Home made bullet mold for my Martini

[acmech]

I made a bullet mold for my Martini last year, and after posting the info. on another site, it was suggested to post it here.

I made a video of it in 5 parts, I'm ginsboy2003 on youtube, and have the videos there and will post the links. I hope you guys don't find the videos too dry and boring, they are informative I think and if you have a lathe and milling machine, you will be able to make your own molds I think. Keep in mind I made the molds for a obsolete caliber that the cheapest molds are $120 for. I made this particular mold for a friend, but the first mold I made was for a Nepal catch Gahendra martini. My Gahendra slugged out at .451 so I made the mold to suit the gun. My newest Martini is a Mk IV and I made a mold that cast a .473 bullet that I size to .469 since it has a .468 bore. On the newest one, I made the lube grooves deeper as well. I tried to get the dia. closer, but the cutter actually works as a scraper and its not like normal machining, your really guessing on when to stop cutting so it takes time.

Anyhow, I hope you guys find it helpful, or just interesting.



Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrzexK55ZBA

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb3DkpG4fds

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CwRw4oBY9Q

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5BM6dNXFyY

Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oqMziCHdxQ

[Frank46]

Acmech, just finished watching your 5 part bullet mold making saga on youtube. You do excellent work. Any info on how the bullet performed?. Thanks Frank

[sst04]

Makes me want to buy some machine shop equipment!

[acmech]

No Frank, I haven't done any extensive shooting yet, but I plan to. Last week I cast up 750 bullets with my new mold, and I sized 125 of them. This week I loaded 30 rnds. I'm expecting better performance than what many people might have been getting with their martini's. For years now, I guess the method was to cast a 20-1 lead bullet which was undersized and it would bump up to fit the bore. Now that I'm using a bullet sized to the bore, and a harder alloy, I hope it performs well.

[Marvin S]

Enjoyed the video and thanks for taking the time to make it. Go to the special projects tab and search for 43 Spanish mold to see one I made. I used the cherry process and closed the blocks in at the same time.

[acmech]

Enjoyed the video and thanks for taking the time to make it. Go to the special projects tab and search for 43 Spanish mold to see one I made. I used the cherry process and closed the blocks in at the same time.

I would love to see it, could you link to it? I've just look and can't find it, perhaps I'm overlooking it.
thanks
Darren

[Marvin S]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=55936&highlight=Spanish+mold Don't know if this will work. But there are two threads, both with pics. Just go to the special projects tab and open it. Then go to the upper R/H area and click search this forum, then type in 43 Spanish mold and hit go. I have been thinking about making another as I have several blanks cut out. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=55816&highlight=Spanish+mold

Here is the other since it did work, I guess Im a computer wizzo after all.

[acmech]

Thats just beautiful, and here I thought I'd be the first to make a mold with lube grooves. Your mold looks more professional than mine, very nice. On my first mold, I cut another chamber last week with deeper lube grooves and the bullets look store bought. Isn't it great to make something yourself that works so well? I cast 750 bullets last weekend with mine and sized and lubed 125 of those.

Marvin, you do have any experience machining or are your self taught like me? Your mold definately looks store bought while mine looks homemade. As long as they both work right.

[wistlepig1]

Ac, nice work and Ihave been thinking about trying the same thing in a diff. Cal. I am self taught and not sure I could get the cherry right but what fun to try. I did make a 30 cal gas check make that worked and was pleased with that. thanks for your efforts with the video.[smilie=w:

[Tom_et]

acmech

You did a terrific set of excelent teaching tools" video"
Thanks for the Lessons

Tom

[Marvin S]

I did have formal schoolin and it is my daytime job also, mainly aircraft repair work.

[acmech]

I did have formal schoolin and it is my daytime job also, mainly aircraft repair work.


Hmmm a slight coincidence, I do aircraft work as well for a major airline. I used to do a lot of sheet metal and other non-routine hangar maintenance, but now I'm working line maintenance. We usually call our machinists out for stuck boroscope plugs, we don't use them as much as we did in the hangar when I worked sheet metal and airframe.

Glad you guys like the videos, my wife said I was kind of boring, but I thought a different mindset would garner information from it.

[frankenfab]

Really neat process. Your mold does indeed look great.:D

I have a question. What are the bottleneck handgun length cartridges at the base of the orange press in the 5th video?

[acmech]

Really neat process. Your mold does indeed look great.:D

I have a question. What are the bottleneck handgun length cartridges at the base of the orange press in the 5th video?

7.62x25 Tokarev.

[Scrapper]

Very good job, brings back memories. thanks