About ready to give up on my MiHec 200gr...

[Bass Ackward]

Also bear in mind that heat rizes. Nothing wrong with cheating.

After you open and drop, close up the mold and hold the mold upside down for a few seconds so that heat that was built up by the base and the sprue plate now rizes to the pin / nose area. Then roll over and fill.

[MiHec]

Speed of pouring?? I think it is too slow.

Also run this one HOOOOT - i found 820F is the sweet spot (at least for me).
Preheat mold well

[JesseCJC]

The spout is open flow pretty much, I am cleaning the mould now actually hoping to try again today

[RugerFan]

Speed of pouring?? I think it is too slow.

Also run this one HOOOOT - i found 820F is the sweet spot (at least for me).
Preheat mold well

BINGO! Run it hot and use a FAST casting tempo. I have zero problems with this mould.

[JesseCJC]

Well, initial results are in and they do look better, but still not "perfect" I had to take the small butane torch to the mould to get it hot enough before the rain came but it worked a hell of a lot better than the hotplate did that's for sure. Still having inconsistencies in the cavities but not as bad as before. I will try again when the weather clears up

[whitetailsniper]

i have a very simular mold,its the lyman 180 grain hollow point 2 cav. it looks the same as yours except the hollow point design,,,its for my 45 acp..probally one of the best molds so far .i have 7 differant molds for my 45,,and at leat 7 for my 41 rem mag,, heres what i do,,,, when i turn on my melting pot,lee 20lb. i set it to 8 1/2 setting,,while this heats up i put my mold into a mold warmer box,ontop of my single burner plate,,,my mold warmer box is a electrical (metal) 4 gang box,i bought 3 flat covers, metal for the box,2 of them screwed on the bottom of the box so the constant high temp will not warp the box,or over heat the mold,,,i used a 3rd flat cover for a top,and installed a wooden dowl handle,then got a bbq thermomitor to monitor temp. and affixed it to the handle lid. i lastly used a dremil to cut out a square to allow the handles to stick out,keeping the whole mold inside the warming box. now when i turn on my melting pot,i turn on the mold warming box with the mold inside,i allso drilled a single hole for the hollow point pin as a holder,and to bring that up to temp as well. when my mold and hollow point pin reach 500f,and my led in my pot is ready,i back my pot down to 7 1/2 approx 700f,,,i grap my mold,and from the first to my last i get perfect bullets everytime. when you need to refile your pot,just put mold back into the warming box to maintain temp. also a note-try when filling getting closer to spout,and let it come at a heavyer stream.not to fast for overflow,not to slow as it takes awhile to fill. find your middle flow.,and control. also like others mentioned use brake cleaner on the cavities,,and pin.,also try #0000 steel wool on your pin only for a faster release.. i do mine this way,and less than a wk ago now i casted 500 rounds of these,and loaded 250 of them. the mold warming box is the ticket,and a nice trick to help maintain consistant temp of the mold,,and the pin.

[giz189]

All of these ideas probably work, but I have found if I run my alloy between 850 - 900* I usually get perfect boolits every time. Some don't like to run that hot. my .02 worth.

[warf73]

All of these ideas probably work, but I have found if I run my alloy between 850 - 900* I usually get perfect boolits every time. Some don't like to run that hot. my .02 worth.

This is what I do, run that puppy HOT I run molds like that at 900* +.

[gefiltephish]

Both of my Mihec molds respond well to pressure casting. A tiny bit of bullplate on the pins allows bullets to drop fairly easily from the 9mm as well as the 45 mold. Pressure casting seems to allow for less tin needed in the alloy. This technique also works well with a Lee 6 cav. Don't know why I waited so long to try it.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I have the Mihec 256 gr .44 cal mold in brass HP cramer style. I love it. It is first just a joy to behold. Well made and fits like a bank vault.

I cleaned mine with dawn and boiling hot water and a toothbrush and boiled it some more and did it again.

Then I set my Lee 4-20 on max until the spout unfroze and I could get a decent flow of alloy.

I then stuck the end of the mold into the pot about 1/2" just so the corners were below the surface. I kept that baby in the melt for about 4 minutes. I was surprised to see smoke coming off that mold. It still had oil on it somewhere.

I then cast a few dozen boolits with it. They were hanging up on the HP pins until I inverted the mold after removing the sprues and tapped the end of the HP positioning pins with a hickory handle so the boolit and the HP was out and away from the mold itself. The boolits then fall off into the bucket of water.

After I had made about 30 boolits I cast another set and removed the sprue. I then lubed the top of the mold and the underside of the sprue plate with Bullshops Sprue Plate lube and wiped off the excess with the clean end of the q tip. Then I shook off the boolits after I opened the mold. I then lubricated the locating pins on the mold and the HP's.

After all this and keeping the alloy REALLY HOT (825-850) I went to town and cast up over 1000 of the boolits in a couple of hours. This mold is a joy to use but you hafta keep it hot and lube the pins and such as listed above.

Try as I might I could not get a frosted boolit with this mold. The brass loses heat to fast for that. Oh but they are really nice. 131 gr average with ww's including the stick on's and water quenched.

[JesseCJC]

this is from just now, only have my phone so I can't get any decent pictures. Cavities are much better but still seem asymmetrical as just one side is thinner than the rest.Could just be expecting too much though, I dunno.

[Wayne Smith]

I don't kno, Jessie. I'd be tempted to load those suckers and see if they shoot straight. If they do, you got it. I'd guess that you are expecting too much. Become a realist, if they shoot they are good.

[Glen]

mooman76 is right -- your HP pins aren't hot enough. After you pre-heat the mould, then just start casting, and cast as fast as you can comfortably and safely. DO NOT stop to inspect your bullets, just keep pouring hot metal into those cavitites as quickly as possible. Different moulds heat up at different rates and cold pins will ALWAYS make HP mouths come out wrinkled and with defects.

[Moonie]

I cast some up in my new 200gr 45 Mihec HP mold last night. The boolits are beautiful however I am having some issues getting the boolits off the 5 sided pins. I pressure poured most of them, complete fill out and beautiful castings. The inside of the HP seems to have a burr, like the pin pulled some lead with it as it released but not all the way off. I cleaned the mold with boiling hot water with Dawn and scrubbed well with a toothbrush. No lube on the pins...yet. Was thinking I might need to polish the pins up. Took alot of pounding to get the boolits off the pins.

[Themoose]

I cast some Mon night... my first time using the new mold... I had problems too until I upped the heat a little and got the pins hotter... when I got into sync it was very smooth.. opened the sprue cutter with a gloved hand, turned over the mold, tilted it, and most of the time the bullets fell off without even a shake.. occasionly I had to just give a little shake... but... in the beginning I had severe problems with the release.. even resorted to using pliers to remove one bullet from 5-sided pin... I guess I learned that heat is the trick.. at least for me.

TheMoose

[Moonie]

Yea, perhaps that is the issue, I noticed this morning some voids in the cavities. I had my lee 20-4 pot on 8 to 8.5. Perhaps it just wasn't quite hot enough. I'll polish up the pins and try casting faster/hotter.

[kbstenberg]

I'm using the 503 Cramer. Usually 2 molds at one time. With a temp. just above the spout freeze up point.
Don't you guyes over heat the molds with the high temp., an fast casting! Id think your bullets are very frosty, to the point of looking galvanized. Even useing the B.B. water dunk.
Kevin

[pjh421]

A clean mould and adequate heat are both essential but like Hoosierlogger said, check the vent lines. They can close-off slightly from normal use and will prevent fill out. If my mould was clean and everything was up to temp, this would be the next thing I would check. When the lead goes in, the air must come out and it can't all come out of the sprue holes. I would tend to use a propane torch to heat the hollow point pins (and carefully). I think its cool that the manufacturer (Mi-Hec) chimed in here.

Paul

[JesseCJC]

I am certain that the heat is sufficient last night it was 820 and there was no stop between cast to dump either. I am not sure of the temp of the mould but it was hot enough to lightly frost the first few casts. The rest did not frost but still had defects in the pins. Not as major but like I said they are not symetrical. I know it is vain but just what I was hoping for. Either way they look nice, just hope I can find the right lube/powder combo later on after I get enough money for a lubrisizer.

[fishnbob]

Just got my mold and have read all the comments and advice & hope to cast some soon. Can someone tell me what the round looking part that came with the mould and the small hex key is for? I don't have a camera to photo it but it is round on one end with a stem like on the other and frankly looks like a plug or bullet seater on the other. Can someone enlighten a newbie?