Homemade version of Ideal Cylindrical Adjustable Mould

[Danny Ross]

I recently found a picture of an old Ideal mould in The Paper Jacket by Paul Matthews.


Matthews also included a picture of his version:

 

[Danny Ross]

My version is a bit different than the Ideal Mould. I bored a hole in a 3' x 11/8 and reamed it to about.454". At the bottom I threaded for a 1/2 x 20 thp x 3/4" bolt, bored a bit over 1/4".





The weight of the projectile is determined by the length of a sleeve. The longer the sleeve, the lighter the projectile.

In the pictures, the longest projectile was cast without a sleeve, and weighs a bit less than 700 grains. The next longest projectile was cast with a sleeve .389" long and weighs about 500 grains. The second shortest projectile was cast with a sleeve 1.000" long and weighs about 240 grains. The shortest projectile was cast with a sleeve 1.050" long and weighs about 204 grains.



This picture shows the internals for producing a 240 grain projectile all assembled outside the mould.

Unfortunately, the Ideal Cylindrical Adjustable Mould is no longer manufactured, but I am sure any competent machinist could make one. I find it especially useful for making projectiles to use with sabots in a .50, though I understand the originals were made to be used with paper patching.

 

[Danny Ross]

I found this picture of an original Ideal Cylindrical Adjustable Mould. It is all original except for the handle and sold for $145.

 

[Danny Ross]

This is my latest iteration of the Ideal Cylindrical Adjustable Mould. I still have not found a picture of the internals, but I think this version is closer to the original.





The bolt is a 3/8 - 16 x 2.5". It is threaded into the 1/2 - 20 x 3/4" to position the bullet point. The farther the bolt is screwed in, the shorter and lighter the bullet.

 

[antietamgw]

It's looks like a great way to experiment a bit without spending a fortune on molds. How much difference in diameter is there between your mold body and the bullet diameter as cast? Thanks.

 

[Danny Ross]

It's looks like a great way to experiment a bit without spending a fortune on molds. How much difference in diameter is there between your mold body and the bullet diameter as cast? Thanks.

 

[Danny Ross]

At a guess, a couple of thousandths smaller than the mould body, depending on the metal composition. Soft lead seems to be coming out smaller than the harder stuff. Lately, I am mostly working on getting the sprue of my aluminum .50 caliber mould to work right.

I made the .45 out of 1 1/8 steel round stock and the .50 out of 1 1/8 aluminum round stock. The .50 reamer measures about .495 and the bullets come out about .492; the .45 reamer measures about .454 and the bullets come out about .452. The soft lead .45's fall out of the mould and the harder bullets need some encouragement.

 

[antietamgw]

At a guess, a couple of thousandths smaller than the mould body, depending on the metal composition. Soft lead seems to be coming out smaller than the harder stuff. Lately, I am mostly working on getting the sprue of my aluminum .50 caliber mould to work right.

I made the .45 out of 1 1/8 steel round stock and the .50 out of 1 1/8 aluminum round stock. The .50 reamer measures about .495 and the bullets come out about .492; the .45 reamer measures about .454 and the bullets come out about .452. The soft lead .45's fall out of the mould and the harder bullets need some encouragement.

Thanks! That helps. I had in mind an adjustable mold to use in a .40 cal cartridge gun, paper patched as well as in a .40 cal ML bullet gun to hunt. The paper patched bullet wants to be about .012 smaller. I figured to cast to size for the paper patched bullet and bump it up to size for the ML. That's the plan anyway...

 

[Danny Ross]

Thanks! That helps. I had in mind an adjustable mold to use in a .40 cal cartridge gun, paper patched as well as in a .40 cal ML bullet gun to hunt. The paper patched bullet wants to be about .012 smaller. I figured to cast to size for the paper patched bullet and bump it up to size for the ML. That's the plan anyway...

 

[Danny Ross]

Thanks! That helps. I had in mind an adjustable mold to use in a .40 cal cartridge gun, paper patched as well as in a .40 cal ML bullet gun to hunt. The paper patched bullet wants to be about .012 smaller. I figured to cast to size for the paper patched bullet and bump it up to size for the ML. That's the plan anyway...

OOPS!

It has been trial and error building these moulds, since I have never seen the internals of an Ideal mould. My .45 bullets work well with sabots in my .50 ML's, as one would expect. I want to make a false muzzle for holding strip paper patching and a bullet starter, but first I need to perfect my sprues.

 

[Danny Ross]

I finally decided on reciprocating saw blades as the best (so far) material to use for my sprue. They are quite inexpensive and easy to work with. I got these at Harbor Freight for about $8, less a 20% off coupon. The ones I used were worn out, so they cost me nothing.

 

[Danny Ross]

I used an a 4 1/2" angle grinder to cut off the tip that goes into the saw, then a bench grinder to grind off the teeth. I used a propane torch to anneal the saw blade where I drill for the 8-32x3/8 machine screw I use to attach mould body to the sprue and the holes into which the lead is poured. Saw blades are HARD.



The large hole in the corner is for the machine screw, the larger of the two holes in the middle is that into which the lead is poured, the smaller allows the air out so the mould will fill.

 

[Danny Ross]

The Vice-Grips act as the handle. The projectiles are soft lead of about 500 grains, .492" in diameter. I cast 5, and they weigh in at 499.5, 500.2, 501.2, 501.7 and 502.9 grains. I had previously cast a variety of projectiles and I put one in the barrel of the mould that was close to the weight I wanted, screwed in the 3/8 - 16 bolt until the bottom was level with the sprue, and tightened down the lock nut.

 

[Danny Ross]

These photos show all the parts except the Vice-Grip. How they work together should be self-evident.

 

[Danny Ross]

This is my latest version of a homemade ICAM, this one for making .30 caliber projectiles. The barrel is a 4" length of 1/4" stainless steel schedule 80 pipe. The nominal inside diameter is.302", but the projectiles come out about .305". With different reamers projectiles of just about any diameter up to .45 can be made using stainless steel 1/4" pipe ( the nominal ID of schedule 40 is.364" )

Without the positioning lengths (pieces of 1/4" OD tubing) the ICAM throws projectiles of about 350 grains. With the positioning lengths installed I get projectiles from 174 to 178 grains.

The top piece is a piece of 1 1/8" aluminum round rod threaded to fit the pipe. The sprue cutter is a reciprocating saw blade.

 

[Danny Ross]

 

[Smyrnagc]

This is very cool! I found an original mould listed on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283994027382?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

 

[Danny Ross]

This is very cool! I found an original mould listed on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283994027382?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

Thanks! This listing has the best pictures of an ICAM I've yet seen. They will be invaluable for improving my own versions. Again, many thanks!

 

[Smyrnagc]

Yes sir! Pretty cool how this is done! Especially with those type of moulds.

 

[sdporter]

I used an a 4 1/2" angle grinder to cut off the tip that goes into the saw, then a bench grinder to grind off the teeth. I used a propane torch to anneal the saw blade where I drill for the 8-32x3/8 machine screw I use to attach mould body to the sprue and the holes into which the lead is poured. Saw blades are HARD.

View attachment 6352

The large hole in the corner is for the machine screw, the larger of the two holes in the middle is that into which the lead is poured, the smaller allows the air out so the mould will fill.

I just use regular old 1-1/2” X 1/4” cold rolled steel for my sprue plates. Skim cut each side on the mill and drill the holes. Use an 82* countersink for the the actual sprue hole, wet sand with WD40 or cutting oil on a flat surface and you got it. Steel is much harder than lead, and I’ve never had one wear out.