Last "wintertime" Castimg...NEW Mountain Mold...

[sargeny1]

Hi All..Received this mold this week from Mountain Molds...took about 8 weeks for delivery as he is not yet up to full production...used the program on the website to design an ORIGINAL KEITH 357 Bullet at a FULL 173 Grains with a nose short enough to fit in ANY 357 revolver cylinder...bullets are Lyman #2 Alloy shown next to a 357 case for reference...
Pete:castmine:
MOUNTAIN MOLDS ORIGINAL DESIGN 357 KEITH 173 Grains
http://www.hunt101.com/img/495949-big.JPG (http://www.hunt101.com/?p=495949&c=500&z=1)

[9.3X62AL]

Now, THAT is sufficient lube capacity and crimping area to satisfy the most jaded SWC enthusiast. Good luck with that critter!

[PPpastordon]

Now that is one great looking boolit!
But here is the question. Are the lube grooves cut with 90 degree angles as Elmer demanded? Not that it would make any difference with my current state of shooting ability; just curious.
Shucks. More importantly, how does it shoot?

[Bullshop]

Those 90 degree angles make boolit release from the mold much more of a problem. I much prefer a little angle. We have all seen that such boolits can be very accurate. Remember Elmer designed his boolits around one alloy. If he was using WW he may have comprimised a bit.
BIC/BS

[Char-Gar]

That may or may not be a good bullet out of the .357 Mag, but an original Keith it is not. It may be "Keith like" or "inspired by the Keith bullet", but the only original Keith bullets were designed by Elmer Keith. His bullets had three driving band of EQUAL width, and a different porportion of body to nose length.

We all love to play with cast bullets, experiment with various aspects of design and so forth in the persuit of the craft. So, I have no issues with the guy who wants to lay down his money for a custom mold.

The real Keith bullet had plenty of lube and that was never an issue. When Lyman went to the rounded bottom groove from the original Keith square bottom groove, Elmer was very unhappy because the change reduced the lube capacity.

There is a point when too much lube can become a downside. I am wondering if you have hit that spot or not.

Good luck and keep us informed how it works.

[Char-Gar]

Oh yes... When Dan is talking "Original Keith" on his web site, I think he is talking about the angle of the nose and the resulting size of the meplat.

Over the production life, Lyman changed the nose angle on their 429421, to a sharper angle which reduced the meplat size. Elmer didn't like it and that, combined with the round bottom lube groove caused Elmer to recommend folks buy the Hensley and Gibbs molds which retained his original design.

Elmer was not right about all things, but he was right about most things. The effectivness of his original design was one of those things about which he was right.

I am glad to learn that Dan has MM up an going again. I like his molds, and his custom molds at a reasonable price is a god send for us cast bullet nuts.

[45 2.1]

That may or may not be a good bullet out of the .357 Mag, but an original Keith it is not. It may be "Keith like" or "inspired by the Keith bullet", but the only original Keith bullets were designed by Elmer Keith. Quite true. His bullets had three driving band of EQUAL width, and a different porportion of body to nose length. Elmer designed several boolits in different calibers. Not all of them followed that assumption.

The real Keith bullet had plenty of lube and that was never an issue. Much more than what is currently thought.When Lyman went to the rounded bottom groove from the original Keith square bottom groove, Elmer was very unhappy because the change reduced the lube capacity. And the mechanics of the boolit also. Keith did not say a lot about the why and wherefore of his designs either, but there was a method to the madness.

There is a point when too much lube can become a downside. I am wondering if you have hit that spot or not. On that boolit I think that you are correct.

[sargeny1]

Hi ALL..Thanks for your replies and help....I wanted a KEITH bullet as close to his original as possible..with the improvements since he designed his bullet...I purposelly made the lube gooves longer to hold more lube and of course the nose shorter to fit S&W Models 27 & 28 and Colt Python..with a wide front driving band to true up the round in the cylinder and minimize skidding as the lands start to grip the bullet...also I wanted a HEAVY bullet as the 357 needs all the help it can get for hunting...the bullets drop at 172 grains +- 1 grain at .359 diameter with Lyman #2 Alloy and the lube groove angle is NOT 90 deg...I believe it is 55 deg...Mountain Molds does not offer 90 Deg. angle........ Yesterday I cast up another batch of 5-600...the mold is a joy to use..just keeps cranking out really nice bullets.....I am thinking this bullet will do for whitetail deer out to 50-60 yards or so...That is my handgun hunting limit...past that I'll go to my rifle...I will test this bullet in all my S&W's...Colts and Rugers and post the results....
PETE

[klw]

I'm confused. I thought that they had stopped making moulds?

Just went and looked at their web page. They are NOT taking orders AGAIN!

I've got one of his moulds. It is ok. Nothing special but ok. How you stay in business when you are not taking orders (and he has done this at least twice) is beyond me.