MP-Mold first time using.....Meh and 2nd time casting pistol rounds

[Stopsign32v]

Well I decided to give this brass mold a try. Lord almighty was it wrinkled boolits for DAYS. I remembered reading 2 things, these brass molds like to be HOT and to give myself some time before cutting the spur plate so to rotate between each molds. Well this turned out to be counteractive. This gave the MP mold too much time to cool down. So at some point I put down the old 358429 and started banging away at the MP mold quickly and then the boolits started looking good. Below is the best version of each I think but most of the ones I kept are of this quality. One thing that stuck out was the deep cavity pin, one would stick badly. I did the old lead pencil trick and it worked for a while. What I ended up doing was lightly taking a pair of scissors and getting in the lube groove and pulling it out like a tooth. Worked decent and was quick. I'm in absolute love with the Lyman 358429 mold though.

If I had could do anything differently I would rather have the 2 cavity instead of 4.

[Stopsign32v]

And here is the good ol Ideal 358429. Absolute love this little single cavity mold!

[358429]

Your castings look good.

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[StuBach]

Nice job. Nothing beats an old iron mold like the Lyman/ideals and Hensley and Gibbs but I can say the MP molds get better the more you “season” the brass. The deeper the patina you have the easier the bullets will drop. My first mold from him was a bear and I hated it the first couple of sessions and than all of a sudden one day it started raining bullets and I haven’t looked back. I’m assuming you had already cleaned and heat cycled the mold before first use but I’m sold on this helping get molds up to speed faster. Any cutting oils or lubes left in the cavities will turn to glue and make things tough.

An additional tip that works for me, I take some 2000 grit sand paper and wet polish the pins a little to kick if any tiny groves or burs they might have and than I store all pins in MP mold lube when not in use. This seems to work well for me so when I put them in the mold they are ready to go.

With your iron mold, don’t forget to store it with some sort of rust preventing oil on it if storing for long term. If you do this that mold will last forever. I have some that are at least 70 years old and still going strong and have helped restore a few others that weren’t treated so well.

[ryanmattes]

I was casting with an MP brass mold tonight too, and also found I had to run it hot and fast. As soon as you drop you gotta refill it to keep it from cooling off.

With a 4 cav hollow point, it's pretty heavy to keep moving that fast for long. I got it running right, then cast about 200 before I wore out.

I did just as many with a Lyman 2-cav 454190 at a much more relaxed pace earlier this evening. Tough to beat those iron molds.

I mostly was testing the two molds, the Lyman is new to me and the MP I just cleaned up after it not wanting to close right.

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[DAFzipper]

Polish the hollow point pins. You won't regret it.

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[Minerat]

A hot plate will keep the 4c moulds hot too. Once the brass gets the patina it will cast better. Polishing the pins and keeping them hot will help the release. I run my melt at 750° and cast till the bullets start frosting then go to 2 moulds, usually the second is an iron 2 cavity. If the pins start cooling you will get funky HP's especially on the pentas where the corners will not be filled out.

You can't do that 2 mould thing with a .223 or .172. Melt goes to 775° and start fast casting about every 4th pour it goes back on the hot plate to re-warm.

[Burnt Fingers]

Brass holds heat better than aluminum or iron.

I've never had a problem with a brass mold cooling off. Normally the problem is to keep it from getting too hot.

[Sailormilan2]

Polish the hollow point pins. You won't regret it.

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Are you talking about polishing the cylindrical body? Or the taper for the hollow point? Asking before I do my first casting with a Mihec brass mold.

[358429]

We're all talking about the same thing. Stubach likes to polish the pins with 2000 grit sandpaper. I like to use 0000 steel wool. Dafzipper probably has his own method.

The whole idea is to melt lead and cast some bullets. If while you are casting if the bullets are getting stuck to the hollow point pins, there's a possibility that situation is occurring due to a rough surface finish on the pointy bits of the hollow point pin ends where they poke into the lead bullet, causing some sort of awful interference fit.

I'm sure that furnaces have been turned off, and molds to be thrown, due to this malady.

Maybe that's why there's a landfill in Oregon with a bunch of broken lee stuff.

With the mold at room temperature, and you take your fingernail and drag it across the pin, does it feel smooth or does it feel rough?

If it is rough make it smooth.

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[Sailormilan2]

We're all talking about the same thing. Stubach likes to polish the pins with 2000 grit sandpaper. I like to use 0000 steel wool. Dafzipper probably has his own method.

The whole idea is to melt lead and cast some bullets. If while you are casting if the bullets are getting stuck to the hollow point pins, there's a possibility that situation is occurring due to a rough surface finish on the pointy bits of the hollow point pin ends where they poke into the lead bullet, causing some sort of awful interference fit.

I'm sure that furnaces have been turned off, and molds to be thrown, due to this malady.

Maybe that's why there's a landfill in Oregon with a bunch of broken lee stuff.

With the mold at room temperature, and you take your fingernail and drag it across the pin, does it feel smooth or does it feel rough?

If it is rough make it smooth.

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I was pretty sure that was what was being talked about, but I wanted to double check. The penta points seem seem rougher, when using a finger to slide across. They will require more work.

[Stopsign32v]

I polished all the hollow point stems with 2000 grit sandpaper. We will see if that helps any.

[Sailormilan2]

Did my first casting using my new Mix brass molds today. The large 458 diameter mold did very well. Unfortunately, the 9mm mold will require the hot and fast method. I rejected almost all of them due to wrinkllng. The 3 I saved probably should have been rejected, but, I wanted to finish them and see how they look.

[StuBach]

Did my first casting using my new Mix brass molds today. The large 458 diameter mold did very well. Unfortunately, the 9mm mold will require the hot and fast method. I rejected almost all of them due to wrinkllng. The 3 I saved probably should have been rejected, but, I wanted to finish them and see how they look.

If it’s the 93 grain mold he just tan recently I can tell you that one likes it hot and fast. That was my first mold from MP and it aggravated the hell out of me for a while till I got it broken in and learned it’s cadence. Now it rains perfect bullets almost every time (provided I do my part).

Out of curiosity, what alloy blend are you using?

[Sailormilan2]

If it’s the 93 grain mold he just tan recently I can tell you that one likes it hot and fast. That was my first mold from MP and it aggravated the hell out of me for a while till I got it broken in and learned it’s cadence. Now it rains perfect bullets almost every time (provided I do my part).

Out of curiosity, what alloy blend are you using?

It's his 125 gr 9mm mold. #359-125 As for alloy. Unknown mix but I've never had problems using it in his ALuminum molds.