Who would make me a 70 grain 10mm mold?

[TheWantonMan]

I'm wanting a really short bullet for 10mm, and want it to be 70 grains +/- 10.

Does anyone know a maker who would design something like that for me?

[georgerkahn]

I'm wanting a really short bullet for 10mm, and want it to be 70 grains +/- 10.

Does anyone know a maker who would design something like that for me?

Just a thought re a shorter/lighter bullet. To wit, I had a .357 mould -- wadcutter -- to which I wanted it shorter/lighter. (From 148gn to ~ 110gn) I chucked a brass rod in my little Unimat lathe and -- it took maybe three attempts -- but I ended up with a "plug" which very snugly fit in the bottom cavity of this iron (Lyman) mould. I applied just a teeny drop of Devcon hi-temp epoxy to fill any voids as well as hold it in place. Granted, it was a single cavity -- but worked MUCH better than my expectations. As my brass plug was round I had to close mould slowly and carefully compounded with it being single cavity -- no speed contests could ever be won !
However -- lost through the years -- I still wish I had it. Just a thought if you wish an alternative to buying a new, shorter mould.
There ARE a few custom makers if you wish -- I'd contact Tom at Accurate Moulds -- https://www.accuratemolds.com/ .
BEST!
geo

[farmbif]

just a thought but how much would a .401/.402 lead ball weigh?

[G W Wade]

A .433 ball weighs approx 122gr GW

[G W Wade]

To hit your target weight of 70 grs, you would need to flatten a .360 ball GW

[farmbif]

that sounds right I have cast .375 balls that weighed right about 75 grains.
70 grain lead alloy in a 10mm won't engage rifling for any type of effective accuracy I would imagine, maybe a sabot of some sort could be used to create an effective round.

[DougGuy]

I'm curious now, what gun is this for? What would be the purpose in such a light boolit?

[TheWantonMan]

Thanks Khan. I don't have a lathe but I appreciate the idea.

[TheWantonMan]

As far as using lead balls I was thinking of going that route but I don't know anything about swaging. How difficult is it to get into?

[TheWantonMan]

I want to make a triplex load, shoot three 70 grains outta a 10mm, make a fun plinking load.

[Harter66]

I have an aircraft rivet squeezing tool . I have adjusted it to both seat gas checks and to move 00B out to .360 and .380 ball out to .460 for double and triple ball loads in 38/357 and 45 Colts . Squash to desired oversize dia and push them through a sizer to correct size .

In the case of just wanting a WC shape it seems like a guy could just through bore at the appropriate dia and fit a flat faced pin to thread in the top of the die and a ram/anvil for the press ram ala Lee bullet sizers . The top pin would need to be fitted to eject the WC via a full face plunger .

PC would really shine here for having no lube grooves installed unless your intentions are multiple balls . A 38/40 with a 140 or 210 gr WC doesn't seem like a heavy load to me and those could be lubed between 2&3 or 1&2 . Alox would probably work ok too .

[John Boy]

Custom mold at Accurate Bullet molds … look at their inventory o 10 mm molds first

[megasupermagnum]

As far as using lead balls I was thinking of going that route but I don't know anything about swaging. How difficult is it to get into?

You don't swage them, or at least you don't have to. You can order a mold from JT ball moulds in any size you want. They are sold by cavity size, so I recommend ordering .003" larger than the ball you want.

The problem is a .403" ball is going to be up around 96 grains. It's not even close to your stated 70 grains. I wanted to see what a 10mm "bullet" looked like at 70 grains, and came up with the following. I really doubt that is going to shoot good at all.



An alternative method is to cast with zinc. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm seeing zinc is about 64% the density of lead alloy. This would allow you to cast a slug that would normally be 110 grains, and with zinc would put you right at 70 grains. That's still a very stubby, and rare mold. What you could do though is cast round balls of zinc, and they should be around 61-62 grains.

Personally I don't see anything good coming of this, and any attempt at super light popper loads would be better served with wax bullets.