Brass MP 38/357 HP Mould

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
I purchased a used MP , 38/357 Cramer Style HP Brass, 2 cav. bullet mould.
The mould arrived today.
The mould needed a good cleaning, but nothing else was wrong with the mould.
Came with 3 sets of pins to make solids, round HPs, and " Penta Points " or any combination of the three.
I'm looking forward to casting with the mould and testing it in my many 38 Specials, 357 Magnums , and my Ruger # 1, 357 Max. ( Since it is a plain base, I most like won't be able to " hot rod " the bullet in the 357 Max. )

Ben

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Here are the two " Penta Point " pins :

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Hawk

North Central Texas
I always think the Penta points look pretty bad-_ss. Havent really tested them, so don't know how they perform.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I have a couple of mounds with those HP pins. They are pretty easy to cast with just keep them hot.
My MP 359640 is a hell of a good shooter
 

abj

Active Member
What alloy are you going to use Ben? I took some of my cup points out of 20:1 and used a torx bit to score the inside of the HP and it did help start the expansion at lower speeds, same thing the Penta's do.
Tony
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
No doubt at all about the " 640 " design.
In several different calibers, it has proven to be a great design.

One thing that I failed to mention earlier is the " double crimp groove " on the bullet. This feature will allow me to shoot these in 357 Mag. revolvers that have a " short cylinder ". Bullets like the 358429 don't work when crimped in the crimp ring for these particular revolvers. ( You can make the 429' work by seating all of the front drive band into the 357 Mag. case........better be careful with pressure when you do this however because you've reduced the internal capacity of the case )

Ben
 
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Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
Nice Mould Ben. Looks very well made, and about where I like the weight of a Hp for .38 Spl.
I share your curiosity Hawk. I understand the concept of the Penta point hp, but it has always made me wonder if the shape would cause some turbulence in the nose. Not that it would matter at 21 feet, but what about at 50 yards? I would be interested to hear from those who have tested them.
 

abj

Active Member
As an FYI, I seen a you tube video about recovering bullets. Paul Harrell I think. He used clothing, two racks of ribs and oranges between the ribs. Then the cheap fleece blankets for the bullet recovery.
Kind of expensive so I used a single 20 ounce water bottle and the blankets and it worked out great. Fold the blankets up so you have about 30 layers. Mine were shot at 10 yds. Most bullets made it to about 20 layers until I had shot the blankets up a bit. Got the blankets at Wal Mart for about $6/7.
I also tried water balloons but it took about 4 or 5 to work. fun to watch but a pain to clean up.
Tony
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Nice Mould Ben. Looks very well made, and about where I like the weight of a Hp for .38 Spl.
I share your curiosity Hawk. I understand the concept of the Penta point hp, but it has always made me wonder if the shape would cause some turbulence in the nose. Not that it would matter at 21 feet, but what about at 50 yards? I would be interested to hear from those who have tested them.
Best group I ever fired from my SRH from the bench was 2” for 5 shots at 100. Bullet had a penta point HP on it.
I don’t think the HP shape makes any difference in accuracy potential.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Hi Ben,
I had one of those moulds with the full set of pins! First major group buy I got into .
It was beautiful but I just couldn't cast well with a brass mould ( probably lack of experience back then)
When I got nice bullets I never got them to shoot as well as my other moulds. Possibly my mental block but I sold it off 6 weeks after I got it ! At a real good price if I remember. Not to mention it took forever to get it from Mehec
Hope it works well for you. It was the only and last brass mould I bought
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
they soak up the heat after a little while then settle down.
they also need a break in period to get a patina built up in the cavity's.

I notice this mold also has an extra vent cut down the middle, a feature I think all of the mihec molds should have.
the 2 cav I have was given to me because the former owner couldn't figure out how to make it work quite right.
after a bunch of rebuilding and fiddling with this and that, I still have to carefully monitor the fill rate or the back cavity will not vent and fill properly.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Gotta Lee-ment the vent lines on the RH side of each cavity in each block. That mould needs some tuning, it's peened around the HP spud holes and also the edge of the cavity bases are rounded off, probably from the sprue plate whacking it with the blocks apart. The guide pins unscrew from the spuds so you can de-burr the spuds and pins if necessary.
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
Ian,

I think what looks like " peening " to you is actually some white rubbing compound that I used to clean the mould. I still need to give the blocks a good cleaning with comet, hot water , and a soft nylon tooth brush to remove all this residue. That rubbing compound is still in the vent lines.

Ben
 
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Brother_Love

Well-Known Member
Ben,
Very nice mold. My MP cast great hollowpoints. My only complaint about it is the weight of the mold. I made a new mold guide for mine after the first casting session.

I’m sure that one you have will make some pretty bullets.

Malcolm
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
MP molds are very good tools. Miha is a treasure to the cast bullet hobby.
Always got good bullets from mine. Should be a winner.
 

Will

Well-Known Member
I really enjoy his molds too. I’m on the list for 3 of them at the moment. Can’t wait to get the 8 cavity solid version of the 308 hunting bullet. I love that bullet but casting with a 2 cavity mold drives me crazy anymore.