much better.

Anyway, back to the story.....the 13 gr of HS-6 with the 45-270-SAA Miha mold, was able to shoot real sub-2" groups. Man was I jazzed! This with the first load tried, was amazed. This is gonna be fun, now know I have a really good load, and can play with various charges and other powders to see if I can better that one.

To say I am pleased with his mold is the ultimate understatement. I am sure I will be buying more from him, perhaps something for the ACP Kimber.....then for the S&W 14-3....then the 41. This is gonna be fun.

Oh yeah, the 45 was shot through the Linebaugh built 6 shot 45 Bisley, originally converted from a 41 mag. Has belt mountain pin, bowen rear sight, Linebaugh front. I haven't been this fired up in a long time.

Thanks to you guys for recommending Miha. Great guy to deal with, and his molds are art.

Joe

[Dale53]

joeb4065;
I am not at all surprised that you are having such great results from the Miha mould.

By the way - I was checking over the MiHec web site and noticed that he still has some of the six cavity #68 H&G 200 gr .452" SWC moulds on hand. This is my favorite .45 ACP mould. I have shot several thousand of those bullets since I got my mould. This is ANOTHER winner:

http://www.mp-molds.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=4&=SID

Just a thought...

Dale53

[WARD O]

joeb4065
that is a great load combination. I've been shooting the 13 gr HS6 load with Leadheads 270 SWC for years with excellant results and now I have Miha's mould and will continue with my own bullets. It is very accurate from my 4 5/8 Ruger NMBH.
Ward

[joeb4065]

Think next load I will try will be 23 gr of H110, (another load from J. Linebaugh). Is a bit of a "fire breather", but I bet it would do a number on a hog.

An aside, thanks so much to all here, is a great forum. I have been casting for years, and still learn new things by lurking here. This is a vast repository of experience, and is great that all take the time to share.

[lead_her_fly]

I know I am a little late to this party but today, I got my mould from Miha.

The quality of the mould impressed me right from the start. How the pins fit the mould, the sprue plate and how it works, fit and finish period, second to none I have seen.

I have some H&G moulds. NONE of them are made as well as this, NONE.

I used to have an H&G #503. I wanted it for my Marlin 1894. It cast too small, .430" from the mould with straight Linotype, so I sold it. I did get exactly what I paid for it, so resale value is right up there, but used it cost $200! It worked fine in my handgun, but not in the rifle.

This mould works wonderfully too. How ingenious is the hollow point setup? That is WAY COOL! They work like a dream.

The as cast size was within .0005" from cavity to cavity @ .4545" Both cavities are perfectly round, I like that!

One thing about this mould, and it has already been stated, it likes hot lead and likes to run on the hot side. Frosted boolits work the best. I had the melt temperature at 825*F by the Lyman Thermometer and about every 5th time I had to touch the sprue plate to my damp towel to get the boolits to cool a bit quicker.

You must be fast, the heat dissipates rather quickly from this mould so you must keep lead in it as much as possible. I put one penta pin in and one round one. I must say while there is a bit of novelty to the penta pins, they are a bit harder to cast for. I never did get the fill out that I wanted from them around the pins. I did successfully change it out while the mould was hot and began casting all round nose very quickly. I need to try the plain nose configuration the next time I cast with this mould.

I did have a lot of wrinkled boolits when the melt was cold. I tried to minimize this by "pressure casting" until the mould got up to temperature. I don't have a hot plate YET! :)

This is the first time I have ever cast hollow point boolits and I was amazed with how simple this configuration makes the process work. After the pins got up to heat the boolits were falling off of them like crazy and I didn't have to use any releasing agent.

All in all a good casting session, now to lube the 100 or so keepers and load them up! Get them to the range and lead_her_fly! (Let her fly, pun intended! ;) )

I can tell you this, this is not the only Miha mould I will have in my mould collection. Oh, wait, I have one of the H&G #503 copies too! OK, these are not going to be the only Miha moulds I have in my collection then, how's that! :D

I do have one thing I would change if I could, the size of the round pins at their base. I would like to see the amount of lead left between the edge of the meplat and the start of the hollow point look more like the round nose pins do in the 434640. Say .030" left of the meplat.

There are several loads I want to cook up with this boolit. 3 are for the 45Colt and one for the 45AR. The 45Colt loads are going to be some of the John Linebaugh type in a Puma '92 rifle and Ruger 45 caliber convertible. The M25 -7 may see a wheel full of something like that but more likely a high load of Unique is all it will get on a regular basis.

Again, Thanks to Miha for such a fine tool. Truly, you sir are a Tool Maker!

God Bless!

[RP]

they look so good its going to be hard for me to shoot them.

[lead_her_fly]

Loaded about 75 of these babies up and went to the range. What I didn't do was make any solids. I guess that will be next! :)

I was pretty please all in all. The load was 9.0gr of Unique and the firearms were as mentioned above.

The first thing I noticed from both handguns was that these bullets hit extremely high even at the 960fps I was getting from the 5"-5 1/2" barrels. Like, 5" high at 25 yards. The rifle, these loads developed 1250fps from the Puma, was right on. POA=POI, that was encouraging. At 50 yards I was able to get 2" groups with the open sighted rifle. Not too bad. I didn't run them out to 100 yards, too many folks at the range.

The Ruger sights could be adjusted to make POA=POI but there was no go on the Smith. The sights are all of the way down and still POI is 5" high at 25 yards! Gonna have to take a bit off of the rear sight blade.

Overall, pretty impressed with this boolit. I want to take an animal with it in the worst way!

[Dale53]

lead her fly;
Regarding your Smith shooting high with this bullet. My grand old Model 29 (8 3/8" barrel) came with a front sight that was too low. I couldn't zero it with anything at .44 Magnum velocities. I ran the figures to determine how much higher a front sight I needed. I was competing heavily in IPSC at the time and one of the Nationally Known Gunsmiths set up at the IPSC Winter Nat'ls in Cincinnati. I asked him if he had a solution for my Model 29. Yep, he had several different heights of front sights. As a, much appreciated, courtesy to me he just swapped my sight for his (new factory S&W). Mine had a pinned front sight so the swap was easy. That solved my sight problem for all time.

If your Smith has a pinned on front sight, they probably have one of the correct height for you. Do the math, determine what difference you need, and you'll be good to go.

FWIW
Dale53

[lead_her_fly]

Dale,
Thanks for the info. This M25 -7, blued, 5", unfluted cylinder, job has a fixed front sight. If it had a spring loaded one or pinned one, the fix would be super simple. Not so.

I didn't have to do much math as I have AutoCad and could "draw it out" like Grandpa used to say. I only needed to drop the rear site another .030" or raise the front site the same. A file did the trick on the rear site in about 5 minutes and cost me nothing. Reblued it and good to go.

Once again, thanks for the advice. It would have been easier to snap one if if possible but this will work too.

I'll tell you this, the M25 -7 is a nice shooting firearm. I want to load up some Linebaugh-ish loads for it at some point. Maybe some Pearce 20,000psi ones will be its diet. Gotta get it to hit where it points first though! :)

[lead_her_fly]

I made a modification to my mould.

Haven't cast with it yet but will tomorrow if time allows.

Went to Ace is the Place and looked through their shaft collar section of small parts. I found some with the set screw that tightened on the shaft with an 1/8" bore. They were a bit pricey, but hey, I am doing an experiment here! ;)

Had to drill them out to .155" (approx. 4MM) so they would fit. I have a new battery drill and chucked them up in it and put the drill bit in the vise. Did a tad bit of deburring and all is well.

What I wanted was the split collars, like the one under the mould in one of the pictures, but they would take a bit more modifying to work. Whatever you do though, do not tighten the set screw directly onto the shaft for the hollow point attachment. It will leave a burr that needs to be removed before you can change pins. The "e" clips did the same thing. They buggered up the shaft and had to be filed down to get them out.

What I did was position the screw over one of the "flats" of the bolt head. That way, the set screw might leave a mark there but not on the part that has to go through the hole in the mould. This ain't my first rodeo! ;)

At any rate, take a look. Tell me what you think.

[Dale53]

lead her fly;
Your modification seems to be the "berries". I, too, have had the pins burred from the clips (the pins are just mild steel while the clips are hardened). Those collars should solve that little "niggle".

Good work!

Dale53