Home made mold.

[muzzleloadingat18]

Made a 44 cal hollow base wadcutter mold. By basically drilling a 451 size hole in a chunk of mild steel. And pushing it out through the hole for the hollow base andy thoughts.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Show pictures.

 

[muzzleloadingat18]

Made a 44 cal hollow base wadcutter mold. By basically drilling a 451 size hole in a chunk of mild steel. And pushing it out through the hole for the hollow base andy thoughts.

It's more complex than that. It is a stepped bullet as well so it loads easy and cuts a ring of lead. The hollow base is adjustable from 140 to 200gn solid. It can also be turned around and used as a shallow or deep hp. In an 1858 it should be able to fit 40gn of powder behind a 180gn bullet in theory. Should I add a tutorial on how to do this because if you have a drill press and a couple other things it's easy. Might be possible without a drill press but won't be quite as precise.

 

[muzzleloadingat18]

Show pictures.

Np I will when I get home. And I'll cast some up just to show

 

[muzzleloadingat18]

Made a 44 cal hollow base wadcutter mold. By basically drilling a 451 size hole in a chunk of mild steel. And pushing it out through the hole for the hollow base andy thoughts.

Hwre is some of the castings. I need to polish it to get them out in better shape. I have pieta sheriff and with the step down you can push the bullet about a 1/16 of an inch down so it starts straight. And it saves off a thin layer of lead all the way around.

 

[M. De Land]

Made a 44 cal hollow base wadcutter mold. By basically drilling a 451 size hole in a chunk of mild steel. And pushing it out through the hole for the hollow base andy thoughts.

I routinely pick up undersized molds at gun shows generally for about ten bucks then bring them home, center on my lathe and bore out what ever slug shape and diameter needed.
I've made low carbon steel molds from scratch but after milling in handle ports , vent lines, making and fitting a sprue plate it is ever so much easier to simply by and undersized mold that already has all this stuff done.
I've yet to make a ball cherry mold though as Lee has them already made up for most ball diameters for very cheap prices including handles. Aluminum molds work very well and are quite durable if handled correctly.
I sometimes have made slug cherries though for diameters to small for lathe boring. On these I drill out the mold to minor diameter , affix to mold handles and very carefully close around the revolving cherry in my drill press after first hand turning them in the drilled cavity to get them started on center without chatter. A good share is done by hand cranking with the motor drive engaged only at the end for final smoothing up after the chips are removed and cavity lubed.
It could be sped up with a mechanical fixture that closes both mold halves simultaneously in solid block clamps but as I do this very seldom it never made sense for me to go to the trouble.

 

[muzzleloadingat18]

I routinely pick up undersized molds at gun shows generally for about ten bucks then bring them home, center on my lathe and bore out what ever slug shape and diameter needed.
I've made low carbon steel molds from scratch but after milling in handle ports , vent lines, making and fitting a sprue plate it is ever so much easier to simply by and undersized mold that already has all this stuff done.
I've yet to make a ball cherry mold though as Lee has them already made up for most ball diameters for very cheap prices including handles. Aluminum molds work very well and are quite durable if handled correctly.
I sometimes have made slug cherries though for diameters to small for lathe boring. On these I drill out the mold to minor diameter , affix to mold handles and very carefully close around the revolving cherry in my drill press after first hand turning them in the drilled cavity to get them started on center without chatter. A good share is done by hand cranking with the motor drive engaged only at the end for final smoothing up after the chips are removed and cavity lubed.
It could be sped up with a mechanical fixture that closes both mold halves simultaneously in solid block clamps but as I do this very seldom it never made sense for me to go to the trouble.

My design is a one piece mold and adjustable weight along with being super simple. I wanted a bullet with the same velocity as a ball but better shape for expanding. Bigg hollow base for weight reduction and more room for powder. And by design it's a wad cutter and that's all it can be unless you use it backwards. A wad cutter uses the space in the chamber the most efficient no wasted room above or below the bullet. Meaning it can weigh the same as a ball but fit a bit more power. The bullet is also better shaped for expanding because of the hollow base. In theory it should also have a shuttle cock effect because it is so frount heavy. The bullet shown and final design are different so bear with the verbal differences from the picture. I say this because it is all 100% theoretical and I can test all of this for free and who knows maybe I'll make an amazing bullet.

 

[muzzleloadingat18]

My design is a one piece mold and adjustable weight along with being super simple. I wanted a bullet with the same velocity as a ball but better shape for expanding. Bigg hollow base for weight reduction and more room for powder. And by design it's a wad cutter and that's all it can be unless you use it backwards. A wad cutter uses the space in the chamber the most efficient no wasted room above or below the bullet. Meaning it can weigh the same as a ball but fit a bit more power. The bullet is also better shaped for expanding because of the hollow base. In theory it should also have a shuttle cock effect because it is so frount heavy. The bullet shown and final design are different so bear with the verbal differences from the picture. I say this because it is all 100% theoretical and I can test all of this for free and who knows maybe I'll make an amazing bullet.

I may have repeated the same thing more than once but I'm running on little sleep lol so sorry about that

 

[M. De Land]

My design is a one piece mold and adjustable weight along with being super simple. I wanted a bullet with the same velocity as a ball but better shape for expanding. Bigg hollow base for weight reduction and more room for powder. And by design it's a wad cutter and that's all it can be unless you use it backwards. A wad cutter uses the space in the chamber the most efficient no wasted room above or below the bullet. Meaning it can weigh the same as a ball but fit a bit more power. The bullet is also better shaped for expanding because of the hollow base. In theory it should also have a shuttle cock effect because it is so frount heavy. The bullet shown and final design are different so bear with the verbal differences from the picture. I say this because it is all 100% theoretical and I can test all of this for free and who knows maybe I'll make an amazing bullet.

I understand, I have an old friend that has since moved out of AK that used to make his bullets in a hydraulic press from cast lead slugs swaged into a one piece die with a bleed hole . This made them perfectly round with no air pockets in them from casting that very often have voids in them.
The swaged bullets were retrieved by pushing them out through the bleed hole nose cap that was threaded into the mold/swage cavity. This allowed precision weight changes maintaining a consistent nose profile. The bases could be formed hollow cavity, flat or radius-ed by the hammer swage shape used.
These style of bullets were used in the percussion slug gun era and were the epitome of accurate projectiles.
Ned Roberts book has pictures of this type of projectile and is worth having in ones library.