I have a two-cavity H&G #43 mould with original handles. This is the 173-grain SWC Elmer Keith designed for Hensley and Gibbs. This number mould is supposedly authentic as far as having had Elmer's input.

It is just begging to be converted to a hollow point mould. But the blocks are pretty collectable, and doing that eliminates the collectability.

So: would you, or not, and the reason behind your decision, please...

I am no expert and will wait to see what more learned guys have to say. For me I would prefer a non hollow pointed cast bullet for hunting.

To keep the mould origional I would not HP it. If you want the boolit for hunting I would look at softnosing it. I do that for my 7x57 with a 65gn 50/50 ww/pb nose on a a lino shank for a 160gn hunting boolit I run at 2415fps and have animals to 185yds so far. Different cal I know but this is a good solution to the problem of hunting effectiveness.

Von Gruff.

The questions are: How does it shoot, What do I expect it to do when it hits, Would softpoints or dual alloys acomplish this and what would it do to the value of the mold.
If it were mine I think I would run them through a HP jig rather than make a permanant adjustment to the mold.

I would leave the mould as is. If you want a HP mould then I suggest the Lyman 429244 "devastater", it is an excellent one for the .44. The GCs allow for a softer, maleable alloy to be used (1-20, 1-16 or 50/50 WW/lead alloys work very well) with excellent expansion, accuracy and no leading at full throttle .44 magnum velocities of 1400+ fps.

Larry Gibson

OK just my two cents. I am a firm believer in if a tool doesn't do what you want it to modify it, I have drawers full of screwdrivers ground down to do specific jobs to prove it. That being said if the mould is as collectable as you say, sell it and buy the mould that makes what you want with a little left over for more lead.

quote:

That being said if the mould is as collectable as you say, sell it and buy the mould that makes what you want with a little left over for more lead.

Makes TWO happy! A collector will have a mould he wants and you'll have the mould you want...and maybe change too!

I'd look for a 358429 Lyman online in a single cavity then HP that one and save the good H&G....

Agreed. For what this mould would bring to someone who wants it (like me) you could have Swede at NOE make you a new three cavity and have them HP one cavity.

They aren't making them anymore...


Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:
I have a two-cavity H&G #43 mould with original handles. This is the 173-grain SWC Elmer Keith designed for Hensley and Gibbs. This number mould is supposedly authentic as far as having had Elmer's input.

It is just begging to be converted to a hollow point mould. But the blocks are pretty collectable, and doing that eliminates the collectability.

So: would you, or not, and the reason behind your decision, please...

I love that design and have two in the Lyman 358429 and 358439. I identical except the latter is a hollowpoint.

I wouldn't HP the mould, but the soultion is very simple. Lyman still produces the 358429, so you buy a new one, then send it to this guy Hollow Point Bullet Mold Service For $50 per cavity and he will HP either one or both cavities.
If a new one is too expensive, there's a 2-cavity on eBay right now that's only $21.50 with less than a day to go.
The 358429 HP version and the 358439 HP moulds turn up on eBay frequently sp you might watch there.
35W

Sell the one you have and get the 358429 and have Eric@hollowpointmould.com do the work. He can do a single cavity, like factory for $35 (Might have been $25) or if you buy a 2 cav, he can RG the thing to where its easy to cast HP's.

You can probably get enough for the mould to buy the Lyman, get it HP'd and have some $$ left for alloy

quote:

Sell the one you have and get the 358429 and have Eric@hollowpointmould.com do the work. He can do a single cavity, like factory for $35 (Might have been $25) or if you buy a 2 cav, he can RG the thing to where its easy to cast HP's.

You can probably get enough for the mould to buy the Lyman, get it HP'd and have some $$ left for alloy

That's the same site I posted. I guess I misread his prices. For $35, I may have to look through my moulds and see if any need HP-ing!
35W

Erik @ HPMS does great work, but he would probably rather buy that mold from you & sell you something else, like a Cramer style Lyman. It allows you to cast two LHP at a time, just as fast as casting solids.

Forester makes a tool that goes in your case trimmer to hollow point bullets. Works well enough. If you want hollow points, might try it.

quote:

Originally posted by aliveincc:
Forester makes a tool that goes in your case trimmer to hollow point bullets. Works well enough. If you want hollow points, might try it.

Very limiting in the size & shape of the HP & w/ a LHP, size & shape matters for best results. I find straight wall LHP need a specifc vel window & alloy to achieve good results. A sloping cup oint, much more forgiving.

I soften noses on rifle bullets by taking a torch to the noses while the shaft is in water. Works great on heat treated wheel weights. Read about in the bear tooth bullets manual. Pretty good little book. Killed a deer with one of those bullets last year, so I guess it more or less works out of a 30-40 krag.

Doubless

My bad, I don't know why I was thinking .44 when I made that 1st post. For the .357 i still suggest leaving the mould you have as is. You can use the 1/8" Forster tool to HP them. Suggest a softer 50/50 alloy of WW/lead. A much better bullet for use as a HP is the 358156. it is a GC design and with the GCs on you can drive them, when cast even softer, to 1400+ fps with very good accuracy. I HP mine, cast with 1-16 alloy with the Forester tool to 1/2 the nose depth and drive them at 1425 fps out of my 6" Ruger SS and 1690 fps out of my Contender. They perform very well on deer and pigs giving excellent expansion and penetration. Can't comment on retained weight as all have been through and through shots so far. Wound channel damage far excedes that of any hard cast bullet.

Larry Gibson

I agree with Larry.

Do not modify the mold, just use the Forester case trimmer with the bullet Hollow Pointer atachments.

That way you can hard SWC's for penetration, and cast softer bullets to Hollow Point.