I suppose you can say I made my first boolit mould

[Buckshot]

.............Not really, as it's a slug to use for slugging the size dies I make, but it DOES have drive bands and lube grooves :-) I HAVE made a few slug moulds for the swage dies I've made, but they don't really count. So here tis:

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LEFT: Squaring up the blocks. This is 6061 T651 extruded 3/4 x 1.5" barstock. RIGHT: Cutting the handle grooves.

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LEFT: Spotting in for the handle pin holes. RIGHT: 3/16" handle pins installed, tapped 1/4-20 for retaining setscrews.

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LEFT: Drilling the holes for the alignment pins. I'm afraid I didn't take any photos of installing the alignment hardware. I use 1/4" OD stainless tube for the female portion and 5mm rod that has been straight knurled for half their length for the pins. RIGHT: After drilling for the SP pivot bolt I'm taking a .0005" skim cut across the block tops. And no I didn't take any pics of lathe boring the blocks. I think I was to focused on just doing it to remember.

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LEFT: Block tops leveled and ready for the SP.RIGHT: The SP has been cut out of the bar. I used 1018.

[Buckshot]

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LEFT: SP bolt hole and sprue hole done. RIGHT: SP completed and installed with stop pin.

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LEFT: The cavity. RIGHT: And a cast slug. I was shooting for a .520" OD and with WW type ally that's what it dropped at. Cavity is round to a half a thou.

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The cavity after about 60 slugs. At least now I have a better idea of what I need to do (and NOT do! :-)). It turned out very well for what I was wanting, and it was a valuable learning experience.

................Buckshot

[P.K.]

Where do the unpaid interns sign up?

I'm envious, very nice!

[jabo52521]

Thats beautiful. Make it in .430 dia.? Make a great short range boolit.

[slide]

Outstanding work, buckshot! Man,I wish I could do that.

[smoked turkey]

Buckshot that is great work. I am looking for something that I want done like hollowpointing one cavity of a mold. I hope when I decide which one that you will do it for me. Your work is outstanding.

[Walter Laich]

How/what did you use to bore the actual bullet shape?

[Buckshot]

How/what did you use to bore the actual bullet shape?

Walt,

I used a 'Reground' 4 flute endmill. I have a cra*pload of these I'd bought over time on E-Bay. I had no milling machine at the time but I have this tool affliction, especially for sharp shiny cutting tools. Especially endmills. I can't adequately explain the sickness, so lets just leave it as a metal aberration :-) It was a 4 flute .480" centercutting endmill I plunged into the blocks to remove the bulk of material.

Oh what I wouldn't give for a real tool and cutter grinder (they DO take money for them, but.............) to grind the tool to cut the drive bands, but I did it by hand with the bench grinder and used a HSS drill blank. Not what you'd call repeatable. I have made form tools to cut the cavities for the swage dies I've made:

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But they do not have drive bands and lube grooves. I have only the greatest admiration for the people making lathe bored moulds as they have to have special and expensive equipment to grind the tools to make them. I understand the process but I think I'll limit myself to making a few 58 caliber muzzle loading Minie' type moulds, or maybe a 12 ga slug mould. They're large enough for my aborigine grinding abilities :-)!

............Buckshot

[Maven]

You da man, Rick! Beautiful, just beautiful!

[Walter Laich]

the work is still way above my pay grade

[Shuz]

You da man, Rick! Beautiful, just beautiful!

Ditto!

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

Call it what you will, to me that is a mold for a devastating wadcutter (would almost fit a 500 S&W). I wish I had the time, knowledge, and equipment for projects like this.

[deltaenterprizes]

Call it what you will, to me that is a mold for a devastating wadcutter (would almost fit a 500 S&W). I wish I had the time, knowledge, and equipment for projects like this.

Similar to my thoughts, looks like a big wadcutter!
Nice work.
I bought a "Universal" tool & cutter grinder from Northern Tool to use to sharpen cherries but have gotten to using it because of concerns about breathing silicon dust . A friend suggested using a vacuum cleaner to collect the dust and I think that will work, just need some warm weather.

[44man]

Looks super. You do a better job with locating pins then I can.
I make my cherries on the lathe and cut flutes with an end mill using my Vertex. I still need to hand file the nose and remove rub areas.
I used to get them warped now and then until I stated hardening them as they spin in my drill press. I open the chuck so they drop straight into the oil. I put them in the kitchen oven at 300* for an hour and let them cool in the oven to temper.
You can make them and all you need is a vise that closes to center. I made my own.
You have fine equipment, I only have a Smithy. The hardest thing for me is to mill a perfect rectangle for the blocks out of scrap aircraft aluminum.
I start with the scrap on the right to make these molds.
I am NOT a machinist in any sense. To lathe bore a mold would be just a crazy thought.
I never used a lathe or mill in my life until I bought the Smithy. To depend on the dials to move .001" is a joke.

[StrawHat]

A 50-70 wadcutter! When is the group buy?

[leadman]

Someday someone is going to post that mold on here and want to know what gun it fits! Excellent work.

[44man]

If a flunky like me can make a mold, Buckshot can go into business.
I make 12 cherries for $5 when a bought one is $275 at the least. I use scrap metal, free. Mine are crude but work. Sprue plate metal came out of a dumpster.
It cost me $45 for the best cast iron risers and some electric to make my mold vise.
Being poor and not being able to afford custom molds only means I do it myself.
Any single one of you can do it, you can do almost anything, even by hand.
I did locksmith work on the side for a while. See the bushings drilled for pins, they are stacked on keys and the holes line up so I can put in pins to open Cantpix locks. The holes were all drilled by hand.
I made the first lighted bow sights and I drilled the 6-32 and 8-32 screws all the way through by hand holding the screws in my hand. I had no lathe! My first muzzle loaders were cut from planks with a hand saw (NOT ELECTRIC) and home made tools, chisels, etc.
The words I hate most are "I CAN'T"!