Don't see this often!

[54bore]

161308

[54bore]

New in the packages TC .54 Cal Maxi Ball and .54 Cal Maxi Hunter bullet molds, I have one of each that are opened that I am currently using. These might be loading bench keepers. It's not to difficult to find these in 45 and 50 cal but these 54s are fairly hard to come by these days, especially new in the package

[bubba.50]

and if ya leave'em in the package you might as well just have a picture of a mould. it would be just as useful & take up less space.

my opinion & yer welcome to it.

[54bore]

and if ya leave'em in the package you might as well just have a picture of a mould. it would be just as useful & take up less space.

my opinion & yer welcome to it.

I agree bubba.50, I'm gonna put them to use, never been much of a collector of anything, I'm happy to have the old molds

[triggerhappy243]

Bubba.50"s wisdom is always inspirational. Never ever heard him sling a line of B.S. And I like that in a person.

[triggerhappy243]

54Bore, I would like to see the cavities of those mold blocks when you get them opened.

[OverMax]

I got one or two maxi T/C molds here someplace. There is/was a rumor that the T/Cs mold casts had a bigger circumference than a Lyman's or RCBS? And the T/C molds were made by some other mold manufacture for T/C? Don't know if either is true or not. Never bother to measure mine.
No picture look'in for me. I make use of everyting here. Certainly did cast a few 54s heavy weight T/C projectiles in my time. Shot most of em up and kept a couple for prosperity reasons. Honestly for my purposes. I found a 54 maxi hard pressed to beat a patched balls accuracy. One thing a 54 maxi does have more of than a patched ball. Felt recoil. Uff Da!! Especially so when I loaded mine sitting atop a 110 Gorex 2-FFG charge. Anyway for those who don't know. All T/C molds were made of aluminum and quite similar to a Lee molds (aluminum) in hardness.

[kenyerian]

I got one or two maxi T/C molds here someplace. There is/was a rumor that the T/Cs mold casts had a bigger circumference than a Lyman's or RCBS? And the T/C molds were made by some other mold manufacture for T/C? Don't know if either is true or not. Never bother to measure mine.
No picture look'in for me. I make use of everyting here. Certainly did cast a few 54s heavy weight T/C projectiles in my time. Shot most of em up and kept a couple for prosperity reasons. Honestly for my purposes. I found a 54 maxi hard pressed to beat a patched balls accuracy. One thing a 54 maxi does have more of than a patched ball. Felt recoil. Uff Da!! Especially so when I loaded mine sitting atop a 110 Gorex 2-FFG charge. Anyway for those who don't know. All T/C molds were made of aluminum and quite similar to a Lee molds (aluminum) in hardness. The TC Molds I bought back in the early 70's were steel.

[Brasso]

My .45 TC mold is steel also.

[dondiego]

I have a TC mold in steel made by Lyman. They were the early ones.

[mooman76]

It isn't all that uncommon to see them still in the packs. They sit in gun stores behind the counter or in the corner behind stuff but it is a rare find for the 54. I avoided buying a 54 years ago because it wasn't all that common and options for 54 stuff was harder to find. That was before the internet though and now adays it(the 54) is much more popular. In fact I picked one up a couple years ago at a gun show.

[dondiego]

I used to see the TC molds in those packs at gun shows a few years ago but not lately! I have a few.

[mooman76]

I see very few if any moulds at gun shows any more or at least around here.

[mooman76]

T/C moulds were made by different manufactures at different times. All of mine are aluminum and I also have an odd one in 54. RB on one side and you flip it over and the underside has what looks like a full wad cutter. The aluminum seems to me to be of better quality than the Lee moulds but Lee moulds are fine too as long as you take care of them and don't drop or toss them around.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I agree with moonman76 about the scarcity of .54 items back in the `70`s. That is the very reason that I had 3 molds for my Renegade .54. I had the maxi ball, the maxi hunter and a round ball for patch work, at one time I had a replica minie ball mold. All my molds as was said were steel and the mold handles were well made also. Old age made me divest my collection of the .54 gun and molds to a neighbor who sold all of it again within a year citing the recoil was a bit much.Robert

[54bore]

The maxi Hunter had already been out of the pack, it has the rounded pin in it, I started another thread awhile back about the differences in TC maxi Hunter molds, there is a picture of this mold opened up in it, I have one with a pointed pin and this brand new one has a rounded pin. The one I was most excited about is the maxi ball mold, when I opened it up I compared it to one of the old maxi ball bullets our deceased friend had poured many years ago and it's slightly different? I give up!!! As some of you know I have tried and tried on that one to no avail, the old bullet is definately a maxi ball, I'm thinking maybe it was from a Lyman, Saeco mold? I read an old TC ad that listed 3 different bullet weights for 54 cal maxi ball, maybe He had a different weight? Anyway the mystery of the mold continues on these old bullets our friend poured.

[bubba.50]

don't know if it was so people couldn't pass their home-rolled off as factory or if it was just tolerance/spec differences in mould manufacturers but, maxi-balls I used to buy in the stores would not fit in my maxi-ball mould & both were T/C marked. there was also a 10gr weight difference. never noticed any difference in accuracy. they all shot good for me.

[54bore]

don't know if it was so people couldn't pass their home-rolled off as factory or if it was just tolerance/spec differences in mould manufacturers but, maxi-balls I used to buy in the stores would not fit in my maxi-ball mould & both were T/C marked. there was also a 10gr weight difference. never noticed any difference in accuracy. they all shot good for me.

Thanks for the input bubba.50, I figure people are gonna think I'm nuts with all the TC maxi ball stuff I've started on here, my main goal was to track down a mold like our deceased friend had cast bullets for my dad from, in doing so I have found several variances of the maxi balls, and even the maxi hunters (some of the hunters have pointed hollow point pins, and some have rounded pins, and the bullet shape is totally different) the new maxi ball mold I have In this picture is close and I'm happy to have gotten it. One of these days I'll spot a twin mold to what he had, I definately know what to look for. I just weighed one of his old bullets and it's 410 grains, I was confident that his old bullet would drop right in this new mold but not a chance

[mooman76]

I don't know if they still do them this way but they used to cut the mould with a cherry. A cherry is only good for so many moulds and as it is used it wears down until it is too small to use. Then they have to make a new cherry by hand and each time it varies a little. One reason for some of the differences. This is also why Lyman moulds are out of tolerances and are too small. They use the cherry too long when it gets worn down.

[54bore]

161453

[54bore]

The bullet to the right is from the brand new mold in the package at the start of this thread and weighed in at 415 grains (I weighed 20 bullets and they were all within 1 grain of each other using pure lead) the bullet in the middle is the old bullet our friend poured years ago and it weighs 410 grains, and the bullet on the left is from the mold I got from a forum member. The 2 molds I have look to be built identical to each other (except for color and markings)

[Newtire]

I have a TC mold in steel made by Lyman. They were the early ones.Bought my .50 TC mould around the time the movie Jeremiah Johnson came out and it's aluminum and kind of a brass color.

[Squeeze]

and if ya leave'em in the package you might as well just have a picture of a mould. it would be just as useful & take up less space.

my opinion & yer welcome to it.
:D I LOVE that! Makes me rethink a lot of things..

[54bore]

I don't know if they still do them this way but they used to cut the mould with a cherry. A cherry is only good for so many moulds and as it is used it wears down until it is too small to use. Then they have to make a new cherry by hand and each time it varies a little. One reason for some of the differences. This is also why Lyman moulds are out of tolerances and are too small. They use the cherry too long when it gets worn down.

This makes the most sense, as it's hard to find 2 identical TC molds

[54bore]

I just watched a twin to my 54 cal maxi Hunter mold sell on eBay for 220.00

[RhodeHunter]

I just watched a twin to my 54 cal maxi Hunter mold sell on eBay for 220.00

I think it would be better to get into a group buy of a custom mold.

[bubba.50]

I just watched a twin to my 54 cal maxi Hunter mold sell on eBay for 220.00


provin' once again the validity of the old sayin' about fools & money. and they sure do get some fools on evil-bay