Not Happy with Molds Available – Design your Own

[USSR]

Having 2 brass molds for my 45-70, one of which was made by Accurate Molds, I decided I needed something that would cast about a 300 grain bullet. You see, my Uberti made Winchester 1886 only weighs 7.1 pounds, and from the bench the 345 grain and 405 grain bullets pound me pretty good. Besides, who doesn’t enjoy getting a new brass mold. Since I knew what to expect from Tom at Accurate Molds (top quality/easy casting), I went to his website looking for a .46 caliber bullet in the 300 grain range. Unfortunately, there was nothing there that appealed to me. I starting looking at his .45 caliber molds. His 45-290H mold was exactly what I had in mind. So, I contacted Tom about the possibility of bumping the diameter up on this bullet to .460”. No problem he said, however, since it was to be used in a 45-70 rifle, he suggested a slightly smaller diameter on the front band by pointing out that SAAMI spec’s for the 45-70 has a short throat and needs the smaller diameter. So, that was what the mold specifications were: .460” diameter instead of .452”, and the smaller diameter front band. Had my first casting session today, and am very pleased with the result. Here’s the drawing of the original 45-290H mold.

Don

 

[Mike / Tx]

That looks good Don. I have a couple of the heavier weights as well and have been looking at lighter bullets as well. Then again we haven't had a chance to sit down and load what we have so not sure how they will do yet.

I have shot some factory loads that were reasonable to OK that got my attention. I much preferred the reasonable.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Yep.
Custom is easy today. And affordable.

Of my last 10 or so molds, three were NOE designs. The rest were my designs, either drawn up with the Mountain Molds online tool, or drawn by me and sent to Tom at Accurate. Between designs for myself and designs for other people, I think I have more than 20 bullets in Tom's catalog, now. (...That I know of. There are a few designs that look like tweaked versions of my suggestions for NOE group buys that never got enough interest.)

Sometimes, I want something that just isn't on the market. The weight is wrong. The profile is wrong. The crimp groove is wrong. The nose length is wrong. The nose band is wrong. Etc...

But, more often than not, I'm drawing outside the lines and there just isn't going to be an off the shelf option - like with the 430 gr and 600 gr molds that I had cut for .475 Tremor; one from Mountain Molds, one from Accurate Molds. (Rifle style bullets, pistol style throat, in an AR. She's picky...)

But even the NOE "stock" molds were compromises.
There was a .300 Blackout 247 gr HTC bullet. I don't really like the shape of it, but it was designed for the application, is well liked by other users, and I didn't feel like doing the math to figure it out on my own.

There was a 9mm 136 gr HTC bullet. Again, I don't really like the shape and it's a little lighter than I wanted. But it works and I didn't feel like drawing my own, when there was something available that was really close.

And then there was the special application, for which I needed a very pointy .452" bullet for feeding, but none of the custom mold makers can make such a pointy cavity without the extra cost of having a cherry cut.
NOE actually had a couple of their "Spitzer" .454 molds in stock. Worth a shot, right?...
(I still haven't tested it. The jury is still out.)