world’s worst bullet mold

[M-Tecs]

Mods Please delete if this violates the no e-bay posts. This is a link to what I believe is the world’s worst bullet mold. http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Hilts-3-Cavity-Lead-Bullet-Mold-for-50-Caliber-Maxi-Ball-/130696893165?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6e2452ed

I did a quick search on the Hilts 3 Cavity Lead Bullet Mold for 50 Caliber Maxi Ball. Hilts does fishing weight molds. Their Maxi-ball mold looks to be based on their fishing weight mold. I have a hard time believing anyone with bullet casting experience would purchase this crude of a bullet mold. I feel sorry for a first-timer that purchase something like this. The mold looks to be die cast. I would guess in China.

The point of this post is can anyone show me a bigger *** than this?????

[zomby woof]

One heck of a sprue

[odfairfaxsub]

no offense to the man who makes molds or whatever, One i love it when a american product comes out of the works but my god man TWO that spru is killing me. no way to make a deceent bullet out of that mold.

[tubb_ooh_lard]

that is the first die cast bullet mold i have seen , it sure wasnt very well thought out in design was it

[paul h]

Hilts makes great fishing molds, but yeah, they don't have a clue about bullet molds

[mt_sourdough]

WOW, that is something. Yep, it certainly is something.

[MtGun44]

Who knows, it might work OK. Sure not a standard design, it would be interesting
to give it a try and see what happens.

Bill

[Elkins45]

Dig those precision alignment hinges!

I have a sinker mold like that. You use side cutters to snip off the sprue. Never really considered that design for boolets...and I don't think I'll ever consider it again.

[Iron Mike Golf]

I wonder what the diameter of the sprue is. Might could paper patch them...

[Beagler]

Should use it to make some big fat rubber fishing grubs!

[edsmith]

Beagler, what you kill that squrriel with ? a red ryder bb gun? :kidding::bigsmyl2:

[Wayne Smith]

Let's see, boolit base formed by side cutters. Boolit base steers the boolit, is the most sensitive part and needs to be the best formed for a useful boolit.

Somehow, I don't think so. Somebody doesn't know how boolits work.

[mold maker]

Ya might use it to cast ingots of pewter or such.

[FLINTNFIRE]

They show round ball molds on their website , did not look to see the sprue , do not think I will ever want a boolit mold like that, I do use their sinker molds and do-it sinker molds , And I do not know of a bigger hunk of junk then that design

[swheeler]

I bet it would make excellent bullets, bullet fishing sinkers!:)

[40Super]

It's a 2 in 1 design. the bullet on the bottom and a big drop sinker on the top(sprue).

[gcsteve]

Most incredibly, there are (at the time of this post) two bids placed on it.

[Littlewolf]

here's a thought for yall .224 swaggers use the sprue for bullet core... several of them
somebody find the guy that designed that mould and slap him silly plz
if i had to describe that thing in one word i think it would be "YIKES"

[runfiverun]

the sprues look to be 44 cal.
you'd have to hacksaw them off.
bet there are no complaints about fill out, or venting.

[a.squibload]

Up to 4 bids now, $15.
They look like rocket ships.
I think it's for 2-stage boolits,
the first stage drops off after 50 yards...

[bearcove]

OK, did you have fun bashing them. They make good fishing molds. What did you make today?

[waksupi]

It is still a pretty poor example of a bullet mold. Obviously not made by a cast bullet shooter.

[Love Life]

It is kind of interesting.

[canyon-ghost]

It's interesting that it sold for $17! hmm.....

[bearcove]

It is still a pretty poor example of a bullet mold. Obviously not made by a cast bullet shooter.

It requires snipping the sprue. But the molds I have from them cast better than any other fishing mold makers. Has anybody tried one? Do any of you critics know how to use sprue snippers?

So many people whine about how bad things are but criticize a small american company who try to expand their product line. All you critics should shut your mouths unless you have direct knowledge of the results of the boolit.

Shame shame shame.

Some day you can get all your molds at the Lee Chow Win bolit works. Big discount!

[Slowpoke]

Hey bearcove if it makes you feel better, I have considered having a bullet mold made with out a sprue plate , what I have found out using some of the Do-It sinker molds is if you use WW, cast hot and water drop, those sprues snap off pretty clean, no snipping, same for the Capt. Morgan style Buckshot mold I have, it works slick and as far as production goes it puts a Lee six cavity to shame.

Good luck

[bearcove]

Who knows, it might work OK. Sure not a standard design, it would be interesting
to give it a try and see what happens.

Bill

Positive response.

[bearcove]

Let's see, boolit base formed by side cutters. Boolit base steers the boolit, is the most sensitive part and needs to be the best formed for a useful boolit.

Somehow, I don't think so. Somebody doesn't know how boolits work.

Actually a sprue cutter can cut it off flush.

[bearcove]

I am just tired of people being critical of some thing they have not even held in their hands much less tried.

I know its not the ideal setup for casting boolits, BUT how many people do you employ in the US making casting equipment? If its ZERO then maybe you should engage your brain before your mouth!

End of rant until next time!

[waksupi]

Okay, so buy it, and report on how wonderful it works.

[MBTcustom]

I have seen old boolit molds that made a single round ball and had a sprue cutter made into the handle. Kind of the same principle. I wouldn't want to cast for my 358win wit one of those, but it might just make acceptable RB's. It depends how well the cavities line up. I can't tell from the picture whether or not it has any alignment pins. If it does, I dont see how that is a huge disadvantage over a traditional mold, except for the absence of a sprue plate, witch is easily taken care of with some good quality diagonal cutters. Not quite my cup-a-tea, but if I were just wanting to get some RB's for the muzzle loader, and was currently swaging them out of WW's with a pair of pliers, (been there, done that) this mold would be just the ticket, (especially if I had never heard of Lee precision.)

[Artful]

Winning bid: US $16.98
cheapest price for a 3 banger I seen in awhile :bigsmyl2:

That big ole sprue should allow lots of lead to draw from so no void in the boolit.

http://www.hiltsmolds.com/MuzzleLoadingBallMolds.htm

making 5 cavity gang molds

.45 CALIBER .440" diameter $34.95

.45 CALIBER PISTOL .454" diameter $34.95

.50 CALIBER .490" diameter $34.95

.54 CALIBER .530" diameter $34.95

but couldn't find a picture of 'em

[Artful]

I can't tell from the picture whether or not it has any alignment pins. If it does, I dont see how that is a huge disadvantage over a traditional mold, except for the absence of a sprue plate, witch is easily taken care of with some good quality diagonal cutters.

http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/imageserver.x/00000000/hanktime/124052.jpg

appears to have a single pin on the handle side


As far as worst mold I have seen and actually own
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/rowdyfisk/Misc/Homemade2cav.jpg

got in a box deal - never tried to use it - yet :veryconfu

[MBTcustom]

Well, I guess it looks better inside than I thought, but it still comes down to what the finished boolits look like.

[RugerFan]

As far as worst mold I have seen and actually own
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/rowdyfisk/Misc/Homemade2cav.jpg

got in a box deal - never tried to use it - yet :veryconfu

Geeze someone else actually has one of those??? I have a nearly identical mold. One cavity is a .300 round ball and the other is similar to yours, but the "ogive" is a bit more bottle neck shaped as I recall (can't get to it right now) and has a much narrower dia than the RB. What on earth is that second cavity used for?

[bowfin]

I'm withholding judgement until I see the groups...

[Artful]

Geeze someone else actually has one of those??? I have a nearly identical mold. One cavity is a .300 round ball and the other is similar to yours, but the "ogive" is a bit more bottle neck shaped as I recall (can't get to it right now) and has a much narrower dia than the RB. What on earth is that second cavity used for?

I always figured sabot or paper patch of some kind, but your guess is as good as mine
maybe they are for fishing weights ;-)

[M-Tecs]

I am just tired of people being critical of some thing they have not even held in their hands much less tried.

I know its not the ideal setup for casting boolits, BUT how many people do you employ in the US making casting equipment? If its ZERO then maybe you should engage your brain before your mouth!

End of rant until next time!

Bearcove

You are correct that I have never held one of their bullet molds but I do own one of their fishing weight molds. The bullet mold uses the same alignment system as their bullet. It’s an OK fishing mold but it would be sadly lacking as a bullet mold.

Since your statement was of “you should engage your brain before your mouth!” was directed at me I have a deal for you.

Since I need a fifty mold I will purchase it and test it. If it’s good I will pay you the total purchase price BUT if it’s not good you will pay me the total purchase price.

For me to call it a good mold it will have hold .0005 roundness and .001 size. I have been to Tool and Die Maker since 1978 and I currently manage a medium size machine shop so inspection won’t be a problem.

Do we have a deal????????

[MBTcustom]

Chill out there fellers, its a keyboard, not a baseball bat.
There's no way in heck that mold will meet those criteria M-tecs. Still, some folks aren't that picky, especially new guys and those on a budget.
It's no big deal, I couldn't produce a mold and sell it for that price, but if they can, more power to 'em. Yeah, its junky, but there was a time not too long ago when junky was all I could afford, and close enough was good enough.
I am very curious just how close they can get with a mold like that. Just looking at it, I would expect to see misaligned halves and boolit sizes all over the place, but all that really matters to someone who would buy it is that the boolits land inside a paper plate at 20 yards, which I have no doubt they would if prepared properly.

[mdi]

No offence to anybody, but who has held this mold in their hand? Has anybody cast any boolits in one? So far all the negative stuff is from a couple poor photos. Understandably, the design doesn't appear to be a precision tool, but "condemnation prior to investigation" is childish...

[theperfessor]

How perfect would a bullet have to be if it were encased in a plastic sabot/wad and shot from a shotgun? How close in size does a ML bullet need to be? I've used flush-cut side cutters on sprues and can get about as good a cut as I can with a regular sprue plate. It's the outer edges of the base that really are the key to bullet accuracy, the divot in the middle isn't all that important on a slug that big. If the diameter was right it might be a good mold for a few bullets, but I bet it would wear faster than a mold with a two piece design and detachable handle system.

[Freischütz]

So did anybody here buy it?

[M-Tecs]

How close in size does a ML bullet need to be?

For Maxi-ball type bullets the size is critical. Too small and it will fall out from its own weight and too large you can’t hand seat it even with a seater. On my 45 Maxi-ball mold the base driving band was the smallest to allow for finger seating and alignment. The middle band is larger and the top band is the largest. The middle and top should be large enough to require using a seater.

[MBTcustom]

I tried to find another one on e-bay (heck I could give it to a buddy here as a white elephant gift this Christmas.)
Alas, no such luck.

[wiljen]

The ones I would nominate for worst molds are the apothecary suppository molds that show up under the sporting goods section on e-bay periodically. I always laugh when I see the descriptions too. Vintage, Rare, muzzle-loader mold. Makes 6 conical bullets of roughly 72 caliber.

That is wrong on so many levels when you stop and think about it.

[Hamish]

"72 cal. suppository mould."

Oof,,,,,,