Original bullet design moulds for the Trapdoor

[ggb3]

Hello all,
I have been reading Mr. and Mrs. Wolf's book on the Trapdoor with the original loadings. I would like to continue with this and purchase some existing moulds or have them made. However, I am not having much luck.
I have a good bit of Lee products, however, I am not interested in Lee moulds for this project. Also, I want them in brass or iron.
What I am looking for is a single or double cavity mold, dropping at or close to .458 - .459 with 20:1 lead/tin alloy only at 405 grains, three square bottom lube grooves, no crimp groove. I understand this is refered to as the 405 M1879 bullet.
The second mould would be a 500 grain M1881 bullet with a nose diameter of .447 and not a bore-ride design. I understand this is a flat base design and also poured with 20:1 lead/tin.
I had asked Mr. Doughty and he is down with medical issues. Accurate, If I remember correctly, can not do square bottom lube grooves, so I did not inquire further. I have found another mould maker that looks to have the ones (or close to what I am looking for), but, have read more and more negative comments on quality. Any advise or setting me in the right direction is greatly appreciated.
Thank you sirs,
George

[white eagle]

check out Dan from Mountain Molds another quality mold maker
are you certain about the mold lube grooves from Accurate?
many on his site with the square bottom lube grooves...

[ggb3]

Thanks for the info. The below was just copied and pasted from his website (Accurate). I would also think that base pour only would rule out hollow base, correct?
My current tooling is limited to these design features:
•A flat meplat of at least 0.18 inch diameter.
•Overall bullet length no greater than 1.375 inches.
•30 caliber minimum.
•Base pour molds only.
•No flat-sided lube grooves. All side angles must be at most 55 degrees.

[ggb3]

Mountain molds states no on the hollow bases......

[dromia]

What about the Brooks moulds Armoury boolit?

http://brooksmoulds.com/bullets2.php

[ggb3]

Excellent. Looks like they have both. Have you purchased their moulds? Any issues?
Thank you very much for the info.
Geo.

[dromia]

They are very high quality moulds beloved of many BP cartridge shooters.

[Bigslug]

What you're wanting doesn't sound like anything Tom at Accurate would have any trouble with, but perhaps I'm missing some detail.

You might chat up the folks at Buffalo Arms and Dixie Gun Works. They have a lot of customers who are big on authenticity and might at least be able to steer you in the right direction.

[ggb3]

Thanks to you both. Dromia, I do believe you have sold for them two moulds.

[Wayne Smith]

Tom's issue is not the flat bottom of the lube groove. It is the idea of a square sided lube groove. Any of us who has had a mold made that way can tell you that they are a bear to get the boolit out of the mold. I'll agree with Tom, I don't want a mold with the sides of the lube grove straight.

[ggb3]

Well, with that I picked up the book and thumbed through it. Toward the back, the original drawings, the bullets look like they have a degree of slope to the groove sides. I still have reading to do to find where (I could swear I read it) Mr. Wolf states square lube grooves. If I remember correctly, he even placed emphasis on this.....

I would like to duplicate the original bullets to the degree possible. However, you bring up a practical issue. I may have mis-read though, so I will look for it. It is interesting seeing the slope in the pictures....

Thank you for bringing it up.

George

[nanuk]

buy one with sloped grooves and send it to HollowPoint moulds and he'll square it up for you!

[StrawHat]

Is NEI still in business? I have a double cavity mold of the Gov't 405 grain boolit. It might be what you're looking to buy.

[MtGun44]

The most critical issue is the hollow base. FAR, FAR more important than the
lube groove shape.

Bill