Hollowpoints!

3

358156hp

Guest
I thought I'd start this one out with a pic of my 38/.357 hollowpoints. The interesting part is the difference in the cavities between the two moulds. The 358156HP has a noticeably larger cavity than the 358439 does. I believe that the 358156 is a converted single cavity mould, and that the cavity was spec'd a bit large. The 358439 was always a hollowpoint mould of course, but I got it as bare blocks, and had Erik at Hollowpoint Mold Service make a new pin. The extra thick sprue plate is from Red River Rick.
358156hp.jpg 358439.jpg
And a family pic...
idealHP-2.jpg
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
I have a 311410 HP'd by Lyman and the shaft was so loose in the blocks it leaked alloy and I had Erik make up 3 new pins that fit of varying cavity depth and diameter.

Here is three similar pins Erik made for my 356637, he also opened up the driving bands to .358".


356637 pins-small.jpg

You can see from the middle pin what happens when ya drop it in the alloy. Picture is still too large and that's 30% of original size.



 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
image.jpg
Mine is a Lyman 358429, not Ideal.

image.jpg
This is the MP 44/444 305 HP. My SRH really likes this one. The 444 Marlin seems happy with it too. I need to see which gun shoots better at 100 yards with it.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
imagejpg2_zps20e2fe92.jpg

Then there is this little number that I hollowpointed on the lathe. I have a 358477 I did but somehow forgot to get photos before I have it back to my father in law.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Nice job. What is that on the bottom? Some kind of rotating pin guide?
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
That is what holds the pin in place when pouring. The flat that I filed is what allows it to slip past the screw in the background. You push the pin in place, rotate it a bit, and pouring. Let the lead harden, rotate pin, remove, cut sprue, and dump. Repeat.
That one I used a brass pin inside a sleeve. The set screw allows the pin to be adjusted.
The other mould I did I turned that collar and the pin as a single piece. That made the entire assemble a bit more critical in dimensions but removed the need to drill and tap a 6-32 hole. The reason I did that is because I broke my 6-32 tap trying to do it the other way and was too damn lazy to drive 1.5 miles to ACE to replace the tap.
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
View attachment 22
Mine is a Lyman 358429, not Ideal.

View attachment 23
This is the MP 44/444 305 HP. My SRH really likes this one. The 444 Marlin seems happy with it too. I need to see which gun shoots better at 100 yards with it.


MiHa's clone of the 45 RCBS 270 boolit behaves just the opposite for me. Can't get anywhere near the accuracy of the conical HP using the Penta HP pin.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I have never tried the round HP pin. I can't say why I started with the penta pin but I did and it seems to work well?
I have his 359640 HP too and talk about a bullet my Marlin 1894C likes! That bullet is awesome in that rifle but in a mag case won't chamber in my GP100 sized .359. I need to a,ke a slightly smaller size die so the nose can enter the throats and then the GP100 should really shine.
Man, I just realized that the reason the bullet won't let me chamber a loaded round in the GP100 is because I am sizing too big for that gun. Duh. Make em smaller Brad.

Is this a face palm moment Rick?
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Doing all that might have help your lathe skills, but it probably made you appreciate Mp mold more lol.

Yes those 6-32 taps are easy to break. I buy them 6 at a time and prefer to use 8 or 10-32 when possible. I started using 8-32 for putting set screws on my lee sprue bolts. They last a lot longer.

We all have face palm moments. Watch out for the times that require double palms.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
MP moulds make bullets so much faster than the old removable pin method.
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
imagejpg2_zps20e2fe92.jpg

Then there is this little number that I hollowpointed on the lathe. I have a 358477 I did but somehow forgot to get photos before I have it back to my father in law.

That one should do some VERY QUICK expanding with range scrap or something similar.

Ben
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Thank you Rick, I was waiting for that!

Ben, I figured that will be reserved for 38 special loads so I went with a large HP pin. Now if he would get some up and shoot em I would know how they work.
 

Glen

Moderator
Staff member
Ahhh, handguns and hollow points! This thread gives me a warm fuzzy! NOE also makes some very nice multicavity hollow point moulds for handguns. Here's a dandy for the .45 ACP:
NOE 452 230 HP.jpg
 

Ian

Notorious member
Glen, I should have gotten one of those moulds too. I pay the "piper" every time I cast a few hundred out of my Lyman 452374HP, one at a time.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
One at a time don't work for me for much more than rb"s.

I love the mp hp molds, yes love.

The brass 4 cavity makes you thankful for a mold guide. Er maybe make you wish you ate your wheaties.
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
I have a 4 cav. Accurate Brass mold. No need to go to the gym when using this mold. You'll look like an Olympic weight lifter after you use this thing for awhile.

Ben
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
All right, you guys have started it now...........
I'll have to show off one of my favorite HP molds done by Erik.
An old IDEAL 454424. A fantastic bullet in the 45 Colt.

If you've never used one of Erik's conversions, you're really missing the boat.
I can cast 100 with this mold just as fast as you can cast 100 solids from a similar mold.
Here are some photos of Erik's excellent work ! ! !

001-50.jpg


0052.jpg


0042.jpg


002-51.jpg


003-47.jpg


004-45.jpg


006-34.jpg


007-30.jpg








25 yards with a cylinder full out of my Ruger 454 Casull
" Bad Guys Beware " :

 
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Ben

Moderator
Staff member
Erik's work has offered a fine bullet for my Ruger 454 Casull Toklat Revolver.
Late at night when you're a long way from home, this revolver with these cast bullets gives you a " warm , safe feeling ".