HPing a non HP NOE mold.

I might suggest trying to phone AL about your request to have NOE modify one of its NON HP moulds to HP.

I asked him about that several years ago… Maybe he has changed his mind since then?

While you are at it you might wish to look at a recent group buy that the original author of said group buy had made only in a HP version.

Fortunately there are still some of that recent group buy in stock at NOE of that particular mould as of this instant in time.

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/product-category/358/358-195-hp-u6/

Since it is basically the same caliber (358 vs 360) and bullet weight 195 HP vs 200 FN (Flat Nose) with both NOE designs are flat nosed designs.  Plus they are already hollow pointed & come with several sets of pins.

I might suggest that you look at & measure the 200 grain cast bullets that you have cast up already in regard to the ogive nose dia and compare it to the 358-195 mould design.

It might behove you to consider that path towards your goal of an approximate 200 Gr cast bullet with a HP design and available pins that accompany that HP mould design.

Your call on that… once you have done your diameter & freebore cast bullet homework…

QuickDesign indicates that the 358-195-HP will with wheelweight alloy throw an approximate 207 Gr with the supplied flat nose pin installed. So one might imagine that we are talking about apples and apples here…

Depending on what your final HP pin design will be you most probably will be in the same general neighborhood as the 195 design currently is…

A note of caution in designing your own HP pins…

In dealing in part with making my own HP pin designs using the NOE blank pins… among others… that  mould modification machinist specialist… that I have dealt with in the past… who has been modifying and manufacturing HP mods such as you are proposing normally recommends at least a seven degree slope to the HP pin designs…

The reason for this is that anything less than that degree of slope will tend to have the hot HP castings hang up on those manufactured pins due to the heating and cooling shrinkage of those HP pins..

Your call on that design detail… also…

Take Care, & Stay Safe..

Erik has done a goodly number of HP moulds for me also… to my design modification drawings…

I have typically taken one of the duplicates of a mould that I have in my war bag and designed an HP version to meet my needs…

Alternately you can purchase at least two of the same moulds from NOE, to allow one to be modified to your required HP design dimensions…

Most probably Erik will ask you to give him a detailed design drawing of the HP pin shape that you want so that you will have control of the final cast bullet weight in your end product…

Otherwise you may just end up with what ever cast bullet weight the finished HP design will produce when you get your HP’ed mould back.

Erik seems to prefer that option to just requesting an HP modification …

I tend to agree also as it  seems to allow both parties to be on the same page … expectation wise …

It is fairly easy to calculate the amount of lead displacement in grains that will be involved if you are contemplating an HP rifle design… to allow you to arrive at your calculated desired cast bullet weight… for a design that you might have in mind… before you ever get the finished HP mould back to begin its use.

If you plan to use one of the NOE HP drawings to convert the NON HP mould to a HP version be sure that you look at the original NOE drawing data to determine that it is what you actually want as there is no going back to the original version once the HP Pin machining modification is begun…

You will want at least a .025 to .030 shoulder wall between the outside diameter of the meplat and the out side diameter of the major diameter of the HP pin to guarantee a good predictable clean casting fill. 

So as an example if one has a or is envisioning a .200 diameter meplat one will need to realize that the largest major diameter of the truncated cone when designing the HP pin will need to be in the range of .140 to .150.

Also if the original design is a round nosed cast bullet you will need to calculate the hemispherical amount of lead displaced when removing the RN and making it a FP design prior to designing your HP pin…

Also the HP pins will be a single version type unless you want to pay for additional HP pin designs let alone a flat pin design …

On the bright side if you are doing at least a 2 cavity HP mod you will get a Lyman style TP complete with a pin that matches your HP pin design so as not to distort the cast bullet when sizing or seating the cast bullet … If you have a fixture that will also hold that particular HP pin.

Suffice it to say that at least when sizing your cast bullet you will be much less apt to distort the HP’ed nose of your cast product…

Remember also that when you design your HP Pin, that you will need at least a 7 degree draft angle on the HP pin taper … so that you will not end up with hanging (CHAD) cast bullets due to the expansion, & cooling of the cast bullet, & the HP pin in question.

You will be paying for a one of a kind custom machining design so don’t be surprised at what the cost… will be…

You are paying for one of a kind custom work…

Take Care & Stay Safe…