MiHec 4 cavity brass 45 RCBS Cramer HP

[denul]

Mine came in 2 days ago. This was my first Mihec mould requiring assembly of the HP guide pins, but that's not an issue at all. I have more than a dozen of his molds and have never had HP guide pin alignment issues described by others. I like fiddling with them while the Promelt is getting hot. I now clean the cavities only, outdoors, with brake cleaner only (don't use the Dawn and water anymore), and then leave the mold on a hotplate until it will smoke the included Mihec lube. I lightly cover the sprue plate, alignment pins, etc, and cast away. Things were hot, so fillout was great, and it only took 2 whole casts to end the lube voids. After that they were fine, and dropped from the shorter penta pins like a dream; open the molds and they just drop!

The only hindrance to my production was waiting for the sprue to harden. I have tried quenching the sprue plate with a wet towel, and that does speed cooling, and does not warp the mold or sprue plate as some may fear. In my experience, it does rust the plate, at least if it's of steel, even if one is aggressive with the lube.

My preferred method of dealing with this is to start with 2 preheated Mihec molds, so that the sprue cools on one while I handle the other. Using this method last week, I got about 900 total of 360640 and 452640, in about an hour. I use a WW Lino mix that runs about 15 BHN. Today, using the only this RCBS design, I got about 600 in the same time. I like the 2 (or sometimes 3) mold method because you also get some variety from the same session.

I believe this RCBS design is a favorite of Mike Venturino for its flexible use in multiple 45 cartridges. I'll peruse Handloader issues to turn up some of his data for 45 ACP and the Auto Rim, and welcome input from others here about this one. Meanwhile, was just wondering how many of you cast with more than one mold per session?

[Potsy]

I finally got a chance to play with mine the other night.
I cleaned it with dawn and hot water, lubed it up and stuck it in the toaster oven while my drip-o-matic heated up, fluxing, etc.
It took me FOREVER to start getting consistently good boolits (LOTS of rounded bases) I played with flow rate back and forth, then, finally, lowered the mold rest just a little, guess what, perfect boolits (almost) every time!
The only problem I had from there, is if the large HP pin (the only one I tried) is used in the rear cavity, it wants to hang upon opening and it boogers up the boolit a little. I'll just bear in mind to use it in the front cavity.
I seated these (solids) over 5.6 grns. of H-Universal, which might have been a little warm because I had to seat them just a bit deeper than I intended to get them to feed while manually cycling (the noses kept jamming into the feed ramp). Anyhoo, I loaded 16, went to the range, and they fed fine during live fire. No hangups. Groups weren't great (bout 4" @ 25 yards), but I've just started fiddling with it, and I had a bit of an "off day" anyhow. BTW, these were all solids. Haven't loaded any HP's yet.
I need to play with seating depth/charge wt. a little more and see what my chrony tells me. I suspect they might like heat treatment as well.
I'm also wondering if my super duper ww/shot/tin alloy that I cast everything out of will expand worth a flip when I start playing with the HP pins a little more in-depth.

[45 2.1]

The only hindrance to my production was waiting for the sprue to harden.

A small electric fan is your friend here. Have it blowing across the area you rest your mold after filling, not towards your pot.

[denul]

I have a very nice load behind my wheel weight/ Tin alloy, BHN 11, 5.5grs. IMR PB, White label 50-50 lube, 205 gr., with the large hollowpoint, about 830 FPS, H&K tactical. These were fired into wet wood chips. They penetrated from 18 to 20 inches. They are just starting to open up nicely.

[freebullet]

Aren't those deep points amazing . Wonder what they will do from a sabot in an inline at1600+ . Thanks for sharing the pic.

[Beagle333]

I like it a lot!

8:1 pure/WW with 2.5% tin. Drops at 200.9 gr on avg. at .454
Can't say how they shoot. I don't have a .45 (yet!)

[thegreatdane]

Wow those are beautiful. Great work!

[dragon813gt]

Finally got around to casting w/ this mold on Saturday. W/ 96/3/1 alloy it was dropping 230 grain solids and 200 grain large hollowpoints right at .0454. Like my other 45 caliber MP mold this one is extremely easy to cast with. Mold is preheated on a hot plate while the lead comes up to temp. At 715 degrees the solids were falling out of the mold upon opening. Most it took was a gentle tap w/ a gloved hand if they hung up. At 730 degrees the hollowpoints were falling out upon opening. I did take a pencil to the pins before I started casting. I don't know if it made a difference w/ this mold but it has for others.

Sprue was hardening between 5-8 seconds, counted to five and opened sprue plate, counted to three and dumped bullets. I had some issues w/ noses tearing because they weren't hard enough when I opened it up which is why I was waiting after opening the sprue. This was done in an unconditioned garage, well the torpedo heater was running, when it was between 25-35 outside. I'm sure I could bring the alloy temps down but everything was working so I kept w/ it. Not sure when I will get a chance to shoot them but I will be sizing and lubing w/ 2500+ this week.

This is another great mold from Miha and I find all his 45 cal molds are the easiest to cast w/. Some of the others are finicky.

[Scramjet]

Just got notice from MP mine is ready for payment and shipment. Looking forward to it after the photos and write-ups.

[MiHec]

I still have 2 molds in 2 cav and one in 4cav.
PM me if you want one.

[jafierst]

MiHec - PM Sent

Beagle333 - Those look great!

[ol skool]

PM sent 1/22 and payment for the 4 cavity on 1/23.

Arrived today, 2-7-14. Very nice. Thanks!