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Old December 29, 2012, 09:45 PM   #1
barnbwt
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Anyone here ever make a bullet mold?

Bullet molds seem like simple enough contraptions; two well-faced blocks of metal with alignment pins, and a centered cavity milled where they meet.

I've seen how-to's using mills and lathes, but surely (surely) folks back-in-the-day didn't always have access to such tools, but built functional molds nonetheless. Is there any way to make a bullet mold with lube grooves without heavy machinery?

Thanks, all

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Old December 31, 2012, 01:54 AM   #2
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Anyone even tried this?
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Old December 31, 2012, 02:17 AM   #3
snuffy
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Bullet molds made the old way are made using a cherry. The cherry looks just like the bullet, but is made like a milling cutter.

A special vise is used that has 2 moveable jaws, both move inwards toward each other to end up centered below the cherry. The mold blocks are mounted to those vice jaws, with the faces lined up perfectly so they close exactly as the center of the mold faces are directly under the cherry.

As the mold blocks close on the rotating cherry, the bullet cavity is cut into each block.

Modern molds are made with CNC milling machines that have a complicated programs written to do all the machining on every aspect of the mold.

If what you're asking is; can you make a mold at home with a simple drill press? Then the answer is no.
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Old December 31, 2012, 03:38 AM   #4
Bake
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You might try Googleing or Binging "Paper Patch Bullets". A few years ago I made some shotgun slugs by using a mold made out of hardwood. Got maybe 6 or 7 before it started to burn.
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Old January 1, 2013, 02:00 AM   #5
barnbwt
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Centering vise; interesting. The only other "how to" I'd seen was a guy using a boring cutter (cutter mounting offset to the shaft) on a mill--sounded like it caused horrific noise/vibration (probably makes good quality difficult) and took the guy forever to finish (he'd leave it running 45min between cutter adjustments).

I'd guess that regardless of how the mold is made, the cutter is the most crucial part of it. The DIY I saw used a home-made cutter that only had 1 "flute." He just turned the shape of the bullet and ground the shaft half-through then relieved it behind the "cutting edge." It looked like it sorta worked, if he was lucky/careful.

How good of quality (i.e. roundness) does a mold have to be for the bullet to work properly in a typical sizing die to true it up after? For when I do have access to a real milling setup

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Old January 1, 2013, 02:37 PM   #6
erikk
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When I was 9 made a gang mold from oak for my sling shot :-) When I started reloading for real I buy commercial molds-usually LEE cause I like them & they are inexpensive
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Old January 1, 2013, 05:50 PM   #7
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Accurate Molds uses a CNC lathe for all of his molds.

He preps the blocks, makes his relief cuts, and pre-drills the pilot holes.

When an order comes in, he writes the code, clamps the blocks in a custom hydraulic chuck, loads the code in the machine, and lets 'er rip.

He has 2 tools for bullet molds, in his shop:
CNC mill (only uses a fly cutter and 2 other bits)
CNC lathe (only uses four cutting tools, two of which are for brass)

That's it.


If you can prep your blocks on the lathe, you don't even need the mill.
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