Making Boolit molds ~ Suggestions??

[Zaneiel]

I am tooling up next week to make some molds after i finish service on my CNC machine.

A few things come to mind:
1.) Slab wall molds for the powder coating folks out there (myself included).
452-200
310-155
224-060
[I can do others if you have something in mind]
2.) 200 or 230 grain TC style 6 or 8 gang boolit for my .45 1911
[452-200]
[452-230]

Anyone have suggestions for what they think may be good sellers?
Anyone need a mold made?

I can also do 1,2,4 or other Cavity Counts.
Thanks for the help

[minmax]

309-240 or 310-240 for 300blk out, and a 130gn for the same. Flat nose for the 30-30 would be nice. What are the prices going to be?

[dilly]

I have one piece of advice. If you make a mold for a powder coating application, be careful how big you make the nose. The powder adds a tiny bit of diameter on the nose and sometimes people have trouble chambering.

[mwells72774]

What are they going to be sitting at price wise?

I'd be interested in a 224-060 and a 452-200, both 4 cav

[Cowboy_Dan]

I have been looking for a .459 boolit of 255-270 gr for my oversized .45 Colt with unthroated chambers (.480" all the way down). Seems all the .45 rifle boolits are 200 and below or 300 and above.

[Zaneiel]

Dilly, thanks for the advise i will keep an eye on that!

Thanks for the feedback guys keep it coming, this is very helpful!

Pricing i think should be about 25 bucks per cavity

Goodsteel you have a point there but i have a day job i do this for fun

But i do have to cover materials etc.

[MBTcustom]

In my opinion, your price is too low. There is a lot that can go wrong with a run of molds, and you need that extra capitol to get the molds out right, no matter what.

I would also recommend that at first, you sell nothing that you have not already made, tested, and inventoried. You'll learn a lot of the idiosyncrasy's fast, but you wont go belly up while you're getting your feet under you.
Do not underestimate how fast this can snowball if things go wrong. Be prepared, and don't try to bite off a big chunk till you know what the meat tastes like. Be careful, charge a good price, do good work, and be more critical of your own work than any of us would be (within reason).

For the record, a two cavity aluminum mold that does what you say it will do (checked with a micrometer) is worth $80 IMHO.

[Zaneiel]

Thanks Goodsteel i will keep your advice in mind.
I have made a few molds allready and have come up with cnc programs to cut the mold blocks for me, that is alot of the work. I make the cherry out of tool steel on my lathe and cut the flutes on the mill. Also i usually make the cherry a thou or 2 large as most people use sizing dies. So if it runs 1 or 2 thou over its not a big deal. It helps keep cost down.

Also i would only work on a few different molds at a time, thats not to say i couldnt cut 20 of the same mold for a run etc etc. The cnc process takes care of most of the work, the cherry and mold cavities are done by hand though.

I like your idea of make the mold first before payment... that would be good edicate.

[MBTcustom]

As has been mentioned by the PC comment, ogive diameter dictates seating depth. Just something to keep in mind.
If you interpolate your cavities, you have much more control of the size, and you can be sure of it. We are spoiled rotten on Miheck, NOE, and Accurate, all of them make molds that will drop bullets within .0005 of stated size when you use the alloy specified for that mold.
A cavity that is off the stated size by .002 is a big turnoff to a lot of people, and they will return the mold or give a bad review.
Another reason to be absolutely sure you can hit your numbers is if you ever make GC designs.
Not trying to discourage you in any way, just telling you what to watch for. The custom mold market has some fierce competition these days, and expectations are sky high.

[dragon813gt]

A cavity that is off the stated size by .002 is a big turnoff to a lot of people, and they will return the mold or give a bad review.

The custom mold market has some fierce competition these days, and expectations are sky high.

Tom's specs are either +.002/-.000 or +-.001. I haven't ever bought one that wasn't on the money. But if it was +.002 it would be w/in spec. Most of us are fine w/ molds that drop a little large. But if they drop to small they're unacceptable.

I agree w/ the second part. But the more choices we have the better it is for the consumer.

[Zaneiel]

I agree you cant be under at all, and i can control the size of the mold with the cherry so i could be right on the money if needed. That being said.. sizers give us flexability to go a bit large and it ends up working in a wider variety of applications.
Cherry will be made and measured by micromiter. Cavity cut and tested with wheel weights and a bit of tin. Size recorded and stamped on the mold so other than any difference between my measuring tools and yours ... stated size should be dead on

[Red River Rick]

Good Luck on your VENTURE..............................

RRR

[Zaneiel]

Thanks RRR just figured i will get a few molds made for myself i have been wanting for a while and while im at it build a stock of cherry's so other folks can get some molds done as well

[Schnizel_fritz]

A dream come true would be a 358 115 tc mould for my 9mm. Without grooves for coating...

[P Flados]

I am tooling up next week to make some molds after i finish service on my CNC machine.

A few things come to mind:
1.) Slab wall molds for the powder coating folks out there (myself included).
452-200
310-155
224-060
[I can do others if you have something in mind]
2.) 200 or 230 grain TC style 6 or 8 gang boolit for my .45 1911
[452-200]
[452-230]

Anyone have suggestions for what they think may be good sellers?
Anyone need a mold made?

I can also do 1,2,4 or other Cavity Counts.
Thanks for the help

Of your stated choices, I am only interesting in shooting 30 cal.

I have a Lee C309-150-F and a C309-170-F. I am shooting these in a 14" TC 30 Herrett with ASBB PC and no GC. I am trying to work up good IHMSA loads.

I have been very interested in seeing how a slab side stacks up against a traditional rifle pattern with PC in lieu of GC.

I do not need one, but if you are making a run & want me to try one out just for the sake of comparison, I might could be convinced. I tend to do my hobbies "on the cheap", but when it comes down to it, paying a fair price for someone's effort is always the right thing to do.

On the other hand, if a "blemish" set of blocks needs a home, I am very not picky.

I will follow this thread.

Like others have said, be careful and good luck.

[jcren]

Good luck, and keep us posted. I can't seem to find my last mold to purchase, so I will have to keep buying!

[Zaneiel]

Of your stated choices, I am only interesting in shooting 30 cal.

I have a Lee C309-150-F and a C309-170-F. I am shooting these in a 14" TC 30 Herrett with ASBB PC and no GC. I am trying to work up good IHMSA loads.

I have been very interested in seeing how a slab side stacks up against a traditional rifle pattern with PC in lieu of GC.

I do not need one, but if you are making a run & want me to try one out just for the sake of comparison, I might could be convinced. I tend to do my hobbies "on the cheap", but when it comes down to it, paying a fair price for someone's effort is always the right thing to do.

On the other hand, if a "blemish" set of blocks needs a home, I am very not picky.

I will follow this thread.

Like others have said, be careful and good luck.

Those choices are just what I am already making. You are welcome to add to the list. Once I build a cherry they will become my staple molds. And you will be the first to get a mold cut with said brand new cherry

[Zaneiel]

A dream come true would be a 358 115 tc mould for my 9mm. Without grooves for coating...

I can do one of those, how many cavities would you like Schnizel_fritz? I will put you down on the list. also if you are sizing to .358 you probably want .359 or .360 ?

[Schnizel_fritz]

That would be great. I would like a 4 cavity mould. .358 will do fine i guess since i coat them, i calibrate to 357 or .358

[Zaneiel]

Ok i updated the list. Schnizel.
Service should be done on my machine within about a week or so and i have a couple of process steps to debug still.
I would like to be perfectly clear on things up front.

1. Molds dont come with handles but will have pins for lee or other handles.
2. Im not taking any money up front. I will work out the bugs and get the molds done. If for some reason we are unable to finish our project then only i am out of pocket.
3. Once i am happy with the molds i will take pics and notify you to have a look before you decide to pay.
4. I would appreciate feedback on how your mold performs and any suggestions for improvements.

Also i would like to thank the creators of this forum for giving us an outlet to discuss and plan things arround what we love to do.
And to all of you who have given me some great feedback. The people here are just top quality i love it here

As always i welcome your feedback and if you are reading this and would like a mold made send me a private message or post here and we can discuss the specifics.
Im going to be working hard this weekend to fine tune my process and my equipment. I have ordered stock and we should be good to go soon

~Cody