Just another mould..or two.

[J.B.]

Too much down time with no shooting this year has of course meant I get up to mischief. Another mould sourced from Jim at BACo with a lot of assistance from Dave Gullo. Dropping back to single diameter pp I requested a .443 nose pour, cup base bullet to use with my thicker necked RMC brass in my 44/77. Typically the mould arrived and while I've yet to cast a projectile, it looks very tidy indeed. BACo mould ref # JIM433500. This primarily for the 1/17" rifle I hope to see again one day ( its in the U.S. ).
Not to be outdone.. I contacted Tom at Accurate Molds with regard a dd pp bullet for use in my 50/90. A base pour design...it went from enq to posted in 10 days ! Still on the 'slow plane' currently. This is the first Acc. Mold design I've had done in steel blocks as the curiosity was just too much. Most of my previous designs have come in brass and I couldnt fault them. Perfect form and function. Toms cat. design. #50-655D. This is for the 1/22" twist but I may go to a shorter version later to be more in line with the 473-500 grn bullet of the original loading. Just making conversation...our temperatures are averaging 95-105F now...and no shooting scheduled before late January...if bush fire restrictions dont cancel them. Fingers crossed. My best to all for the festive season. Stay safe, stay well and have a great Christmas.
J.B.

[Don McDowell]

JB I'll be interested to see your impressions of that Accurate iron mould.

[Kurt]

Hey Convict, Us mouldahawlics will never have enough moulds
That bullet should fly pretty well. Right length and shank Ogive balance is good and not too pointy. Just make sure you cut some stiff wad materials to keep the wad from getting pushed into the cup base and leak some gases. The skirt is thick enough so it should hold up well and not get damaged. The good thing is you can always change it to a flat base.
That .433" is a good diameter for the .438" bore.

Tom makes very good moulds. I had double cavities in brass and iron but all are for my hand guns and lever rifles. I hope someday he will tool up that CNC and cut some rounded nosed bullets.

I been changing some of my smaller PP moulds to duel diameters on my mill. I don't have a small enough boring bar yet to use the lathe but the mill is working just fine for this job. When I get around to it I will get some slitting saws or fine point end mills for cutting vent lines and start making some mould blocks and try making my own moulds.
Just something to keep me occupied till this Covid thing passes, if it ever will.
Gavin, you also have a Merry Christmas and put an ice pack on your forehead and back to keep cool LOL.

Kurt

[Distant Thunder]

I used to think I didn't have an addiction and that I could stop buying molds anytime I wanted, but now I'm beginning to think I may have a wee bit of a problem. It's not really my fault however, it's just that I tend to hang out with a bunch of enablers, good people though they are. I just have to accept the facts and realize that the last mold I bought probably isn't the last and that the next probably won't be either.

Fortunately God has stepped in to help me keep the problem somewhat under control by limiting my funding. As a result I've managed to cut the number of molds I buy in half and will only be buying them one at a time every other month or so. This is not chiseled in stone tablets and I could have a moment of weakness from time to time, so I'll have to consider it a goal to work toward.

Of course I would be much more successful in this endeavor if I could stop acquiring new rifles/cartridge that lead to the need for new molds. I'll work on that later.

The point is since I had my old Shiloh rebarreled to .44-77 I have been able to stick to the plan....., pretty much. My new ,44 caliber mold is another from BACO. Talk about enablers, those people in the business of enabling! This one is a JIM430520 which I had them cut at .431" diameter for use with my 9# paper. It is a pretty close to the Metford design and I really wanted to give this design a go in my .44-77 right from the start. There are 3 design I plan to test extensively in the .44-77, elliptical, Metford and the Sharps original long range. I have the first two now and will acquire the Sharps design by spring.

The sample that came with the new mold is spot on .431" and weighs 518 grains. So far my bullets are .4305" and running 513 to 518 grains. They are the roundest bullets I've ever seen from a mold. The mold cast beautiful bullets, but it fills a bit slow and I have to remember that or the bases are rounded. I've cast about 150 bullets so far as I fiddle with my alloy trying to get the weight up a bit and maybe gain a little on the diameter.

I've shot somewhere around 50 of these and right now 80 grain of my Swiss 1 1/2 (2013 Lot) is doing fairly well with an unsized bullet seated .330" in the case over a .060" LDPE wad and set off with Federal 210 LR primers. The groups are holding up at a under 3" for 10 shots at 220 yards. That's should be a competitive load as is, but I will continue to work at reducing that hopefully to something much closer to 2".



The bullet is 1.455" long and should be well enough stabilized in my 17-twist Krieger barrel to make it to 1000 yards still in good shape. The 80 grains is very comfortable to shoot and wouldn't be too over powered for silhouette on the lay downs, but the goal is Creedmoor.

I've still have to test different primers and wads, but by reducing the powder charge to 80 grains the fouling is much more controllable. The fouling with 90 grains, especially with Goex 2F, also with Swiss, was a killer for me at matches with long strings of fire last season. I was spending too much time wiping and was unable to finish my strings without dumping the last few or more in the dirt if I tried to reduce the wiping.

The accuracy of the rifle/cartridge continue to look really good and easy to realize, but it has been a learning experience working with this bottleneck. I'm enjoying the process and I have no doubt I will get it where I want it by the end of this coming season (if there is a season in 2021).

I really like this bullet design, it fills all the important requirements I have for a Creedmoor bullet design. While it's toward the upper end of the length to twist ratio it's not AT the high end. It fits my bore as patched (unsized) with some resistance without being hard to chamber. It has a nose that is in the 40-45% of it OAL and not too slender. The nose is capped with a radius in the 30-35% of caliber. It is a bit over my minimum 500 grains. It is a PAPER PATCHED bullet with enough of the shank up in the bore to provide good alignment.

[Distant Thunder]

You'll notice in the 3 groups that there is a tendency for shots to start moving to the right as the group builds. I am firmly convinced that this is all on me.

In the 3rd group, the 10-shot one, when this started to happen with shots 4, 5 & 7 I made a conscious effort to not break the shots to the right and that worked if I stayed with it. Some of that is my hold and the torque of the 17-twist, but that is still on me.

If I can keep my head in the game through 10 shots my accuracy goal will be met without any load changes. BIG IF!

Maybe shock treatment? If I got a good jolt every time I did something stupid while shooting that might work. Then again I would probably just develop a serious twitch instead of learning not to do stupid stuff and that wouldn't help at all!

[Don McDowell]

Those groups don't look to bad. It will be interesting to see how that bullet holds up at distance with that thick paper.

[Distant Thunder]

Well, I have a life time supply of that 9# Paper Mill stuff which actually a little thinner than than the Esleeck 9#. My thinking is always to make or have molds made for .007" when wrapped and if something changes and I have to go to thinner paper I can open up the mold to whatever I need. Besides my fingers aren't quite nimble enough to work with the really thin papers. Apparently beating on them with hammers and such when you're young can cause problems when you get old! If only I had known that back then. My grandfather was a tinsmith and I don't think I ever saw him without at least one blackened fingernail all the while I was growing up and he passed that on to me. My finger tips just don't have much feeling left in them.

[Don McDowell]

I've got a bunch of the paper mill 9 lb cotton rag stuff to. Have one bullet that sort of deals me fits and been thinking maybe,,,,

[Distant Thunder]

The .44-77 is a different animal and I know that, but that 9# paper works pretty well in my .45-70 and my .40-65. If it does work any near as well in my .44-77 as in the other two I'll be happy. The Metford bullet should be very good out to 1000 today just as it was in the later 1870s.

I had a bullet very similar for my .45-70 and I shot my highest score ever in a mid-range match using it, but I sold it because it wasn't an elliptical.

[Don McDowell]

I like those Mitford nose bullets