who will make a custom mould?

[Jamtrails]

I've written all the mould makers I could find, including the ones from a list I found on here.

Almost none of them answered at all, and none answered saying they could make a custom mould.

Are the mould makers just a little old school and need you to call them up by phone or is it basically impossible to get a custom mould made?

I want a .460 caliber mould for a 550 to 600 grain bullet with a deep hollow point.

I'd really like to know (but didn't dare to ask) if a boat tail design can be made in a castboolit mould? I imagine it could if the mould was made in 2 pieces then joined together?

[15meter]

Did you try to design your own here:

https://www.accuratemolds.com/

Not sure why a boat tail boolit would present a problem.

Whole bunch of bevel base designs out there. Boat tail I think would come under the heading of a looong bevel.

[BLAHUT]

Botail, long bevel, no advantage in a cast lead bullet, flat base is where it is at. IMO.

[725]

BLATHUT called it. Go flat based for better performance. Just my opinion. The world of lead is different than jacketed.

[15meter]

BLATHUT called it. Go flat based for better performance. Just my opinion. The world of lead is different than jacketed.

I agree 100% on a boat tail not helping, just curious why it would be difficult to cut one in mold.

[huntinlever]

I've written all the mould makers I could find, including the ones from a list I found on here.

Almost none of them answered at all, and none answered saying they could make a custom mould.

Are the mould makers just a little old school and need you to call them up by phone or is it basically impossible to get a custom mould made?

I want a .460 caliber mould for a 550 to 600 grain bullet with a deep hollow point.

I'd really like to know (but didn't dare to ask) if a boat tail design can be made in a castboolit mould? I imagine it could if the mould was made in 2 pieces then joined together?

I can't speak to the boattail notion but I can speak to Tom at Accurate. I've bought several from him and I know he's worked with many here to build custom molds. I think highly of him and his work.

[tja6435]

I think you’d have to have Accurate or LBT make the mold and then you’d have to send it off to have it hollowpointed

[white eagle]

Tom @ Accurate will not make hoolow point molds
I think it would be very expensive to have Tom make one and ship it off to Erik to H.P
might be that Mp Molds has one in that cal already designed all but the boattail
Miha makes excellent h.p molds
Seems there is a limit to some makers as to the custom of their custom work

[Jamtrails]

Thanks for the replies guys. Accurate makes custom molds, but to limited specs. No longer than 1.375" and no spitzer shapes.
However after consulting his full catalogue, I see that there are more than enough options to work from!

I want a spitzer, preferably with a boat tail because it will be a long range subsonic bullet.
I have not been able to figure out if a boat tail is worth it or not for subsonic speeds but it seems to be better to have it than not to.

[Castaway]

What’s the twist of your rifle? With a heavy bullet and deep hollow point you may exceed the practical limit of what your rifle can stabilize for precise shooting. What are you calling long distance? There are plenty of bullets already out there with a proven track record of accurate and long distance shooting. As stated above, not only a boat tail is not practical for cast, and I doubt a reputable mould maker probably would want his name on such a creation

[uscra112]

The modern way of cutting moulds is to use a boring bar in a CNC lathe. This is tricky enough, the bar has to be pretty skinny, but adding a boat-tail restricts the diameter of the bar even more. That's aside from the well-known fact that boat-tails on cast bullets just don't work. Lead isn't stiff enough - the tail gets deformed before the bullet is even halfway to the muzzle.

[swOhioMatt]

Tom can make nose pour molds. I’d think a boattail is possible with his equipment. He won’t do a hollow point. You’ll need to send the finished mold to hollowpointmold.com. They do nice work, I got a couple with the Mastercaster I bought. Impressive, but none were molds I needed.

[Bent Ramrod]

Boat tails give an accuracy advantage to jacketed bullets past 300-400 yards or so as the bullet breaks back through the sound barrier to subsonic. The reduced drag caused by the cavitation at the base (compared to that of a flat-base bullet) means a reduced potential for wobbling or other disturbance of flight as the bullet goes subsonic.

Cast boolits generally don’t start at high velocity, and generally become subsonic at 100 yards or less. Most are not fired at long distances anyway, and those that are are typically larger calibers and weights with some momentum to offset the disturbance at the sound barrier.

And a boat tail on a cast boolit offers lots of added angled surface for gas cutting as it moves forward into the leade. So the circumstances for the advantages generally don’t exist, while those for the drawbacks are immediate.

I picked up a .38 caliber Andela mould for a pointed boat tail. It looks like a scaled-up M2 .30 caliber with grooves. Desultory testing so far showed no accuracy advantage (at least) over conventional flat base/nose designs in a .38-55. It is a cool mould, though.

But to the OP’s question: if your design isn’t covered by specifying diameter changes in some offering, somewhere in Accurate’s truly astounding catalogue, I believe they will make one to your own design for an extra charge.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I think you’d have to have Accurate or LBT make the mold and then you’d have to send it off to have it hollowpointed

FYI,
Veral had a fire in his shop at Christmas, and has since announced his retirement and the closing of LBT.

[farmbif]

if I can make a suggestion there is lots and lots of good, well not just good but great, information available if you look for it and read what has been done already on this website and lots more information here
http://www.lasc.us/ArticleIndex.htm.
if your new to shooting cast bullets I strongly suggest you read this first
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm
also there is veral smiths book, cast bullets with jacketed bullet performance.

if your trying to do something with a cast bullet its probably been done before and there are lots and lots of tried and true proven bullet designs for all types of applications

[P Flados]

Selecting or designing a heavy bullet for a subsonic application is an interesting subject.

There is a recent thread on doing just this for a 44 Magnum application at https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?451204-Designing-a-heavy-slow-44-bullet-for-medium-game.

If you already have the gun, you will need to deal with your existing twist which will limit you maximum length for stable operation. Note that boat tails and hollow points both give you more length for a given weight. You may also find that you have throat or AOL challenges.

If you talk through the specifics of your interest, you are likely to get some good help making sure that you have not overlooked important details.

[tja6435]

FYI,
Veral had a fire in his shop at Christmas, and has since announced his retirement and the closing of LBT.

Daaaaaaaaaaaannngggggg! I really like his molds. They cast very well and perform very well.

[awayne]

Accurate is good as is NEO and MP

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

I had a friend make me a boat tail section to affix to a regular Spitzer cast bullit mould. Two piece, and really neat. Foolishly, I sold it. Now, with powder coating; I could gotten the velocity I wanted.

Sigh...

Rich

[stubshaft]

I think you’d have to have Accurate or LBT make the mold and then you’d have to send it off to have it hollowpointed

From what I understand Veral at LBT will NO LONGER be making bullet molds, his shop burned down and he is not going to rebuild.