Mountain Molds 44 caliber boolit

[Mark]

I was over at the mountain molds website playing with the bullet design program. I am thinking about a 300 grain 44 mag boolit design and I came up with a couple of questions. I thought about posting them on his site but I don't want to be verbally bashed. This brings up my first question. Does anyone have an opinion on Mountain Molds? He seems rather abrasive to some in responses that he gives on his sight. Is he ok? I wouldn't normally do business with such a person but I thought I should ask for some opinions. Do you prefer one big lube groove or a few little ones? I am inclined to go gas checked with this boolit. Should I make the shank long enough to put lube in front of the gas check (and does lube there matter)? He has a lbt design design (that he calls tandetial ogive). Do you have any opinions on how wide the first driving band should be for a revolver?
Thanks,
mark j

[44man]

Thats hard to say for me. I have bought a lot of LBT WLNGC, 320 gr boolits over the years and they are extremely accurate. So is the Lee 310 gr and I can't tell the difference in accuracy except the Lee hits a few inches right of where the LBT hits at 50 yd's. I made an LBT style mold for a 330 gr boolit and have two grease grooves with three equal sized drive bands of about .100", gas checked, that I recently broke 1" at 100 yd's from my Ruger SBH. Other boolits I have shot have one GG and a wider front band and they also shot good.
I always have a small space above the gas check that will take lube but it is cut that way because it is just too hard to eliminate when making the mold. Never know the exact heighth of a batch of gas checks. Doesn't hurt either way and doesn't hold much lube anyway, nothing to worry about at all.
There must be someone here that has the mold you are looking at. But in my opinion, the truncated cone, LBT style boolit has given me the best accuracy in all of my revolvers.

[Bass Ackward]

I was over at the mountain molds website playing with the bullet design program. I am thinking about a 300 grain 44 mag boolit design and I came up with a couple of questions. I thought about posting them on his site but I don't want to be verbally bashed. This brings up my first question. Does anyone have an opinion on Mountain Molds? He seems rather abrasive to some in responses that he gives on his sight. Is he ok? I wouldn't normally do business with such a person but I thought I should ask for some opinions. Do you prefer one big lube groove or a few little ones? I am inclined to go gas checked with this boolit. Should I make the shank long enough to put lube in front of the gas check (and does lube there matter)? He has a lbt design design (that he calls tandetial ogive). Do you have any opinions on how wide the first driving band should be for a revolver?
Thanks,
mark j


Jr,

Back East we call people arrogant, egotistical, opinionated, butt holes and more. Out West they are called "Independent types". But Dan is OK as long as you can do everything yourself. He picked a job that customers can be ..... fanatical about and he really wants you to do it all yourself. If you can, you are the customer he wants. If you can't, buzz off. I don't want him to adopt me, just cut me what I order. That he does well these days.

I like to keep GC shanks short. That creates more drive band width per weight. And I never go over .110 for handgun bullets.

Things mold better when you use widths of .080 or more. That drives my grease groove number as well. And gentler angles helps bullets drop from a mold too.

How wide your front band needs to be depends on how you want to shoot it. how hard you want it to be. My general rule is to make it no wider than necessary because it moves the center of balance of a bullet forward which makes it harder to stabilize.

Just play with a design one day each week and print it out after each time. Then forget about it. Compare each weeks designs. When you get close to the same design for three weeks in a row, chances are you found your design.

[44man]

Bass, not so!!!!. I forget what I drew the first time and keep drawing the same dumb thing over and over. Stop getting down on us old farts by making us work.
At least you know why I make my own molds, a screw up just gets tossed in the drawer. Now I need a genie to alter them when I'm sleeping.
I wish I could melt all the metal I wasted and cast it into new blocks. But then sometimes I am extremely lucky, just never accuse me of knowing why one shoots and another doesn't.
But darn it, I enjoy it. Don't know what I would do if I had to design a mold, have someone else make it and pay big bucks for it. I would have to have you do it for me.

[Lloyd Smale]

My dad allways taught me if you have nothing good to say dont!

[Mark]

Wow Lloyd. You have answered many of questions in the past and your opinion has usually been straight to the point. Appears as though today's opinion is no different! Thank you. Should I ask you to break Dad's rule and tell us of your expirience?
I may try the idea of drawing my bullet a few times. I certainly visit there enough.It does seem like even if he does take orders, with his backlog I won't be shooting it by the fall.
44man, I don't want to go as heavy as 330, but every design I work up looks better at that weight.
More thought needed!
Thanks,
Mark J

[45r]

you would be happy with the accuracy of the rcbs 300GC and the rcbs 250-K in 44-mag.Dans molds are quite good but I've got just as good accuracy out of rcbs or saeco molds.I have 5 of his molds in LBT designs with the 70 to 75 percent metplat and they are accurate if you push them hard.The most accurate boolit I have shot though is the rcbs 300 grain GC in 45 caliber.I can get 2 and a half inch groups at 100 yards out of my 454 casull and without having to push it hard.Most of the GC designs I've tried like to be pushed hard with a slow powder like H-110 etc. but the rcbs 300GC is very flexable and is starting to lean me towards SWC designs over the ogival flatpoints.I'm getting great accuracy in 41 mag with SWC designs also.If you like shooting full power loads mostly a long flat nose will shoot well.I'd get a SWC for all purpose shooting.With the price of gas checks getting rediculous I'm going for long heavy Keith type boolits from now on.I got a bunch of gas checks in 45 and 41 and not to worried over 35 and 44 because they aren't to hard to get for now.

[44man]

Now Lloyd, you know I like to pull on Bass's chain---come to think about it, I like to pull everyone's.
Don't you know when I am making fun and talking about my own down fallings?
Wait until you get my age so I can pull your chain too----oops, I might not be around! Guess I will have to learn how to HAUNT people.

[nighthunter]

Mark .... I have a 300 grain .44 mold from Dan at MM. If you want to try a few of them I will send them to you if you cover the postage. I love the bullets from this mold. They are hands down the most accurate .44 bullet I have used in almost 40 years.
Nighthunter

[Lloyd Smale]

dont worry 44man it wasnt you i was refering to it was the man himself and no i dont really care to air this one out in public again.
Now Lloyd, you know I like to pull on Bass's chain---come to think about it, I like to pull everyone's.
Don't you know when I am making fun and talking about my own down fallings?
Wait until you get my age so I can pull your chain too----oops, I might not be around! Guess I will have to learn how to HAUNT people.

[44man]

OK, understood, but I was funnin myself too. Had a lousy day trying to find 4759 so I needed to lighten up. Our big sporting goods store closed and the new one doesn't carry it. Special order, 8# or more only. $130 plus. They also didn't have any Fed 150's.
Swung next door into the archery shop---HOLY SMOKES---$650 to $1000 for a bow with nothing on it. $130 for a dozen bare shaft arrows.
We don't need anti hunters and anti gun nuts, the prices will make us quit.

[Lloyd Smale]

I feel your pain with the loading supplys. I had a 5 gallon pail of 223 brass that need loading and couldnt find a keg of ANYTHING suitable anywhere local. I was about to order some on line and a buddy came over looking for cast bullets and said he had a keg of 2230 to trade. Saved at the last minute! As to bows i feel your pain there too. I allways tried to buy the best. Problem is that a bow isnt a lifetime deal like a gun and to me there good for about 3 years 5 years max and i detest having to shell out big bucks for one. I bought a new one last year and paid just under 500 for the bare bow. What i found out is most bow manufactures second in line bow is the bow that was there best the year before. I figure it this way now. If last years to line bow was being toted as the best thing since sliced bread when it came out it surely is good enough for me. They surely didnt do anything majical to it to make it worth 300 bucks more. If it would last a lifetime like a gun i wouldnt mind shelling out the extra but bows just depreciate to much. Buy one for 800 bucks today and see what its worth next year used. Your lucky if you dont have to give it away. A three year old bow is worth about nothing and my last two were given away.

[45r]

got out some of my mtn mold 255GC boolits for 41 mag to see if I could get 1 inch groups like my 220 saeco swc.after a bunch of shooting I got them to shoot inch and a quarter at 50 yards with 21.0 grains H-110,cci 350 primers and 16.4 2400 with rem 2 and a half primers.got inch and a half groups with 22.0 lil gun and very good velocity with win primers.starting to like 41 mag as much as my 45's.some of the 2400 loads put the first 3 into 3 leaf clovers measuring a tad under 3/4 inch.my 41 bisley hunter is the best revolver for the money I have ever shot.Dan's mold really cranked out some good boolits for my ruger.hope to order some 325 grain Keith type boolits in 45 if he gets back to making molds again.

[jtaylor1960]

I have two molds from Dan and am quite pleased.I think Dan doesn't like to tell you what you need in your mold. There is a lot of useful information on his site to help you design a mold that will work for you .Bottom line is you decide what you want and Dan will make the mold the way you want it.His molds are of high quality.

[dubber123]

My brother and I have 1 MM mold each. My brothers is a heavy flat nose 44 that to me suffers from too much out of round. My brother is less picky than me, and likes the mold just the same. Seems to shoot OK. I have a .459" 440 gr. GC wide flat nose, that I am tickled to say is very round, and shoots superbly out of my Pedersoli Sharps replica, and my brothers Marlin lever. The wait was a bit long without very good communication, but the price was reasonable. Designing your own can be fun, I may try it again.

[klw]

I've bought one Mountain Mould. It was ok but certainly nothing unusually good.

I've considered buying others but ran into two problems. At least once, maybe twice, he just wasn't taking orders. I got the distinct impression that I could take a hike. Seemed odd. Abrupt. And then I asked questions once. That didn't go too well either.

When you deal with companies like Ballisti-Cast, Hoch, SAECO or RCBS you get the impression that you as a customer matter to them. So since this four companies do EXCELLENT work and since they value me as a customer I see no reason to go elsewhere.

[Mark]

KLW,
You bring up the point that I was questioning. I have a ballisti-cast mold and I when I ordered it and was asking questions before the purchase, I felt like a customer, not a bother. That is my worry about MM. If I buy a mold and it is not what I entered into him program, who's fault is it? Some of his responses (one in particular) make me think that when the mold leaves, he is done no matter what condition it is in. Because i have been on the fence so long, it probably means I will go another route. Thanks all for the help.
By the way, I tried bow hunting because I gave in to peer pressure (my buddy and my father in law do it). I don't hate it but I have an issue with the method and certain state laws about the season. Instead,I have opted to get fall Turkey hunting at that time. All of that said, I purchased a new old stock bow (hoyt If IIRC) when I started. I think I ended up in the $350 -$400 range when all was said and done. The bow is nice. I shot it often and I would think it will still last many more years but I wish I would have bought a used Ruger Super Blackhawk. I would have shot it more!

Mark

[Lloyd Smale]

the people at ballistic cast will go out of there way to make you happy. I had a odd ball mold cut last year there. It was a .512 swc that a buddy designed and had them make earlier. He gave me permission to use the design and i called and asked about having it made with a twist. I wanted a 4 cavity block cut with 3 bullets. Two plain bases like the freind had designed and i asked about a gas check version for the middle. The people in the shop went out of there way to help me with it. They gave me suggestions on gas check shank size and placement and size of the driving bands. they spent alot of time with me on the phone and even sent me drawings to chose from and recomendations. Then when it was all said and done only charged me the standard price for a 4 cavity block. I thought this was above and beyond. They werent a company that pretended to have all the answers one day and then run scared from giving them to you the next because they were afraid you complain if the mold didnt work out like you thought it would. Now Ive got molds from about every manufacture and since Rob Applegate got out of the bussiness there hasnt been another mold manufacture that makes a product that even compares to ballistic cast. There molds are pieces of art! Art that will last even a caster like me thats rough on equiptment a life time or two. Something to think about if your looking for a custom mold. Give them a shout and see if they will help you like they helped me. Your going to end up with a mold thats at least twice the quality of anyone elses for about 25 percent more money. All i know is that if i put one of my ballistic cast molds up next to one of my moutain molds or an lbt i can see where the extra money was well spent.

[Dragoon]

OK, Lloyd. You sold me. Tell me which design to pick from Ballisti-cast for a 240-250 grain 44 bullet. Plain base, mainly for a Marlin but would shoot some from a Ruger revolver.

[Lloyd Smale]

want the best dammed 44 bullet that works in both rugers and marlins and is probably the most accurate 44 bullet ive found. Buy yourself a rcbs 240swcgc.

[klw]

I really like Ballisti-Cast #943. Ask them about mould size. I've got a five cavity cut into a six cavity block. I would think that this bullet would overheat a regular four cavity mould.

[dubber123]

Lloyd told me the same thing right after I picked up a N.O.S. one for cheap. I intend to see if he's right. I got a quick glimpse of what it might be capable of last week, I will have to tinker further. If my example is the norm, it is a really nice mold in this weight range.

[Dragoon]

What about the plain base version? I don't use gas checks.

[44man]

Now Lloyd, I have to pull your chain too! I have the RCBS PB and it shoots super too.

[Lloyd Smale]

both the 250k and the 250swc are good bullets. I like them both better then the lyman versions. To bad they dont make a 4 cavity mold!! I cant vouch for all of them as theyve changed them a few times threw the years but the ones i have are good bullets. Not quite as accurate as the 240gc one though. Ive never seen a gun that didnt shoot that bullet exceptionaly well. Its worth the bother to gas check it!