New MP 308 hunting mold

Will

Well-Known Member
As many of you know I really like the MP 308 hunting bullet. I have a 2 cavity HP version that has treated me well in a couple calibers.

Seems I was constantly running out though, and the 2 cavity wasn’t helping me in that regard. Also I really wanted a solid version of this bullet to try and take a few deer with. When Miha offered up a 8 cavity group buy mold I couldn’t lay off.


This will be my first mold of his that has the lee 6 cavity style sprue plate. Also had him throw in a set of handles which are of excellent quality $20.
 
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Spindrift

Well-Known Member
Wow! Now, that is a Mold!
I have no MP- molds myself, but have curious about this bullet. It would be interesting if you could share some data and results. Good luck with your new bullet factory!
 

Ian

Notorious member
Please post gas check shank dimensions (top and bottom of shank to indicate taper, if any), I've very interested to see if Miha actually implemented the fix that I've been told he did.
 

Will

Well-Known Member
Please post gas check shank dimensions (top and bottom of shank to indicate taper, if any), I've very interested to see if Miha actually implemented the fix that I've been told he did.


I’ll be sure to post them when I get a chance to cast some. May be a couple weeks.
 
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fiver

Well-Known Member
I'm sure you know this.
but your gonna want to start with 1-2 cavity's and add 1 more as you go along until you get to all 8, I have an 11 cavity .180 diameter mold that i run dead soft lead in and it would break the sprue handle if I tried not doing that.
then once your up to temp switch back and forth between back to front and front to back filling, to keep the mold temp consistent.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Or if you have one, throw it in the mould oven at 375°F and let it soak for a half-hour while your casting furnace heats up.
 

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
Will is that the 160gr or is it the 180gr bullet? I just got the 160 gr mold. Its seasoned and ready to cast me some booolits. As soon as it gets above 0 for a full day.
I was hoping to find someone that got the 180 gr mold. So i could trade bullets with them. Kevin
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Heresy alert, up front.

I am no fan of gang moulds, for the reason that Fiver alluded to. Most of my casting for autopistols and rifles involves 92/6/2 alloy, and more than four cavities makes for way too much work with sprue-cutting. The tools get heavy and ungainly in a hurry, too. They are well-nigh impossible to do Bruce B Soft-Pointing with, also. 2-bangers rule the day at my place. Yes, I am a lazy and somewhat indolent sort at times. If I had wanted to work my aspirations off at impossible tasks, I would have kept working in law enforcement. To each his/her own.
 
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Will

Well-Known Member
Well I like to shoot. And more importantly have a large batch of bullets to keep things consistent in my testing. I work 12 hour swing shifts with lots of overtime. Gang molds work best for my system. My free time is too valuable for 2 cavity molds these days.

I don’t think I will have much trouble keeping this one hot. I’ll take measurements when I get back home, but just from looks there’s not a lot of extra aluminum on this one. I’m hoping it will allow me to get batches of 6-800 bullets for testing.

I built a mold oven with a coffee can and a burner for preheating molds. I will keep in mind the pouring a few cavities at a time though. Never has to do that before to be honest.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I hadn't either but those cam's are pretty fragile.
I don't own a single LEE 6 cavity mold, but I do have a couple of core molds made up on them and I have a couple of spare 'aftermarket' cams for them.
 

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
I heated the pot up today. And went to town with the new mold. Boy is it heavy compared to my other molds. An when it gets filled it almost doubles in weight. I soon learned to rest the mold on something whenever i could.
I was using 50%WW/50% soft. With a pot temp. of 700. As Fiver said it takes alot of time and heat to get the mold to casting temp. I tried 3 ways to get the mold to casting temp. An the fastest i found. Was to preheat on my hotplate, then dip an edge of the mold in the alloy to finish heating it.
Bullets almost jumped out of the mold. Just opening the mold caused 6-7 bullets to fall from the mold. An a gentle tap on the handle loosened the last holdout(s).
Boy did the pile of bullets increase rapidly. The trouble was that the pot emptied as fast as the pile of bullets increased. I was continually adding ingots.
I the end i cast almost 650 bullets and only had 40 rejects for high or low weight.
Ian after supper i will measure my bullets for you.
 
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Will

Well-Known Member
I generally cast with a 50/50 coww/soww type alloy and throw in a little tin.

I don’t have any experience using a 96/2/2 alloy like you are casting the XCB with.
 

Ian

Notorious member
MP had an issue making the gas check shanks .287"x.290" or so with 50/50 alloy which made it near impossible to get checks on the Hunter and SIL moulds, and when you could hammer them on, a huge ring of metal pushed up in front of the check when the bullets were sized. That ring caused a lot of excess metal wash in my bores, and is why I swore off of all those 45 2.1 moulds. I'm currently in the group wait for the next run of the SIL and am curious if the fixes are for real.