ordering a custom mold.....

[glockfan]

hi all. this is the first time ever i'm thinking about ordering a custom mold ,and i'm a bit lost on how to make it right.

how would you describe or draw a bullet to a mold maker?

i'm trying to reproduce a round that works great in all my gun , and it's the zero 180grs TCFM ; i'd really like to get a custom mold made out to these specs.....how would you detail the round's mensurations so mold maker isn't puzzled ?

the bullet in question is a .400 diameter ,has 591 of lenght
; but what would be the right measurement technique to detail the specs of the 2 different '' bearing edges '' of a TCFM projectile leading to the nose of the bullet?
213927
213928

also, i might resize the bullet to either .400 OR .401 depending the accuracy's results . is , having the mold cut to .400 is the right way to go?

i'm adding to all this this 40S&W round will be coated with hi tek,so obvioulsy it is a grooveless mold.

[John Boy]

Send a couple of bullets to Tom, Accurate Molds owner and he will cut the mold for you. Have sent Tom 3 Ideal bullets and the mold is an exact clone of each bullet.
http://www.accuratemolds.com/

[jcren]

+ 1 . Tom uses cad drawings on cnc equipment and will make anything the doesn't have a pointy nose.

[white eagle]

Send a couple of bullets to Tom, Accurate Molds owner and he will cut the mold for you. Have sent Tom 3 Ideal bullets and the mold is an exact clone of each bullet.
http://www.accuratemolds.com/

yes sir that is what I would do if I wanted the exact copy
or ask Tom if he knows the bullet in question<I have done that>and he will make you exactly what you want
he will ask what alloy you plan on using but if you size no prob
enjoy

[glockfan]

i've emailed TOM about it asking if sending some bullets would be the easiest way .it's a very simple design.

there's still a detail i'm not sure about and it,s the fact that i may resize to .400 OR .401 because i have several 40's and some shoot 400's better,and some 401......so what mold diameter would be appropriate for the situation ?

[jmort]

If there is something not in his catalog then I find something in the ballpark or explain what I want. He has got designs up in less than 24 hours more than once for me. Your bullet is pretty simple. A picture and weight and length would get you there.

[RobS]

Have it designed to drop at .401 with the alloy you plan to use and you can always size to where you want it later on for you needs. Most individuals will size .001 to .002 over barrel groove diameter.

[country gent]

You can draw it up simply and as accurate as possible. Also make it to a scale. On a piece of 8 1/2X11 paper you could make it 5-1 scale This makes small errors smaller, Dimension from one corner x-y-z this cuts down on stacked tolerences. You can send prototypes or examples along also to aid. No matter how you draw it on paper if the maker is running cnc equipment hes going to redraw it into his program and may for manual equipment to get the numbers he wants. Several of the custom makers sites have programs for drawing the bullets and you can get an idea of what they want by looking at these programs also.

[glockfan]

You can draw it up simply and as accurate as possible. Also make it to a scale. On a piece of 8 1/2X11 paper you could make it 5-1 scale This makes small errors smaller, Dimension from one corner x-y-z this cuts down on stacked tolerences. You can send prototypes or examples along also to aid. No matter how you draw it on paper if the maker is running cnc equipment hes going to redraw it into his program and may for manual equipment to get the numbers he wants. Several of the custom makers sites have programs for drawing the bullets and you can get an idea of what they want by looking at these programs also.




thing is i'm very bad at drawing lol. bullet would probably look like a projectile after a smash test haha.

i've sent a picture of the bullet i want to reproduce,and the dimensions like diameter,lenght, and diameter of the flat nose...the only thing i haven't measured is the '''slope'' between the bearing edge of the boolit and the nose because since it is retracting till the nose , then the diameter varies all along....

[Wayne Smith]

Go over to Mountainmolds.com. Dan has a program that allows you to design your own boolit, and he will cut the mold as well. He also has a forum where he answers questions of those designing boolits. If you want another maker print out your boolit from Dan's site and send that. I would trust Dan to cut it, though.

[glockfan]

Go over to Mountainmolds.com. Dan has a program that allows you to design your own boolit, and he will cut the mold as well. He also has a forum where he answers questions of those designing boolits. If you want another maker print out your boolit from Dan's site and send that. I would trust Dan to cut it, though.

thanks for the info...gonna look at it right now....does he makes very accurate molds ? i'm asking because this one will be used for my IPSC-USPSA ammunition ,then yes i'd like to extract the most consistent boolits possible .

[glockfan]

yes sir that is what I would do if I wanted the exact copy
or ask Tom if he knows the bullet in question<I have done that>and he will make you exactly what you want
he will ask what alloy you plan on using but if you size no prob
enjoy

that is the answer i got from him .

i explained i wanted the copy of the zero tcfm,sent a picture and basic measurements. seems like it,s VERY complicated .



Re: 40 S&W mould.
AM
Accurate Molds <tom@accuratemolds.com>








I have many 40 caliber pistol designs in my catalog, and any of them can be made without lube grooves.
If YOU don't find anything appropriate in my catalog, you can send me a drawing with the measurements of the bullet you want to duplicate.
Precise measurements would require an optical comparator, which neither of us own.
You'll need to make do with a caliper.

Thanks
Tom

[Moonie]

This one looks REALLY close:

http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=40-180Z-D.png

[glockfan]

This one looks REALLY close:

http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=40-180Z-D.png

yes,it look alike,however, it is maybe me,but i don't see the AOL of this bullet which is important . the bullet i want has a smaller nose diameter.

tom asked me to provide the measurements using my caliper which i did.

here they are:

RE: 40 S&W mould.


Accurate Molds (tom@accuratemolds.com)



here are the measurements taken with my caliper.hope this help.


aol of the boolit from the base to the top of the nose is : .591

diameter is .400

distance from the base to where the diameter start to decrease is :.391

distance from where the diameter start to decrease to the nose is : .209

diameter of the nose surface diameter is : .255


do you guys think it is not accurate enough to make a mold out of those specs ?

Tom told me that he cannot make a mold from a boolit i would send him, then he asked for measurements taken with my caliper...i hope this can be done, he seems to cut very nice and accurate molds. would really like to have one of those piece of art....but seems now that i don't meet his requirements enough to cut me one....i don't know what else i could do.....but yes, it is true that i'm a newbie,so i'm bad at drawing ,and this is maybe why i might have to forget about getting a custom mold.

[RobS]

The 40-180Z is .600" in length .34 body + .26" nose. It looks like your measurements of .391" + .209" should = the overall length of .591" however you have .600"

The nose length, meplat diameter is important to figure out for feeding. You also have a radius on the nose meplat which comes to play too.


When I send Tom measurements he draws things up, puts it into his online catalog and then I review etc. In the end though it comes down to your decision to dive in and purchase a well crafted mold that will hopefully be from your best descriptions/measurements what you are looking for in a boolit design.

[Dirtjumper895]

glockfan,

to read the dimensions on toms drawings, look at the arrows and numbers on the rightside drawing on his page. The dimensions with the up arrows are distance in inches from the base of the bullet. The distance on the right arrows are the diameter of the bullet at that location. The angled arrows with an R are a radius ( R.6 means radius of 0.600")Hope this helps.

for info, it looks like the 40-180z is 0.600" OAL, with a 0.200" meplat.

[glockfan]

o guys...do you think that this would be ''readable''' ? sorry,i'm absoltly very bad at drawings....but i absolutly want an accurate mold LOLOL!!!!

214010

[RobS]

He would understand your drawing of a truncated nose profile bullet design however looking at your original pictures of the jacketed bullet I see a bit of a radius on the meplat. If it were me with your request I would ask him put a .250" meplat with the R.06 and see what it looks like. I bet it is pretty darn close to what you are wanting.

[glockfan]

He would understand your drawing of a truncated nose profile bullet design however looking at your original pictures of the jacketed bullet I see a bit of a radius on the meplat. If it were me with your request I would ask him put a .250" meplat with the R.06 and see what it looks like. I bet it is pretty darn close to what you are wanting.

thanks for looking RobS.
if i understand correctly, you noticed that there's a '''shoulder''' circling the meplat ? so maybe when i took measurement i accidently inserted the '''shoulder''' in the measurement of the meplat ?

oh....and what is an R.06 ?

that means that i might have to substract .005 out of this specific measurement...thanks for that . i only can hope Tom will not kickback on me haha!!

so RobS do you think i can send tom this picture and measurement as is ,and adding what you noticed the way you worded it to me ?

[RobS]

The R.06 is the radius or "shoulder" of the meplat you speak about. I figured you measured it into the mepat diameter the first go around and is why I thought .250" meplat vs the .255". I would make the meplat at .250" for the drawing that you send Tom. None the less Tom will reply to your email and give you the catalog number of your design and you will have the chance to view it and make changes if you need to etc.

[glockfan]

http://accuratemolds.com/img/bullets/detail/40-180Z-D.png

takin this one as reference : sure i get some of the numbers here, then some means mystery for me like those in the upper right . seems i even cannot identify with certainty where the AOL is among the numbers i see in the upper right .

i'm reading a .402 to.405 taper in the shape of this design!? .

also shapes looks more like a RNFP with the obvious round shape of the body before hitting the .250 meplat(same has my design) . there's also the R6 ; i have a .200 R6 ,on the draw here it's .260 .

not sure i read this correctly.

[Ausglock]

I run that exact same bullet in my G35 40S&W factory barrel, sized .401
2 coats of HITEK coating. Excellent accuracy with 2,6,92 alloy.

[jcren]

That middle .405 has an arrow above it, indicating that the horizontal .38 diameter is measured .405 up from the base. On up, you have .58 from the base measures .24 in diameter and is the beginning of the nose radius. Up from that is the overall length of .6 measured to the meplant, which is .2. Maybe that helps?

[Mal Paso]

i've emailed TOM about it asking if sending some bullets would be the easiest way .it's a very simple design.

there's still a detail i'm not sure about and it,s the fact that i may resize to .400 OR .401 because i have several 40's and some shoot 400's better,and some 401......so what mold diameter would be appropriate for the situation ?

I did not see this answered. You can only size down and I like .001" over for smooth drive bands. I would ask for a mold that casts .402" with your alloy.

[glockfan]

I run that exact same bullet in my G35 40S&W factory barrel, sized .401
2 coats of HITEK coating. Excellent accuracy with 2,6,92 alloy.

as i said, the bullet i want is proven in all my 40's used for the game. it leaves me a very good load
density margin and the profile and .591 AOL of this bullet gives a shorter gravity center so very stable at moderate speeds like handguns provides. the cone is a tad shorter with a .200 cone and .255 TC diameter.

i got also good result with the .401 HP version at .616 AOL and slightly longer body of .395 and .221 cone .221 MP.

will see what emerge from the draw and boolit's spec i've submited to Tom of accurate mold , and the project concerning the purchase of a custom mold.

this is an interesting journey and valuable experience for me this idea of getting a custom mold made for a specific application and
load in mind ...

[EDG]

The US has a national standard for drawing dimensioning and tolerancing called ASME Y14.5M. it would be better for the bullet mold industry if they would all learn and use the standard.
Drawings like the one above make the industry look lazy and unprofessional.

The current wild west dimensioning and tolerancing practices have no uniform definitions or interpretation. As a result it is as if everyone is speaking a different language. In my work life the ASME Y 14.5M standard is god. The reason is we have many parts that cost up to $20,000 each and they take months to make.
You can put both the selling company and buying company out of business if a large batch of these parts are made wrong. You wind up with terrible scrap costs and months of schedule that cannot be recovered.

[glockfan]

well...i couldn't be happier,as TOM agreed to the final design .

i now know that it is much easier for him to take an existing design close to what you want in his catalog and annotate it with whatever program on the computer..in my case it is windows PAINT which is a very,very basic drawing program. all i had to do was erasing the specs i wanted to see modified and replacing em with mine .

http://accuratemolds.com/img/bullets/detail/40-180Y-D.png

[glockfan]

finally ordered a 4 cavities made out of BRASS based on advices from much,much, much more knowleadgeable people than me (thanks a million times ROBS ) ........and if this mold drop good and accurate boolits, i have a deal with my uspsa shooting buddy who will buy it,then i will order another one from TOM made out of iron.

now i think i'm gonna sell my 9mm 147grs lyman mold , and will get an accurate mold instead. i'm dreaming about the same boolit design for my limited minor nines.

i like FP's because they punch cleaner holes in the targets , which may makes a difference between an alpha VS a charlie LOL.

i want to thanks every castboolit users who replied in this thread. i'm an absolute newbie in the casting world,and i will be able to tell to anyone who ask that i've learned my way into boolit casting all through out this forum,and how the castboolit community is absolutely awesome,filled with super knowledgeable and great people. :drinks::awesome:

i consider castboolit the most valuable website specifically dedicated to boolit casting....exactly like i consider BRIAN ENOS forum the most valuable forum when it comes to IPSC-USPSA and the shooting sports at large.

[Moonie]

I like the 147Y in my 9mm's.