Why a custom mold?

[sutherpride59]

So aside from boolit design and mold material what is the point of getting a custom mold? I know you can have to mold made to match the weight of the alloy you cast so that is a nice plus but what other reasons? Do they cast any better? Is the quality any better than that of a commercial mold like an RCBS or an NOE? I'm not knocking them I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around how you justify the price of some of these if you even can.

[warf73]

There are times when you need something that just isn't common, may it be size or design.

I've got close to 70ish molds and out of those maybe 10 of them are off the shelf, rest are custom molds of some flavor, may it be Lee, NOE or Accurate. The boolit I shoot the most is off the shelf Lee 150gr RN 6 cavity, the girlfriends most shot boolit is a custom mold made by Lee using a Ranchdog design 100gr RF 6 cavity.

If you get all your needs met using off the shelf molds don't sweat it and drive on. Do custom molds make a better boolit, IF all things being equal NO. Most guys order a custom mold for a need/want.

I would bet more critters have killed with an off the shelf mold than all custom molds put together. I would probably say the same goes for paper.


Warf

[Spector]

All of my molds were Lee starting with their round ball molds. Great accuracy from their 200 grain .452 TL SWC. Before they offered the 200 grain RF I had a machinist mill some off the Lee 255 grain RF creating a 217 grain RF.

I ordered my first custom mold, from Tom at Accurate, a few months ago. I was shooting for a 230 grain boolit with no lube grooves and the same basic nose profile of the Lee RF.

I have switched to powder coating all of my boolits. I wanted more boolit gripping the rifling. PCed boolits with lube grooves are fine according to almost anyone with an opinion of whether one is better than another. I cannot say at this point that it is any more accurate than any of my Lee boolits. Still I like it and am considering sending it to Erik for hollow pointing.

It has been casting at about 235 to 237 grains with WW+2%+ a small amount of mystery metal. After hollow pointing it should be around 220 grains, or a little heavier with my soft lead sheathing + 2% and an aluminum PB gas check.

None of what I have said would justify to most people what I spent for my mold or what I will be spending to have it hollow pointed. It just suits me to have something a little different.

When I worked and my wife was keeping me in constant debt Lee was fine........as I'm sure they still are. But I've been retired for a long time now. My wife died and after a few years I paid off all the debt she had created and have a nice emergency fund in the bank now. I still have to put my grandson through community college and get him a car so I have some unknown expenses coming up.

Still at 69 my years are approaching their limit and within 27 years, if I have the longevity of some of my male relatives, I will have no further need of money. Seems like I have done for others all my life. Now I can do some things for myself and not feel guilty about the money spent.

From the perspective of the question you asked I'd say you can find stock molds to do almost anything you would want to do with a handgun or long gun. And when you can spend the money on a custom mold just because you want to try one and you won't be making payments with interest.......then it will be worth it even if no one else sees the need for that particular boolit. I waited 36 years to buy a custom mold.........and the wait didn't kill me. In fact I imagine it allows me to appreciate it even more now. Waited years to even buy a Dremel tool. It was a nice addition, but I managed for many years without one.

Mike

[runfiverun]

off the shelf molds fit most everything, sometimes fair sometimes poorly.
a custom mold will fit my rifle/pistol.

[quietmike]

Sometimes a lyman or lee mold will make beautiful boolits and will drop them without a hitch. Sometimes it takes leementing or other "doctoring" to get it to act right.

My accurate molds have all worked perfectly right out of the box.

[country gent]

I have several custom moulds Brooks, Old West, and some I made myself. The plusses to a custom moluld are 1) size with your alloy. mould can be cut to cast to size with a given alloy. 2) wieght you can specify wieght with a given alloy. 3) you can get nose pour or base pour moulds from some makers. 4) the quality and craftsmanship is simply at a higher level than "production" levels are. 5) you can get your choice of material, Steel, Brass, or aluminum. 6) You can get multicavity moulds or moulds with 2 diffrent bullet styles in the same blocks. Cavities are closer to identical ussually. My custom moulds normally drop their bullets with the tap on the hinge to open the blocks. I have several Ive converted to nose pour from base pour blocks and most shoot as good as before if not better than before converting. With a mill good indicator and time its not hard to do. Requires making new sprue plates, milling off some of the bottom of the mould, drilling and tapping some extra holes and a spacer to be made up. A good custom mould made to order is a pride to own and use

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Some design/caliber combinations are extremely rare and are not made by commercial manufactures anymore, if they even ever were? My only custom mold, bought 5 years ago, is a 41 caliber Wad cutter.

You mention NOE, many of his offerings have filled the hole of extremely rare and difficult to find molds. He is continually filling that hole through his group buys. If you were to go back in time, just 6 or 7 years, there would be a long list of "extremely rare and difficult to find molds".

As has been stated many times before, we "ARE" in the golden age of boolit mold manufacturing.
So enjoy the timing of your entry into this hobby.

[Dan Cash]

I want a mould that drops the dimensions that I need, is uniform, round and cast well. Never had RCBS but many Lymans and a half dozen Lee and a number of Accurate. The Lees are thankfully gone and most of the Lymans. The rest of the Lymans go as I can afford to replace them.

[DerekP Houston]

I dont have a "custom* mold per se, but I have collected some NOE and miha's. While i still use my lee 6 bangers and rcbs molds, there is a noticable ease of use when using a higher quality mold. There is also the bonus of almost guaranteed proper sizing.

[44man]

FIT. Many molds are still under size. Need a .460" boolit for a 45-70 and buy a Lyman at .457"-good luck. I make my own molds.
Custom mold makers will make what you need and though some are expensive, how can you go wrong?

[sutherpride59]

All the question I had have been answered thank guys for all yalls info. For now I'll stick with what I've got. I'm cheap and the couple of production molds I have suit my needs but I understand a little better why so many people have custom molds. Maybe something for down the road casting. At 27 this hobby is about making me some accurate cheap bullets for paper hunting.

[kenyerian]

When I was 27 time was important to me so anytime I could I used six cavity molds. Sometimes they are only available through a custom maker.

[fredj338]

Why not? The cost isn't much more than say a 4cav Lyman & cheaper than 4cav Saeco & you get exactly the bullet you want. Win, win IMO. For me, a quality 4cav is just as fast as a cheaper Lee 6cav. It takes time to fill more cavs & get the bullet out of more cavs. I find I get more bullets per hour with my 4cav Accurate than I do with my 6cav Lee. I also get less rejects. Seems there is a rhythm to 6cav that can throw 1-2 bad bullets for me.