bear67
03-08-2013, 09:03 PM
6346463465Wanted to slug a Lone Wolf replacement barrel the other day and did not any sinkers or anything close to right size--besides you never know the alloy of sinkers or other folks stuff. Wanted something easy to start in the bore, tapered and easy to make. I was considering making a broach tool to drill a taper in mold stock and thought about a step drill. I picked one out of the tool box with self drilling 1/4" first step and the possibilities were there.
I did this in the lathe, but could be done on a drill press or maybe even freehand with hand held drill motor. Chucked the 1" brass nut that I had already cut part of the shaft and threads off of with the head of the out of the chuck to be the mold body. I carefully fed the step drill into the bolt head until I got to the step that was roughly .500". A brass drilling trick is to use white lubriplate as a lube and you get a good finish. The step drills do not eject chips well, so I drilled a short distance, backed out and brushed chip away and repeated.
The pictures show the mold and the "slugs" that resulted along with the stop drill used--this is quality US made bit, but the Chinese HF ones might work00just don't have any. These bits are a staple in electricians tools to enlarge and drill holes and wire for conduit in electrical panels. I cleaned the mold with acetone and poured it full with pure lead (I probably have a 1000 pounds of pure, so why not use it and you can re-pour the slugs after using in a barrel. There are six steps on the resulting slugs when poured full running .250, .326, .378, .439, ..457 and .502. for slugs to try in the 9 mm barrel I did not pour full but to the .439 level. I pre-heated the mold on a hot plate and used vice grips to hold the shank below the "mold" head.
When poured these looked great and then I slugged the 9 MM LW barrel for a Glock and an old worn out Govt 45 barrel in a box of "stuff" in the machine shop. From the pictures you see the tapered slugs and 2 that were used in the 9 mm barrel next to the mic. I had .45s also, but forgot and dropped them back in the casting pot. I think this is going to be a good solution to having a slug mold handy. My shooting/casting buddy liked it so well, that he had me make one out of a scrap piece of brass rod in the "spare parts repository" junk box. Took 10 minutes to machine the hole and after the pot was hot, 5 minutes to pour 25 slugs.
It worked to my satisfaction and I am happy with the results. The Lone Wolf barrel measured out with the micrometer to .456 and I sized some to .457 and will shoot them through that barrel tomorrow if possible. 63464
I did this in the lathe, but could be done on a drill press or maybe even freehand with hand held drill motor. Chucked the 1" brass nut that I had already cut part of the shaft and threads off of with the head of the out of the chuck to be the mold body. I carefully fed the step drill into the bolt head until I got to the step that was roughly .500". A brass drilling trick is to use white lubriplate as a lube and you get a good finish. The step drills do not eject chips well, so I drilled a short distance, backed out and brushed chip away and repeated.
The pictures show the mold and the "slugs" that resulted along with the stop drill used--this is quality US made bit, but the Chinese HF ones might work00just don't have any. These bits are a staple in electricians tools to enlarge and drill holes and wire for conduit in electrical panels. I cleaned the mold with acetone and poured it full with pure lead (I probably have a 1000 pounds of pure, so why not use it and you can re-pour the slugs after using in a barrel. There are six steps on the resulting slugs when poured full running .250, .326, .378, .439, ..457 and .502. for slugs to try in the 9 mm barrel I did not pour full but to the .439 level. I pre-heated the mold on a hot plate and used vice grips to hold the shank below the "mold" head.
When poured these looked great and then I slugged the 9 MM LW barrel for a Glock and an old worn out Govt 45 barrel in a box of "stuff" in the machine shop. From the pictures you see the tapered slugs and 2 that were used in the 9 mm barrel next to the mic. I had .45s also, but forgot and dropped them back in the casting pot. I think this is going to be a good solution to having a slug mold handy. My shooting/casting buddy liked it so well, that he had me make one out of a scrap piece of brass rod in the "spare parts repository" junk box. Took 10 minutes to machine the hole and after the pot was hot, 5 minutes to pour 25 slugs.
It worked to my satisfaction and I am happy with the results. The Lone Wolf barrel measured out with the micrometer to .456 and I sized some to .457 and will shoot them through that barrel tomorrow if possible. 63464