Accurate molds .40 maxi ball mold

[Winchester97]

Has anybody tried an Accurate Mold in the .40 maxiball? Looks like they have 3 different ones on their site. I was able to find a good deal of info on the special order lee REAL .40 molds from the past, but nothing on the Accurate .40 maxi.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

Nothing but good things to say about the quality of Accurate Molds and they look like very nice bullets. Not sure how well they would stabilize in a 1:48 twist which seems to be common for 40 Caliber barrels .

 

[nkbj]

Winchester,
I haven't tried Accurate's designs in the Green Mountain barrel but they do look promising.

For the fast twist .40 GPR I've been slobbering over their #40-289M for a while but I'm just not quite willing to take the plunge.

 

[nkbj]

By the way, depending upon what kind of rifling you have in a .40, have you looked at the old Lyman #403169?
I'm fixing to try it out. Swaged some today down to .399 diameter.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

Winchester,
I haven't tried Accurate's designs in the Green Mountain barrel but they do look promising.

For the fast twist .40 GPR I've been slobbering over their #40-289M for a while but I'm just not quite willing to take the plunge.

Do they have a Great Plains Rifle in fast twist 40 caliber?

 

[nkbj]

I do, one turn in 16".

 

[Winchester97]

By the way, depending upon what kind of rifling you have in a .40, have you looked at the old Lyman #403169?
I'm fixing to try it out. Swaged some today down to .399 diameter.

Keep us posted how that lyman bullet works, it looks like a good shape, good lube grooves, and the right weight. My barrel is just a standard GM 1-48 twist. I still need to slug it before ordering a mold. Pretty sweet GPR there too!

 

[Saxtonyoung]

Is that a Green Mountain BP Cartridge barrel you had made to fit your rifle.

 

[nkbj]

Ed Rayl put it together using the original barrel's hardware.
He made the barrel and also a pre-engraving die for bullets to fit the rifling.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

Well it's been about 15 years but Green Mountain use to sell 1" straight cartridge barrels and had the 40 caliber 1:16 twist 34" long made to fit my Renegade then had Mountain Molds make me 375 Whitworth mold to shoot in it. I tried the Lyman 403169 and it did ok but this barrel likes the big lead best.

 

[nkbj]

Yep, in general terms heavier is better. Shorter is more prone to misalignments and inconsistencies.
This is mold from about 2009 that works rather well. You can see the pre-engraving to fit the rifling.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

I played with larger than bore bullets but had more success with bullets sized to .400 and let them expand upon firing. Longest ever shot that particular rifle was 200 yards in a Muzzleloader league I use shoot on.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

GM still makes cartridge barrels but they are tapered. I bought the last 40 caliber 1:16 straight barrels they had. One I left the full 34" for my target rifle, sold 2 and kept the last one that I will most likely use as shorter hunting barrel on either a Renegade or Hawken stock.

Mountain Molds unfortunately does not make Whitworth molds anymore. They say on their website they will refuse to make molds if they believe it's for a Muzzleloader

 

[Saxtonyoung]

Winchester97 ,

I had a GM 1" 40 caliber drop in barrels with the 48" twist and tried 175 grain pistol bullets from a Lee mold with no success. I ended up staying with round balls.

 

[Winchester97]

Winchester97 ,

I had a GM 1" 40 caliber drop in barrels with the 48" twist and tried 175 grain pistol bullets from a Lee mold with no success. I ended up staying with round balls.

That may be where I end up...sticking with roundball. No doubt my twist is not fast enough for the bullets you and nkbj are shooting. Very interesting conversation!

 

[Winchester97]

The thing that confuses me is proper twist rate. I have a 1/48" .36 GM drop in that shoots 158g HB wadcutters, and 128g .36 maxiballs in one ragged hole to 50yd. Then a .45 TC Hawken factory 1/48 that shoots the 240 gr. Maxi 2-3" groups at 100yd. So proper weight for a .40 should be somewhere in the middle near 200g, but most of what I read on similar weight lee bullets report poor results. I enjoy casting nearly as much as shooting, so I suppose if I dont turn up anybody who has tried that .40 maxi from Accurate molds...I'll just have to try one and report the results here.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

Well that just it ,just because the twist rate calculators tell you a bullet will have a hard time stabilizing doesn't mean you won't stumble into a winning combination.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

With Accurate it doesn't cost too much to have more than 1 bullet weight or design in the same mold.

 

[Winchester97]

With Accurate it doesn't cost too much to have more than 1 bullet weight or design in the same mold.

A very good idea, test two different weights, and just retire one cavity. It's not like you really need a 2 cavity on something like that, probably one casting session could cover a year of shooting. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Scota@4570]

Has anybody tried an Accurate Mold in the .40 maxiball? Looks like they have 3 different ones on their site. I was able to find a good deal of info on the special order lee REAL .40 molds from the past, but nothing on the Accurate .40 maxi.

I am pretty sure I had him make the 41-150N to my specifications. I sized it for a 40 cal cartridge pistol barrel I used on a ML project. It shot tiny groups, with surprize fliers. I suspect the rifling is too shallow in that barrel. I replaced the barrel with a GM 40 cal proper ML pistol barrel. That barrel shoots teenie groups with patched balls. The bullet is too loose for the bore but still shoots really well, about 2"at 25 yards. I intend to have him make a similar mold for the GM barrel. I may also have him make a corrugated sided bullet, like the lee tumble lube bullets, but with an engraving band a the nose like a maxi. In any case have the bottom bad a push fit on the lands and the top band a bit oversized to the groove. Be sure and measure accurate dimension on you barrel so he can make the mold you need. I can not recommend Accurate molds enough. He is deaf so use the email to communicate.
Accurate Molds: Custom Bullet Molds