New Mould Material

[Idaholewis]

Here’s the first bullet. I held the mould together with pliers, don’t have it ready for handles yet. Curiosity kills me sometimes. No sprue plate, and a cold mould, it came it at .450” on the dot, and weighed 557 grains with a little heap on the back end of the bullet. I think once the mould heats up and it’s finished, they’ll probably be right at .451-.452 and weigh 555 grains. We shall see...

That should make a DANDY “Reach out there, and touch em” Bullet. Excellent stuff as always Stacey! I enjoy your Posts

 

[sdporter]

That should make a DANDY “Reach out there, and touch em” Bullet. Excellent stuff as always Stacey! I enjoy your Posts

After I cast a few, I’ll send it to you to work some magic with it!

 

[sdporter]

Got all the holes drilled out, just gotta tap them and make the sprue plate.. hopefully cast some tomorrow or Tuesday. Good place to burn up some of that 40:1. Wish I had some 20:1

 

[sdporter]

Hope my shoulder can handle it....

 

[fourbore]

It would be interesting to get a photo of how you make the bullet cavity in the mold. Do you cut both held in the vise at the same time? it seems like it would be very easy to end up out of round as well as slightly miss aligned with the two cavities.

 

[LR_Smoker]

Got all the holes drilled out, just gotta tap them and make the sprue plate.. hopefully cast some tomorrow or Tuesday. Good place to burn up some of that 40:1. Wish I had some 20:1

Excellent post. I find this very good information to have and appreciate your sharing the expertise.

 

[sdporter]

It would be interesting to get a photo of how you make the bullet cavity in the mold. Do you cut both held in the vise at the same time? it seems like it would be very easy to end up out of round as well as slightly miss aligned with the two cavities.

There is a fairly lengthy set of videos that shows my whole process on my YouTube Channel. I’ll put the link to part 1 in here. Part 7&8 are where I am actually cutting the bullet profile. The prior ones are getting the blocks squared and pinned etc... I put the blocks in a Four Jaw chuck on the lathe and get them centered to within .0005”. Then I start to cut the bullet.

 

[sdporter]

Ready to start casting! I just gotta find a little time.

 

[sdporter]

Here’s one I cut a while ago out of gray cast iron that I had some slop in the alignment pins and was gonna scrap... found a way to tighten that up, so this ones the next one getting tapped and grooved for handles...

 

[LR_Smoker]

Here’s one I cut a while ago out of gray cast iron that I had some slop in the alignment pins and was gonna scrap... found a way to tighten that up, so this ones the next one getting tapped and grooved for handles...

Looking good. Can’t wait to hear about how those shoot. Keep up the good work.

 

[sdporter]

So I couldn’t resist, I cast a few. My alignment pins are a little loose so I gotta remedy that, but initial results are here:

 

[sdporter]

Looking good. Can’t wait to hear about how those shoot. Keep up the good work.

Thank you! I Think they should shoot great. We shall see though...

 

[Idaholewis]

So I couldn’t resist, I cast a few. My alignment pins are a little loose so I gotta remedy that, but initial results are here:

AWESOME Looking Bullet Stacey!!

 

[sdporter]

Can anybody guess for me (an educated guess) at the BC of this bullet? It’s 1.458 long and weighs 536 grains...

 

[Idaholewis]

Can anybody guess for me (an educated guess) at the BC of this bullet? It’s 1.458 long and weighs 536 grains...

Here ya go Stacey

http://tmtpages.com/calcbc/calcbc.htm#calculator

 

[sdporter]

Ok so I casted up about twenty tonight out of sheet lead, some of them had super bad finning, I need to lap in the alignment pins a little more, and I want to lap the mould itself a little bit. I really don’t like the tool marks in the nose. I’m only sizing down about 0.001” so I have a little bit I can go.

 

[LR_Smoker]

Ok so I casted up about twenty tonight out of sheet lead, some of them had super bad finning, I need to lap in the alignment pins a little more, and I want to lap the mould itself a little bit. I really don’t like the tool marks in the nose. I’m only sizing down about 0.001” so I have a little bit I can go.

Seems to be coming along pretty good just the same. I’m absorbing as much of this as I can. Cut my blocks out of sheet 6061-T6 and squared them up yesterday ( finally ). Maybe I’ll get a chance to work on them or the cutter a bit more soon.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Yet again youve inspired me SD. Ive started saving up some $ towards buying a mini lathe. Just to cut molds. I am hoping i can make mods to some existing molds instead of starting from scratch. I find plenty of molds cheap, in calibers i dont need and i have quite a few aluminum Lee molds i can start with.

 

[Lbtresident]

Machinist are awesome. Keep up the great work.

 

[sdporter]

So I couldn’t resist, I cast a few. My alignment pins are a little loose so I gotta remedy that, but initial results are here:

So, I tapped out the alignment pins, made a few lines on them with a cold chisel, pressed them back in, and they were a bit long, like a thousandth or two. I press them in with the other half of the mould block and you always get a little spring back. Took a little valve grinding compound and placed it in the female side of the alignment hole, a few rotations on each pin and I got it dialed in I hope. I see just a very faint hint of light while looking into the cavity, and there is zero slop. I don’t want to go any farther cause I am afraid I’ll get a little slop and end up with a bullet that’s not concentric, and have to start over on the lapping process.
That should have fixed the finning. I’ll know tomorrow