mold materials

[XWrench3]

i know that molds can be made from different materials. aluminum, brass, cast iron, steel. i also know that molds for other items have been made from wood, and sand. i would like to make a mold, to drop various size slugs, for slugging bores. i know that i can use muzzle loader bullets, but i dont want to have several boxes of muzzle loader bullets laying around for different size bores. and i would think it would be impractical to try to drive a 50 caliber ball through a 22 caliber rifle!. i was thinking that ceramic might work. it can definitly withstand any heat i would ever throw at it once it was fired. and as long as it didnt get dropped, i should be able to use it repeatedly. it would also be very easy to work with in its uncured state. so, not really knowing much about ceramics, i have 3 questions. 1) do you think this would work? 2) do you think these would need to have a glaze applied to them, to get the slugs to release? 3) my initial thoughts were to make several sized slugs to drive through bores. but after thinking about this for a few moments, i am thinking what might be more practical would be a long straight taper from one end of the mold to the other, then just cut off a size that would be suitable for driving through. any comments?

[deltaenterprizes]

Why not use a plain old round nosed boolit? 2 pieces of aluminum in a drill press are simple enough.

Something interesting is a clay sold in hobby stores that can be baked to keep its shape. Might work for a one time use.

[mooman76]

You could get a doit sinker mould and they even sell blank mould that you can use to make your own if you have what is needed to do it.

[KYCaster]

Some of the high temp silicone rubber gasket materials will do a fair job as a limited use mold. Years ago I got some from a cousin who worked for Dow Chemical and made a jig mold with it. It worked OK for a little while.

Shouldn't be too hard to find the useable temp range for the various brands.

Good luck
Jerry

[XWrench3]

i USED to be able to buy some egg shaped sinkers of an aproximate size. cheap. that were made from soft LEAD. but now, the "green generation" has that all screwed up. it is a good thing they are saving me from myself. who knows what damage i would do otherwise! i could see this, if we were importing lead from another planet, and the consequenses were unknown. but lead is a natural occouring substance in the ground. we dig it up to use it. the next thing you know, they will be having us send it to mars or something. i am not saying it is totally safe. i would not make a pacifier out of it, and stuff it in a kids mouth. but if you use your head just a little, it can be handled quite safely for most of us.

[geargnasher]

I've wondered about using potter's clay myself. Might have to try it, but I was thinking or boolits. If you just want to make a slug mould, I'm sure someone has a damaged Lee two-cavity you could get for cheap, just clamp the blocks together and drill a hole the size you need between the cavities or drill out the cavities if they're small enough. You don't even need a sprue plate for a slug mould.

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