Another 40 Caliber Mold Question Before Spending Some $$

[Don McDowell]

Kenny Wasserburger sells a block of conveyor belt that works really well for rolling the patches on, wet or dry. The nice thing about that belting patch, it doesn't collect dirt and grit like a board does.

[BrentD]

A finished block of wood doesn't collect grit either and doesn't care about wet or dry patches. Where's the grit coming from anyway? No need to make this hard (or expensive).

One could get a big hunk of delrin, but what it would do better than a piece of scrap lumber, I haven't a clue. Keep it simple.

[Red River Rick]

DHD:

These are the drawings I sent to Semtav when he made his enquiry about the moulds he wanted. Both "Base" pour designs.

I did send him a wire frame drawing with dimensions as well.

Regards.

RRR

[semtav]

I was just trying out the wrapping with the GGB's. I didn't do to bad, but I will need a board. I'll get some oak tomorrow. I saw somewhere where someone had a board made up with a built up edge. I suppose the edge was to push the base against? I'm still having issues having the outside edge not sticking to the underlying wrap. I might not have worded that well. I hope a PPB will be much easier to roll on a patch than the GGB.

Learn to wrap in your hands then you wont need a special board and can do it anywhere. If I was you tube literate, I'd make a video of how to do it.

[DHDeal]

Just a FWIW, my wrapped GGB's have dried out to .415" with the paper I have. The bullet is .409" naked, though a Lee sizer @ .410" will touch it around the bottom 3 driving bands. This is patching wet. So, call it .006". Will patching dry be .007"?

I have noticed a difference between the paper rolling across the grain as opposed to rolling with the grain. If I cut patches on the 8 1/2" side, the patch stays tighter and stays on. The patches cut from the 11" side are the ones that didn't want to stay wrapped or stuck to itself. I read where this may happen, but it's interesting none the less.

Gentlemen, you are shortening my learning curve. I always say the planning and shopping for a new rifle is the fun part, but after you spend the money the work begins. I'm still having fun.

My local scrapyard has lead flashing, pipe, etc from time to time. I may as well give them a call to see what they have as I may need some 16/1. Anyone know who has some tin? I'm down to 3 pounds of pure tin. I have a lot of 20/1 and about 50 pounds of 25/1. Should I try the 20/1 first or go ahead and start with 16/1?

I know I ask alot of questions, but I do take advise. Why try to reinvent a perfectly good wheel.

[BrentD]

DHD, John Walters is your guy for tin, wads, and even alloy. His prices are the best, he is a bpcr shooter, and, most important he is a great guy. His phone number escapes me at the moment, but his email is thetinwadman@cox.net

[DHDeal]

I seem to remember buying the tin I have from him. I'll look him up later today.

[BRUCE MOULDS]

dhd,
start at 16:1, then go 14:1, and then 12:1.
the experiment will be worthwhile, as the harder you can go, the better the nose will hold up.
your bullet will need to be a good friction fit in the bore with harder alloys.
using less comeups is not really an issue, but less comeups = less wind deflection, and that con be an extra point or two, or a narrower group.
keep safe,
bruce.

[Don McDowell]

John Walters will sell you high quality 16-1 ready to melt and pour, along with other blends and the pure tin.
Buffalo Arms also has good prices on tin, and some alloys, but last I looked they don't carry 16-1.

[BrentD]

For those that might be interested, this is what I would go with for a 16-twist .40 cal barrel. It is a little shorter than the mould that I actually had BACO make for me (JIM395415).

My estimate is that this bullet will weigh in at about 380 gr when cast of 16:1. You may need to adjust the diameter slightly to work best with your paper and barrel dimensions. Always stress that the bullets can be NO SMALLER than the specified diameter, but a thousandth or two larger is okay (you can size the patched bullets with a Lee Push-through sizing die ($30) if necessary). The PDF version of this file (suitable for sending to a custom mould maker) is at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jessi...t%20barrel.pdf

[DHDeal]

Well, money is spent. KAL is busy until the end of September, BACO is 4-6 weeks out, and Steve Brooks is on time at less than 4 weeks. We'll see what kind of mold Mr Brooks makes in a few weeks. I'll update as soon as I have it.

As these things progress, more than likely I'll get another mold with a different nose and length. I always tell myself to get one mold and stick with it, but molds tend to show up in my mail box for some reason. The next shape will probably be a Creedmoor/round nose at about 1.350" and 380-400 grains.

After wrapping some other items, I am getting nice smooth tight wraps and they are sticking well. Not sticking to the item itself, but the paper is sticking to itself. I noticed my paper needs to be cut from the 8.5" side to stick well. When I cut and wrap from the 11.5" side the paper will not stay tight or stick. Lesson learned.

I'm not positive here, but I would like to keep some wrapped up so I can just load up and go. Do you wrap more than you'll load, or just what you plan to load? I've got plenty of the 100 count MTM 44 magnum plastic boxes to store them in.

[Hiwall55]

PM sent

[DHDeal]

PM replied to.

[Gunlaker]

I have a couple of Brooks PP molds with the prolate nose. His molds are good. I do buy mostly from Buffalo Arms mostly these days, but if you want anything really custom Steve Brooks is a great guy to deal with. He's made a number of molds for me and they all work well.

Chris.

[DHDeal]

I would have been happy with a Buffalo Arms mold I suspect, but I really want the best chance for success. Starting with a mold from the the bigger names isn't a bad place to start.

[Gunlaker]

I like Steve's molds a lot as I've said, but quality-wise Buffalo Arms is right at the very top. I find the molds to be extremely consistent with their published diameters, and very round. That sounds funny, but it's surprising how often a production mold is out of round from some makers.

I'm sure you will like the mold you get from Mr. Brooks. The .38 cal prolate nose I have works vey well.

Chris.

[DHDeal]

FWIW, I got an email from Brooks that my mold will be here tomorrow. Call it a week from ordering to receiving. As long as my pinched nerve doesn't cause me too much of an issue, I should be able to cast some this weekend. The only mold handle I have to fit the Brooks mold is a Cabine Tree locking handle. I need to order from Buffalo Arms anyway, so I'll just get a set of the Saeco handles incase the Cabine Tree handle is a pita for this mold.

I was surprised at the turn around time from Brooks. They said it would be less than 4 weeks, but a week is really fast.

[country gent]

I have a brooks Paper Patched mould for my 45 cal rifles. Its a nose pour cup base and adjustable for weight length. Very nice mould casts great and is a joy to use. Being adjustable you can experiment and find the weight length that your rifle truly perfers. A little more than some moulds but with the adjustable feature its actually more than 1 mould as diffrent lengths can be cast.

[Don McDowell]

The Cabine handles work great. Just don't set the lock to terribly tight.
The best non locking handles available are the KAL.

[BrentD]

I use Cabine Tree handles on my Brooks mould, and I love it.

I happen to like NOE handles fwiw. Not 100% sure they will fit the Brooks/Saeco(?) blocks, however.