Need a push into custom molds

[Hal A Looyah]

I've been casting for a few years now. We shoot SASS so our cast boolits are pretty low performance. I'm super cheap and have cast with Lee, Lyman, and RCBS, all second hand. As some of you know the cowboy market is dominated by lightweight boolit designs that aren't real common in mass produced molds. I need an overall boolit length around .560 in .358 with a RNFP or TC, most commonly in 125ish grains.

My idea is to get a NOE 9mm GB rerun that matches a 130gr boolit that I've used successfully. Without a crimp groove, I could also use this boolit in 9mm.

My dilemma is aluminum or brass, and whether or not to bother with HP. I hear questionable feedback on HP performance, even after much experimentation. If I'm not gonna use HP, then aluminum is a lot more affordable. I've never spent over $50 on a mold.

Any other molds come to mind? I need a little help jumping into this uncharted water.

[MT Gianni]

The Lee 38 105 is accurate and light. I don't know if it has the right profile that you want.

[dragon813gt]

Check out Accurate Molds selection. He has quite a bit of designs ready to go. If he doesn't and you're willing to pay he can make whatever you want. I wouldn't bother with hollow points with what you want to do.


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[alamogunr]

The Lee .358-125 RF may be what you are looking for. It has a crimp groove but I use it in 9mm as much or more than .38 spec. The overall length of the boolet from my mold is .568.

[GLL]

Contact Tom at Accurate Molds ! He will work out a custom design to meet your needs . There is absolutely no charge for that design service !! Just send him a sketch.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/index.php

Here is one he made for me.

Jerry

http://www.fototime.com/8F95495D13D5995/medium800.jpg

[Wayne Smith]

Why are you thinking HP? If you intend to expanding into hunting it really isn't necessary. For SASS shooting it is no advantage. As far as your specific question goes, my opinion is to get brass. Until you use it you do not know what you are missing.

[Hal A Looyah]

The hollow point option was a consideration purely for 9mm.

[Hal A Looyah]

Both of the Lee molds mentioned would be suitable for pistol loads, but aren't ideal for a smooth feeding rifle round. I use an 80gr wadcutter for my pistols.

[Maven]

Look at the 6th Sticky at the top of this page, "Mold Makers, Production & Custom."

[engineer401]

I have two Mountain Molds that drop bullets better than anything else I have. You can design your own mould online. These moulds are aluminum. I couldn't be happier with them. http://www.mountainmolds.com/

[garrisonjoe]

Hal A Looyah -

Garrison Joe here. Fellow SASS shooter, too.

I use a .358 TC 125 grain mold from Accurate (mine is brass, 3 cavity, as I like to cast fast and appreciate the toughness of brass, but I have also used Accurate's aluminum molds - both are very nice).

This bullet (from Accurate mold 36-125B) is super easy to cast, and since it has no crimp groove, I can seat it deep or extended far out, like I do when shooting in '73 rifles from .38 special cases. Drops at .358 diameter with wheelweights. Of course, Accurate will adjust the band diameters for your specific need. Very accurate. A wonderful mold.

Casts easier than any of my molds, except for a couple of old H&G molds.

This particular bullet works well in 9mm, too. Just size it at .356.

GJ

[Bigslug]

While most of my experience over the last couple years has been with iron molds, I have some experience with one brass and one aluminum mold.

The brass mold is a .451" hexagonal for my dad's Parker Hale Whitworth replica. I'm sure that much of it has to do with the hollow-base, nose-pour design, but it is a ROYAL PAIN IN THE BUTT to get it up to proper temperature for making clean bullets. It holds heat well enough, but getting the heat in has been problematic.

The aluminum one is a new 5-cavity NOE .364-200gr I picked up for my .38S&W Webley. BEAUTIFUL mold that got to temperature very quickly and started dropping perfect bullets on about the 3rd or 4th pour. I admit I was highly dubious about aluminum as a mold material until I tried it - not anymore.

Accurate molds has a couple of 125's that have the rounded ogive with flat nose that was common to the old west period. The 36-125-L looks pretty period-authentic (though I'd probably request a plain base version instead of the bevel their diagram shows). There's also the 36-125-C with the same general profile but with a slight wadcutter shoulder - good if you use it on paper.

[dragon813gt]

Preheat your molds on a hot plate. It gets them plenty hot to start dropping keepers on the first pour.


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[MikeS]

If you're looking for a SASS boolit, why not checkout the boolit moulds at www.biglube.com? It's owned by Dick Dastardly, a forum member, and SASS shooter himself, so most of his products are designed for SASS shooting.

[bigboredad]

My vote is accurate molds you already know what design you want and Tom can make it happen and can advise what will work as far as a double duty design or and here is a better option you can mix your cavities so you don't have to compromise make a first rate design for your cowboy gun and a first rate 9mm design In my experience I would leave the hp design out of the mix just my opinion though