Striking out with H&G moulds!

Dpmsman

Active Member
I have recently went from owning no Hensley & Gibbs moulds to having 3. All large gang moulds. A 10 cavity #50 bevel base, #12A 10 cavity 357 swc and a 210 grain swc for the 41mag. which number I can't recall. The #50 and the 41 mag I bought from a member on a different forum and the 12A was off eBay. I have attempted to cast with each mould and so far all I have gotten is a good workout! Tonight I tried casting with the #50 and I couldn't get a good bullet to save my life! I first cleaned the mould with dawn and hot water. Then I used a heat gun to dry the mould then sprayed it with ballistol and let it soak for 4 hours. Before casting I cleaned it with brake cleaner and set it on the hot plate. The first time I cast with this mould I had to pry the boolits from the cavities. This time around I could get them to fall out but I had to really beat on the handles. So there was some improvement. I just couldn't get the boolits to fill out no matter how hot the mould got. It was taking 15sec for the sprue to harden and the bases looked great but no fill out. So is there a trick to these moulds? All I here is they rain bullets! What am I doing wrong?
 

Ian

Notorious member
Yeah, this huge red question mark popped up and covered the screen when I read that.

Fillout is proper heat, pour technique, and venting. Stickage is burrs along the edges of the cavities or mot letting the bullets cool enough before shucking them out.
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
In my very early casting days, to get a 358311 to drop its load, I tried the Kroil trick and it has worked to no ill effect to this day. The mould didn't have a fill out problem, just not releasing. (Edit: only Kroiled it that once.)

But Ballistol? How did that come about?
 
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fiver

Well-Known Member
getting the mold too hot will make the bullets hard to get out.
a mold that large will retain every bit of heat you put in it.

just to get some more info try casting just the first cavity starting from a luke warm mold for about 9-10 pours and see what you get.
if things start looking okay then add another cavity or two and move on as they start looking good.

if your still fighting fill out etc then you can start looking at the vent lines, sprue plate tightness, mold fill technique, off center cavity's etc.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I own a 10 cav H+G. I'd clean it again and slow down my casting rate a bit. If it actually takes 15 seconds for the sprue to harden the mould is way too hot. It's probably just a matter of technique, not the moulds. They do take some getting used to, but they are easy to cast with IME. The chances of you getting 3 with issues seems remote.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
The fill out issue about has to be oil in the cavities. The sticking issue is most likely the mold too hot. There is only one reason any bullet falls out of any mold and that is because as the bullet cools it shrinks and no longer fits the cavity it's in. If the mold is too hot that cooling (shrinking) takes much longer and thus sticking bullets.
 

Dpmsman

Active Member
Ballistol? Inside the cavities? I wonder what it will take to get it out of the cavities. Completely. Ballistol is oil.
I generally use ballistol to prevent rust from forming. I did not intend on using this mold last night but Brake cleaner has always worked well to clean the oil out of the mould.
 

Dpmsman

Active Member
I own a 10 cav H+G. I'd clean it again and slow down my casting rate a bit. If it actually takes 15 seconds for the sprue to harden the mould is way too hot. It's probably just a matter of technique, not the moulds. They do take some getting used to, but they are easy to cast with IME. The chances of you getting 3 with issues seems remote.
So the the way I cast bullets is if I don’t get a complete fill out I cast faster until I do. This method has worked well for me in the past. The bullets never frosted at all for me. To be fair I did get some good bullets out of the 41 mold they just stuck in the cavities more than I would’ve liked. As far as the 357 semi wadcutter that mould I bought as a fixer-upper which ended up taking more fix and then I thought. The sprue plate is warped and needs to be milled flat again. Two of the cavities on the mold block need some repair as well if I just take a 16th off the top of the mold it would fix those problems.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
So the the way I cast bullets is if I don’t get a complete fill out I cast faster until I do. This method has worked well for me in the past. The bullets never frosted at all for me. To be fair I did get some good bullets out of the 41 mold they just stuck in the cavities more than I would’ve liked. As far as the 357 semi wadcutter that mould I bought as a fixer-upper which ended up taking more fix and then I thought. The sprue plate is warped and needs to be milled flat again. Two of the cavities on the mold block need some repair as well if I just take a 16th off the top of the mold it would fix those problems.


Yup, about how I get better bullets too. But if it's an actual 15 seconds wait for the sprue to harden, that's excessive IME. I like to get them casting good and then I try to vary the rate of fill/empty to meet what the mould seems to want. Were it me, I'd pick one mould and fart around with just that one for now and see what it wants. Like I said, H+G moulds are generally really, really well made and will drop their casting as easy or easier than any other. IIRC my copy is a #50 and it doesn't take much more than a light thump with a rawhide mallet to have them drop.
 
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Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Don't look at filling the cavities as pouring lead, look at it as pouring heat. You pre-heated the mold on the hot plate, which is good, then with a 10 cavity iron mold which is a lot of mass and a 200 grain bullet your pouring 2,000 grains of "heat". All that iron mass holds it's heat quite well, a mold that's too hot will tend to hold on to it's bullets until they have sufficiently cooled.

As for the poor fill out it sure sounds like the brake cleaner has failed you. I clean my molds with a slightly warmed denatured alcohol and a good scrubbing with a stiff nylon brush. Seems to do a good job with any possible oil. I also never put anything in the cavities but instead rely on air tight containers to store the molds which prevents the same hassle with each casting session.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I've an 8 hole . I let it warm on the pot last time out ...... Ummm yeah new thrift store hot.plate to be sure . I had forgotten about the oil bath after it's last use . When it finally got hot enough to pour all 8 I had smoke and cratered bases . I made 20 pours and got 90 serviceable #130s . I also promised myself a bottom pour for my birthday ......
Once it gets lined up mould and sprue plate temp , tempo , and pot , it is probably the easiest mould I have to run . If it starts to stick a little on over 2 cavities I set it down and put the sprues back in the pot that didn't make it pick it and go again .
Admittedly the longest run was about 40 pours with 250 perfect keepers . I can see the love of them .

I stole mine but it was scruffy . It got worked over with steel wool and each cavity fussed over because it looked like it spent 20 yr under the John Deere .
 

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
I've found the H&Gs in my past to be pretty sensitive to block temps as noted above. If they got too hot the bullets would stick. I kept my alloy temp a bit lower than I usually do, and strung out my drop intervals if/when things started getting sticky again. Now that we're talking about it, I often see this behavior with large capacity iron moulds of all makes, my 4 cavity Ideals & Lymans do it too. I don't see it much with larger aluminum moulds either. I guess I'll watch this situation closer.
 

LenH

New Member
I bought a 4 cavity #50 from E-Bay several years back. I had problems with it from the get go. I wound up lapping the cavities
with some fine valve lapping compound and spinning it with a cordless drill very slowly. After that it dropped bullets better than ever.

I have and 8 cavity and a 6 cavity that I bought from individuals that have never given me any problems. But from time to time
they do get too hot and with stick in a couple of cavities.
 

jsizemore

Member
I stick a digital meat thermometers probe through the sprue hole and resting on the nose of the cavity when I put the large molds on the hot plate. 375degF seems to be about right. PID has the alloy at 700degF. Around the second or third pour and all cavities are producing great. That's when pouring 110-260 grain bullets. Casting pace is a little faster for the smaller bullets.
 

M3845708Bama

Active Member
I have recently went from owning no Hensley & Gibbs moulds to having 3. All large gang moulds. A 10 cavity #50 bevel base, #12A 10 cavity 357 swc and a 210 grain swc for the 41mag. which number I can't recall. The #50 and the 41 mag I bought from a member on a different forum and the 12A was off eBay. I have attempted to cast with each mould and so far all I have gotten is a good workout! Tonight I tried casting with the #50 and I couldn't get a good bullet to save my life! I first cleaned the mould with dawn and hot water. Then I used a heat gun to dry the mould then sprayed it with ballistol and let it soak for 4 hours. Before casting I cleaned it with brake cleaner and set it on the hot plate. The first time I cast with this mould I had to pry the boolits from the cavities. This time around I could get them to fall out but I had to really beat on the handles. So there was some improvement. I just couldn't get the boolits to fill out no matter how hot the mould got. It was taking 15sec for the sprue to harden and the bases looked great but no fill out. So is there a trick to these moulds? All I here is they rain bullets! What am I doing wrong?
If you are not using a hot plate to heat your mold one would probably help— it did for me
 

Dpmsman

Active Member
I agree with the hot plate they are great! I do use one and it has taken a lot of frustration out of casting. I think I need to clean the mould with Dawn again and go casting.
 

Dpmsman

Active Member
I brought the 10 cavity 357 SWC mould to a machine shop just down the road from my house and the guy cleaned up the top of the blocks real nice. My problem now is that he can’t seem to get the sprue plate flat again. He went over it with the endmill a couple times and every time he does it warps in a different way. Does anyone know what kind of steel an H&G sprue plate is made out of?
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
The problem I’ll wager is using an end mill. That implies multiple passes. Need to use a flycutter and hold part lightly and carefully in vise.

Have no idea what type of steel was used but in general any decent grade is waaaaay harder than lead alloys. Look at all the aluminum sprue plates being used now.