Casting with a Hoch nose pour

[Irascible]

I finally got all the bits together to shoot my Ruger #1 re-barreled to 32 Miller Short. I bought two moulds a 170+ gr Saeco tapered and a 200gr Hoch Schutzen nose pour. Both for breech seating. I even bought a used Mag Dipper because I keep reading about Ladle cast bullets are better. Well, not so far! Anyway I struggled with the Hoch quite a bit. The mould had quite a bit of play between the two plates and I couldn't get a flat or even base to save my life. I finally went to the bottom pour RCBS. Letting the bottom plate rest on the mould guide seemed to cure the flat base problem, but it still would not form a completely filled out base. Then I searched on Cast Boolits and found that the bottom plate had to be really hot to fill out properly. I then broke the bottom edges of the mould with a fine file so it would bleed out air with the plate tight. Then I preheated the mould with the base plate down on the pot edge. I also set up a propane torch set on low. As soon as all was up to temp, I cast. Better, flat, but not a perfect base yet. So 5 seconds with the moulds bottom plate over the torch then cast with the bottom plate sitting on the mould guide. BINGO! A fully formed and very flat base. The pot was set at 750 degrees, the alloy was 1 in 20 and 5 seconds of torch before every cast. I made a lot of good bullets in a very reasonable amount of time. It's hard to believe a ladle cast would be any better, but I'll try again. Meanwhile, I need to make a plate with holes drilled to clear the moulds screws and which will sit on the hot plate for pre warming.

[Gtek]

May I ask for procedure that was used with ladle?

[oger]

I have also found that the Hoch nose pour molds must be hot really hot. Once you get them to temp the boolets they make work as well or better than anything else around.

[Four-Sixty]

When ladle casting is suggested, is it meant that you pour a lot of lead into the mold letting the extra flow over the sides into the pot? I'll do that a couple of times to literally 'dump' heat into a mold that has gotten cold. No need to dip the mold back in the melt. I wonder if doing this would negate your need for a torch. Usually, if I see a sprue set too fast, I'll pour a couple ladles full of lead over the mold to get it hot again.

[Wayne Smith]

That is a rather extreme statement of the fact that every mold is unique! If it works, don't fix it.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I had the same problem until fellows here told me about the heat required to cast a perfectly flat base with the Hoch mold. Like you I also employed a propane torch and presto, perfect bases. Hoch advised not to use a torch in his brochure but hey, whatever works. I wish both my 32-40 rifles were chambered for the shorter case.

[BruceB]

There are some Hoch moulds here.

I've never had any difficulty in getting good, flat/square bases with them.

Of course, I run my RCBS pot at its MAXIMUM temperature all the time.... this is about 870 degrees.

A word to the wise?

[Aunegl]

yeah, I have to run the alloy at a higher temperature for my Hoch molds too.

[.30/30 Guy]

I will be in the minority here as I cast at 650 degrees with my Hoch molds. I am using a RCBS ProMelt bottom pour and linotype material. Bottom fill out is very good. I start with a mold warmed on top of the pot and will reject boolits until the mold comes up to temperature. I cast with Hoch molds the same way as I do any other brand of mold.

[Irascible]

Gtek - Mold was heated at the edge of the pot sprue plate down (mistake 1). The dipper sat in the melt until everything was up to temp. Then the mould was mated to the ladle horizontaly and then both turned together to bring the ladle and sprue plate to the 12:00 position. Biggest problem was the pressure of the lead pushed away the bottom plate and left unlevel and un-filled bases. More practice on my part will help, But I will have to see about the clearance on that bottom plate. I'm tempted to try sitting the plate on a bar of steel across the pot and use my Rowel bottom pour ladle.
PS - I just cast with a new Hoch mould, the base pour spitzer, using the RCBS bottom pour and it cast beautiful bullets almost immediately.Hard to beleive the ladle could do better, but I have had MANY years with the Pro Melts.

[Island Trash]

I am new to nose pour moulds, but what I ended up doing was my normal pot temp and hot plate pre heat.

The first few casts, I would pour a large puddle of lead on the bottom plate, and a large puddle on the sprue plate to finish heating up the mould. Once up to temp, I would only pour lead on the bottom plate every third cast to keep the temp up.

I am using a bottom pour most of the time, but it also worked well with a ladle.

This is just what I found to work for me. Hope it can help someone else.