Milling and modifying molds

[zarrinvz24]

https://www.hollowpointmold.com/

I saw this link on another thread. $40 set up and $10 for each cavity that’s cut. Removing gas check shanks or bevel bases. So I’m not the only person who has had the desire to change an existing mold.

I think that price is a big excessive, but his order backlog is quite extensive. I'd probably do this work for around half that price. That way it actually is cheaper than ordering a custom mold, and makes modification worth it.

[country gent]

By the time you get it indicated in x axis y axis square and true then swing in the cavity you are going to be 45 mins or so into it then swing in each cavity to zero. On the square you can get close with the top surface but are the cavities square to the top? On a custom mould probably very on a production mould maybe not.

This is one of those jobs where set up is everything and working off someone else's work requires everything to be checked. In reality your going to spend more time with the indicator than actually cutting.

[deltaenterprizes]

By the time you get it indicated in x axis y axis square and true then swing in the cavity you are going to be 45 mins or so into it then swing in each cavity to zero. On the square you can get close with the top surface but are the cavities square to the top? On a custom mould probably very on a production mould maybe not.

This is one of those jobs where set up is everything and working off someone else's work requires everything to be checked. In reality your going to spend more time with the indicator than actually cutting.

Most of the time is in the set up and measuring the cuts, very little time cutting since a small amount of material is being removed.
It is easy to remove material but not so easy to put it back!

[deltaenterprizes]

A member here named Buckshot used to do this work but he has retired.

[Maven]

Ammohead may [still[ do that; also Eric Ohlen.

[zarrinvz24]

I'm looking to break into the market if anyone is looking for someone to do this type of work very economically. Yes, by far more work indicating and setup than the actual cut, but that is literally every job that you do with a manual machine.

[longbow]

Some of what you want to do is quite easy and several posters here have milled moulds to make boolits lighter, removed gas check shanks and lapped to make cavities cast larger.

For cas check shank removal you can use a drill press though they are not as precise in alignment as a milling machine. Ben has had good results using correct drill size in a drill press:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...gas-check-step

scroll to post #11 and look at the pic links he posted.

Removing a bevel base would be the same procedure as removing a gas check shank.

For gas check shank or bevel base removal, depending on the cavity diameter, there are choices of standard drill bits, number and letter drill bits, purchased reamers or making a D-bit to exact diameter you need. All can be used with a drill press or better, a milling machine.

Cast diameter can be increased by Beagling or lapping. Beagling is easier and can gain you up to about 0.003". Lapping is harder and in my experience getting much more than about 0.002" is hard... at least with a multi cavity mould in keeping diameters the same and not losing sharp edges on driving bands.

Where there is a will there is a way! If you can do the work yourself you can save a bunch of money. If you have to pay then Hollowpoint Molds is likely a good bet.

Longbow