My Cast 148gr HBWC

[oldcarsandguns]

Here are a few pics of my 148gr HBWC, they average 151gr after sizing and lube, some speer swaged soft lead on the right for reference. These are from a mold I bought on the castboolits web site.
They are 10-11bhn which should hold up to mid to slightly higher velocities. I just loaded a hundred with 2.7-3.0gr of bullseye and when I get a chance I will go break in a NIB model 52-2 I just bought.
These have a nice flat bottom edge and a nice sharp top edge with just a slight bevel left over after sizing, just enough for the roll crimp. They are sized to .358
Any high ranking bullseye shooters out there interested in trying some? if you are show me some targets at 50 yards and PM me your email and I will be in touch.

[Nevada Ed]

I like the BIG HB of that bullet...they should seal very well
inside the barrel with that soft 10-12 hardness.
Looks like you have a great mold for your use...........

Someone post target pictures !!

[Forrest r]

The 148gr hbwc molds cast excellent bullets, I'm glad to see you're putting them to good use in a model 52.

I have the same mold & cast/use mine in a model 10.




Have another mold that casts 220gr hbwc's for the 44spl/mag. They let the 624 really shine.



If you look at the picture of the 624 you can see the bullets with 1 lube groove filled, 2 lube grooves filled, tumbled lubed & tumble lubed with the lube grooves filled. I got the best accuracy with the 148gr & the 220gr bullets with the 45/45/10 tumble lube after sizing the bullets to .358 & .431.

I cast both hbwc's with a soft alloy (10bhn) & use them for target loads (3.0gr of bullseye in the 38spl & 5.0gr of bullseye in the 44spl). Occasionally I'll play around & turn them backwards to make hp's.



The mushroomed cast hbwc in the picture was shot from a 2" bbl'd charter arms bulldog.

Enjoy you hbwc's, these bullets are truely the cat's meow.

[BLUEDOT37]

Originally Posted by Forrest r

Occasionally I'll play around & turn them backwards to make hp's.

I remember an article I read in the 70's..... okay, just kidding, let's don't go there again.

They're good looking slugs...have fun!

[oldcarsandguns]

Nice guns Forrest R. I like the 44 HBWC, Is that a Miha mold too??
I would like to get one of those. I have a button nose wad cutter mold for my 500s still playing with that to find the best load.
I also have a 640gr HP for the 500 that mushrooms to over an inch at 850fps, any faster and the HP falls apart.

[AveragEd]

I assume the molds splits at the bullet's belt - one half of the mold makes the top half of the bullet and the other half of the mold makes the lower half of the bullet. A mold couldn't split vertically as usual.

It's interesting to see your bullets. Every lead bullet manufacturer with whom I've spoken told me told me that HBWCs have to be swaged as they can't be cast. About the only HBWCs on the market to my knowledge are Hornady's and Remington's. Remington's are very accurate but also very unavailable.

Give any thought to selling any? Using USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes cuts the shipping cost way down - I usually pay $13 shipping for three 500-round boxes from Missouri Bullets but they don't offer a HBWC, so I use Hornady's right now.

Ed

[lebomm]

How 'bout a 3-piece mould?

[hotrod150]

Where would you pour in the lead with a horizontally-split mold? And I don't see any reason why a hollow-based buller couldn't be cast-- people cast hollowpoints all the time. FWIW I am not a bullet caster so maybe these are dumb comments.
I wondered about the accuracy of your inverted HBWC load. Any keyholing? I for one don't mind another discussion of this.

[mtgianni]

Mi-Ha's molds use an affixed base pin similar to the old Cramer system. It opens with the mold and ejects while dropping from the pin. Those look pretty good.

[Forrest r]

Yes, those were cast from a Mihec mold.

Mihec uses a standard clamshell style mold with cramer pins in them.




I like the 640 molds also, use one for the 38/357. I found that the 35cal bullets do the same, 850/900fps seems to be the optimal speed for them with 3 different test alloys. But that's ok with me, bought the mold for the 38spl's.

[oldcarsandguns]

Thanks for posting the pic of Mihas mold. I hang out at Castboolits.com and have designed and had Miha make a few molds for Group Buys. Mostly for the S&W 500.
Here is a pic of two of my molds, one on the left is 700gr with the 640gr HP next to it, the one on the right is 600gr solid with 560gr HP next to it.
The front is 148gr HBWC just for size.

[TSQUARED]

I learn something new every day. I had never seen a multi cavity mold block for hollow base bullets which would cast at a reasonable rate. The old Lyman blocks used a pin which I believe had to be removed after casting the bullet and the reinserted for casting the next one - a literal pain in the neck.