MP molds

Bought my first hollow point mold recently. I went with MP molds because of the good things I've read about them. I powder coat everything so I picked one with no lube grooves. It's a .356 147 grain RNFP/RNHP combination, depending on which pins you use.
I'm super impressed with the mold. The pins slide smoothly in and out. No sticking or binding on opening and closing the mold. For the first time in use, I'm pleased with how they turned out. I'd recommend this company if you're looking for one.

Also tried out a new Lee 45 round nose mold to try to find a cast bullet that cycles well in my 1911. I've had nothing but good results from Lee molds as well, plus the price is right. Now just gotta load 'em and shoot 'em.

Good looking boolits. I’ve never cast hollow points. How much lighter are they with lead out of the middle?
David

After powder coating the hollow points are 140 gr, the flat points are 149 gr. I think I'll size some for 9mm and some for 38 rounds. Wish I had some place to test and see if/how the hollow points expand.

Nice to hear that MP still makes some good stuff.
Some have stated that MP's quality has suffered recently.
Took the liberty of rotating your picture to save my neck muscles:

I can't say enough good about the mp molds. Owned 20+ of them over the years & still own 10+ to this day.

You made some nice looking bullets that will provide you with countless hours of quality range time.

DeplorabusUnum said:

After powder coating the hollow points are 140 gr, the flat points are 149 gr. I think I'll size some for 9mm and some for 38 rounds. Wish I had some place to test and see if/how the hollow points expand.

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The Pacific NW, with all it's logging roads and trees, and you don't have a place to shoot ?

Good luck finding a place to shoot.
I would really like to see how those 140 LHP do against 8 water jugs.

In Red, even.

Nevada Ed said:

The Pacific NW, with all it's logging roads and trees, and you don't have a place to shoot ?

Good luck finding a place to shoot.
I would really like to see how those 140 LHP do against 8 water jugs.

In Red, even.

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Ed, you're right, I am surrounded by places to shoot. I just wish I could walk out the back door and shoot into some water jugs. Living in the city it's frowned upon.

I love my MP molds! All obtained in the last 4 years or so, and all excellent quality.

tmd17 said:

I love my MP molds! All obtained in the last 4 years or so, and all excellent quality.

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I see a .359 mold. Revolver with large throats? Did they make that one custom for you?

In the past year or so I've bought three MP molds, one six cavity aluminum H&G #68 clone and two four cavity brass HP molds in 308 Hunter and 125 gr. 9 MM. Both the brass molds come with pins that will cast two types of HP bullets, penta and standard round HP and a FN design.

I cast lots of HP's in 9 mm, 38/357 and 45 ACP and soon to be 10 MM and I have to say that the MP molds have the superior design pins system and cast flawlessly bullets.

If you're a good caster and want to cast HP bullets, get an MP mold, you want regret it.

DeplorabusUnum said:

I see a .359 mold. Revolver with large throats? Did they make that one custom for you?

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No, I bought it 'off the shelf' and size down.

Tried that same "hunter" mold/cast bullet reloader7.62 posted about in custom 308w. Tried powder coating them along with using tratitional lube and sizing them to .310".



No matter what lube, pc or powder I used the groups started opening up when I pushed them over 2400fps. A typical 10-shot group @ 100yds.


Ended up selling the mold.

Whats the twist rate on the 308 rifle you were shooting the MP Hunter bullet in. All my 30 cal. rifle including 30-06, 300 Sav. 7.62 x 54r and 7.62 x 39 all basically have a 1:10 twist bore and I know from experience that with a good balanced alloy, gas check, powder coat and a slow to medium burning powder, so that the bullet gets a gentle push into the leads my max velocity is going to be somewhere around 2300 fps. Max. if the load can generate that velocity with a given bullet by any mold maker and still get excellent accuracy.

Anything faster than that in the 1:10 bore twist and accuracy / groups goes south really quick. The limiting factor is not so much the bullet, but that I'm trying to push that bullet faster than it capable of withstanding both the internal and external affect imparted on it by the powder, alloy structural makeup of the bullet, lube and the rotational forced, RPM's, spin whichever you prefer to call it on the bullet once it exits the bore.

As much as we like to think our cast bullet are perfectly made, they just can't hold up to those same internal and external forces that a jacketed bullet in the same weight and caliber can withstand and perform on an equal level. Lots of variables with a cast bullet affect how it flies and the higher the velocity the faster the bullet spins in a given twist barrel and all those things that affect a bullet accuracy, wobble, yaw and pitch caused by out of round bullets, bullet bases not being square to the bullet, defects both internal and external that are seen and unseen are just that much more accentuated, think of it as a tire that out of balance and the faster you go, the more vibration you get.

The bench rest cast bullet shooters generally use rifles with 1:14 or higher twist rates. If you find good accuracy with a bullet in a 1:10 twist bore and the velocity / RPM limitation with that bullet is say 2400 fps. you can gain velocity, keep the spin rate relatively the same, and keep the accuracy by going to a slower twist bore. Technically you're pushing the bullet faster, but it's spinning no faster or even slower in the 1:14 twist bore than it is in a 1:10 twist bore, so there is no accentuated effect from the higher velocity.

Forrest r said:

Tried that same "hunter" mold/cast bullet reloader7.62 posted about in custom 308w. Tried powder coating them along with using tratitional lube and sizing them to .310".

No matter what lube, pc or powder I used the groups started opening up when I pushed them over 2400fps. A typical 10-shot group @ 100yds.

Ended up selling the mold.

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That looks like a gas check design. Did you ever try putting a gas check on a few to see how they shot?

I think he has an aluminum check on those bullets, which doesn't really matter as long as they are seated flush and stay on the bullet.

68Dave said:

Good looking boolits. I’ve never cast hollow points. How much lighter are they with lead out of the middle?
David

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It's caliber dependent, But, IME you'll give up around 10- 15 grains in a 44 or 45 cal. Its not much really.

The bbl is a 30" shilen bbl with a 1 in 14 twist.

Yes those are home made alunimum gas checks. I make my own gas check makers and have tried a couple different designs. Tried square shouldered along with rounded shouldered gas checks. A picture of the rounded shouldered gc.


Home made gc makers made out of scrap metal I had laying around. I made gc makers for the 22cal's, 30cal's, 35cal's, 44cal's.

reloader7.62 said:

The bench rest cast bullet shooters generally use rifles with 1:14 or higher twist rates. If you find good accuracy with a bullet in a 1:10 twist bore and the velocity / RPM limitation with that bullet is say 2400 fps. you can gain velocity, keep the spin rate relatively the same, and keep the accuracy by going to a slower twist bore. Technically you're pushing the bullet faster, but it's spinning no faster or even slower in the 1:14 twist bore than it is in a 1:10 twist bore, so there is no accentuated effect from the higher velocity.

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I've ran into the hunter bullets style failing at the +/-2450fps range with several different bullets. It's the small shank diameter at the lube groove that is causing this. It's the weakest part of the bullet.

I load the cast bullets so that they are engraved by the leade of the chambers throat. I made a custom bump die that aids in conforming the nose of the bullet to the angle of the leade. A standard cast bullet (top) and a plug bullet (bottom) that shows the difference between how much a standard cast bullet engraves the rifling to how much rifling is actually there to use.


When the short start pressure is exerted on the bullet. The nose of the bullet rotates in the lands (bbl's rate of twist). The back of the bullet swells from the pressure and expands filling the freebore (Typical freebore of a 30cal is .310"). This is where the slower powder/softer launch comes into play. Lees rotational torque is exerted on the bottom of the bullet s weakest point. Namely the grease groove.

Another traditional grease grooved bullet, the cramer #43. I have a 2 cavity mold that casts a sp and hp bullet.


That an excellent bullet for testing & every time I did head to head testing the hp was always more accurate. This is were the rpm's of the bullet come into play. The weaker nose of the sp would fail with +/- 50fps less velocities.


Again the traditional lube grooved bullets with the deep single lube groove failed at the +/- 2450fps mark. That cramer hp goes south accuracy wise if pushed harder/faster.

When I use cast bullets with multiple small lube grooves like this lee tl312-160 I can push them to +/-2700fps. The rmp threshold starts to kick in.


Sorry for the thread drift. Cast bullets bring a lot to the table for a reloader and the mp molds will produce quality bullets that will allow any reloader to take their reloading/shooting skills to the next level.

Forrest r said:

The bbl is a 30" shilen bbl with a 1 in 14 twist.

Yes those are home made alunimum gas checks. I make my own gas check makers and have tried a couple different designs. Tried square shouldered along with rounded shouldered gas checks. A picture of the rounded shouldered gc.

Home made gc makers made out of scrap metal I had laying around. I made gc makers for the 22cal's, 30cal's, 35cal's, 44cal's.

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Do you coin and form in separate steps, or are these a one shot op?

I coin & form in 1 step using an arbor press.