Written record of all your bullet molds.

[Ben]

A friend of mine was looking at my molds a few days ago. He asked " Do you have a written record ( with photos ) of all your molds ? " I said no. He said, " Well if they were stolen, or if you passed away ....Your family would at least have some idea of the value of your molds."

So........I spent the day, organizing , shooting digital photos and typing in MS Word.

All this took up 5.5 MB's of space with a couple of pics per mold description. I've got 4 copies now ( placed in 4 different places , 3 of which aren't in this house )

This is the written information that I recorded today :

Brand of mold
Number of cavities
Overall Condition of the mold
Weight of the bullet cast
Mold number
As cast dia of the bullets with ACWW's
Any modifications done to the mold like removing g/c shanks, bevel bases, or HP'ing & the price paid to have that work done and the name of the person who did the modification. ( Most of mine have been done by Buckshot)
Today's current value of the mold
2 or more photos of the mold, ( 1 showing the interior cavities )

What do you think ? If need be, I can easily go back and add or delete information.

Ben

[HORNET]

Probably a very good idea. For your own use, I think that record might also be a good place to maintain a set of notes on the mold's preferred casting conditions (alloy, melt temp, cycle times, etc.) so you don't have to rediscover them if you haven't run it in a while. I keep meaning to do that.....

[Ben]

Good idea Rick !

[Mk42gunner]

Ben,

The only other thing I thought of was to include what type of handles work with the mold; such as Lyman small, large, etc. Or if you use modified Lee six cavity handles.

Robert

[Ben]

We keep getting real good ideas, keep it up.

Thanks Robert, that's another good idea.

Ben

[Doc Highwall]

I did that also with out the pictures. I was thinking of using a picture of the bullet with the dimensions it came out of the mould along lube and sized dimensions for load development. Then I would have room for gun, OAL, primer,powder charge and chronograph velocity etc. Right now it is just another project on the back burner.

[Ben]

Yes, it could get pretty extensive. Just a matter of how much time and info. you want to store.

[fredj338]

THis should really be done with all of your shooting stuff. My family would have no idea what all my stuff is worth. With cheap digital cameras today, it makes logging all your gear pretty easy. Take the photo then put test on the bottom w/ the important data like ser# & approx value.

[Tom Myers]

This one works real good too.
At this time, it can not be installed on the new Windows 64 bit operating systems, but works fine on all other Windows 94, 2000, XP and Vista 32 bit systems.

Link to Mold Database Software (http://www.tmtpages.com/MoldListBuy/)

http://www.tmtpages.com/MoldListBuy/images/molddata.gif

[Ben]

Tom,

That's impressive , I'd like to have something like that on my WIndows XP computer. Do you know of any software that is similar to what you've shown ?

Ben

[excavman]

If you have MS Office you could use Publisher and do a page for each item, mold or gun or whatever, pictures and all. Another option is do a slide show with all the info in the presentation program, use pictures on one or two slides and info on another. Maybe one of those long winter evening projects, can't do it now, time to go shootin'.

Larry

[DLCTEX]

It needs caliber, weight, mould numbers, and as cast dia. of boolit with alloy of choice.

[HORNET]

There's room for loading details on the Reloader's Reference program available through the Site Benefit Forum.....Tom's Mold Database Software looks pretty good for tracking the data on the molds themselves as per Ben's O.P. if you're still running a 32 bit system, and I just noticed that it has a casting notepad section. Neither program is very expensive if you have doubts about setting up something on your own (cost is less than most games).

[WILCO]

Seeing as how I just updated my will, maybe I should get moving on this type of project.

[Ben]

My friend that prompted me to do this, said......." At you death, we don't know anyone who can help us establish a value on all these molds, YOU need to do that NOW ! "

He had a good point.

Ben

[Suo Gan]

Don't inflate the prices so much that when they go to sell them they will think they are getting ripped off. I offered a widow a fair price for a mixed lot of molds. I was going to keep five for myself and sell the rest. Her husband had written what he felt each mold was worth on each box. Her son listed several of the molds on ebay with a reserve, and let me know that he would get way more for them there. As far as I know they are still listed there, after a dozen or so rotations.

I know I think what I have is gold too, don't get me wrong:roll:

[mooman76]

I made a spread sheet on excel for mine. Then I desided to add pictures that I cut and pasted off the internet. One day the pictures disappeared so I didn't bother putting them back because I spent quite a few hours doing it for nothing but I still have the info. I also have lists of my reloading items and guns to with info. I mostly put the reload stuff there because I got tired of buying stuff a second time forgetting that I had got it.

[ktw]

I have a similar list. The only other thing that I record that I don't see on your list is Sprue Plate. I like the thicker ones better than the thin ones and tend to replace the thin ones over time (Red River Rick, thick lyman, etc). I like to go through the list once a year or so and see how many/what size thick sprue plates I should think about ordering.

-ktw

[RayinNH]

The Reloaders' Reference that Hornet mentioned has a mold inventory list contained within it. It has most of the things Ben came up with and a section for notes. Kudos to Wiljen for putting the Reloader's Reference together...Ray

http://sourceforge.net/projects/reloadersrfrnce/

[Tom Myers]

Tom,

That's impressive , I'd like to have something like that on my WIndows XP computer. Do you know of any software that is similar to what you've shown ?

Ben

Ben, The Precision Software will run just fine on your Windows XP Software. Click this link to learn how to purchase and download it.

Precision Mold List Database Software (http://www.tmtpages.com/MoldListBuy/)

[Ben]

Tom:

If someone else wanted to look at the file I made with your software on their computer, do they also have to have the software loaded on their computer to view the file ?

[Tom Myers]

Tom:

If someone else wanted to look at the file I made with your software on their computer, do they also have to have the software loaded on their computer to view the file ?

Ben,

The Mold List software saves all of the data and images that you enter in a database that you can open and view at any time.
You could print out the list of all molds or an individual page for each mold and mail those hard copies to another person.

The software will also save any of the printouts to a file. That file can only be opened and read by similar software. So, Yes, the other person would need a copy of any Precision Software module and then they would be able to open and read the file that you sent them.

Hope this helps.

[Ben]

Thanks Tom !

Best,

Ben

[94Doug]

Ben, If you are going to save each one on a single page, you might want to download CUTE PDF freeware. It will save anything as a pdf, and save some disc space.

Doug

[Ben]

Good idea Doug.

I'd like the format to be such that a friend could open it and look at it on his / her computer without the need of special software.

Ben

[94Doug]

The forms just become pdf's so adobe is all that's needed. It's handy software. When you go to print anything, there is just another choice placed where you select your printer. Select the cute pdf, and a window opens asking where to save it. Instead of printing, it just saves it as a pdf. Of course you can print them anytime.

Doug