R. Hoch Nose Pour .30

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
I bought a R Hoch, .30 cal. , 165 gr. g/c, nose pour mould.
It was a " package deal ", the mould and handles.
The mould needed a good cleaning.
All in all , it is in pretty good shape.
The cavity is near perfect.
I'm getting a full .310" on the drive bands and a tad shy of .302" on the nose.
I'm happy.

Ben

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The sprue is cut off on the nose :

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Up-Date:

The final weight is 175 grs. with lube , gas check and one coat of BLL.
 
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Ian

Notorious member
I got one of those but never cast with it due to lack of appropriate handles. Veral hates nose pour because of the heat the base plate sucks out, but I've always liked the concept of nose-pour and have a couple of standard-configuration nose-pour moulds without the base plate, very nice. I think you'll really really like that bullet, it has almost the same nose shape as my Lee 311041 and that intermediate band with a little taper leading up to it makes all the difference in accuracy compared to true 2-diameter bullets.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Veral is right. I have one also and the base plate does suck out the heat and it does take some getting used to. They do make great bullets though as Ben has shown.
 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I have 2 Hoch nose pours I got of Ebay on a buy it now auction at a ridiculously low price for what they were. I don't think I've ever cast a bullet from either of them! No time!
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Well, I am looking for a Hoch .309-310" .30 caliber 200 grains or so. So if anyone want to get rid of theirs let me know. :D
 

S Mac

Sept. 10, 2021 Steve left us. You are missed.
Pretty cool mould. The only nose pour examples I have are a couple of hollow base. Got to hold your mouth right.
 
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Ian

Notorious member
Mine is the light one exactly like Ben's. It's for sale or trade for a decent .750" adjustable AR gas block if anyone is interested.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Sorry, Ian. I don't own any AR's and so don't have any parts. It will be a great bullet, but will not carry up at 300 yards for the new CBA matches.
 

Ian

Notorious member
It will carry to at least 450 yards, you just have to put some real rifle powder behind it ;)

What sort of groups have been winning these new 300 yard matches?
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
It will carry to at least 450 yards, you just have to put some real rifle powder behind it ;)

What sort of groups have been winning these new 300 yard matches?

Military Issue about 4 inches

Military Iron sight or Scope classes 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 inches

Production about the same

Heavy and Unrestricted about 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 inches

As you know, velocity loss has a direct relationship to wind drift. It is the shooting in the wind that is what has us scratching our heads the most. So we are working hard to keep high SD and BC with cast bullets. Some are having good success with 245 -260 in Springfields with Blackout forms. One in ten will stabilize them just fine and 1400 f/s will keep them supersonic. I'm hoping a 200 at about 1650 will stay supersonic at 300, but don't know that yet.
 
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Eutectic

Active Member
Probably my biggest kick against nose pore molds is a perfect base can be a little more difficult to achieve. The Hoch opening top and bottom aggravates heat loss.

I have three nose pour molds. While work had me in Texas I was going wide open on paper patching. I bought two brass nose pour lathe bored molds from Ken Chapman (Old West Bullet Molds) to my specs. These have a stationary (screwed on) base plate. I cast using a propane furnace and a real advantage is having an area to preheat. If cadence is broken casting with the Chapman molds I place blocks over my preheat area. The same with the base pin while casting with my old 429422 Lyman hollow base. Heat is your friend in these situations where a perfect base is absolutely necessary.
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
May be the reason I had about a 95% " keeper rate" yesterday.
I cast about 300 ea. with my new Hoch design.
I was running my alloy pretty hot.

Ben

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RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
I have never had a small bore Hoch, just a .50 and .45 and they cast very easy, but you are putting in 450 and 500 grains every pour. Ladle pouring the bottom on the mould rest on the edge of the pot, so it stays pretty hot, one of the issues I have with aluminum moulds.
 

Rally

NC Minnesota
Interesting mould. Is there any adjustment for clearance of the sprue plate independant of the bottom plate? Since they pivot together you would be loosening the bottom at the same time, so i’m guessing it would need to be fairly tight to also keep the bottom tight. Can you reverse the plates to convert it to base pour?
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
No. There is a machined spacer that is about .005" larger than the height of the block. You can adjust the pressure on the pivot bolt, but it just binds everything up as it gets hot. Once hot it seems to be just the right amount of space top and bottom for me.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Old West Bullet Moulds. I honestly didn't know he was still in business! Thanks for the reminder.
 

Eutectic

Active Member
Old West Bullet Moulds. I honestly didn't know he was still in business! Thanks for the reminder.
It would be nice to know if he is still around..... I haven't seen anything for a while now. My two molds are probably 25 years old. Chapman did nice work!
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I would think OWBM is still going I haven't looked at his site in 6-7 years though.

I don't know if 1600 holds everything together to well at 300 I do know a 165 will get there no problem at about 1900 though.
my 1917 is set up for 300 yds just so I can tip over the steel bowling pins at that distance.
it's one of my 2,, 300 'what a jerk that guy is' guns.
I take them down during deer hunting sight in season and wait for billy bob and his 4000 magnum with the 80mm ocular lens scope, and double ended muzzle brake to start banging away at the pins down there by closing his eyes and jerking the trigger.
then I get one of them out and knock all the pins down, usually proclaiming loudly YEP,, STILL SIGHTED IN SAME AS THE LAST 75 YEARS and go back to shooting what I was working on to begin with.