I am looking for mold blocks in .458-.460 dia range, suitable for a MARLIN M-1895 lever action with a tubular feed. Specifically, I would like the meplat to be about 0.350" or larger.

I bought a set of blocks from LEE PRECISION, #457 405 F, which does have a flat nose, however in my judgement, is NOT SAFE FOR A tubular magazine rifle, such as my M-1895 MARLIN. The meplat measures approximately 0.250" and the large rifle primer measures a scant 0.211". I believe using this bullet is begging for trouble via accidental discharge in the magazine when firing a round in the chamber of the rifle.

On January 26, 2005, I wrote to John Lee, President of LEE PRECISION, and also submitted a technical drawing of a suitable bullet, with a 0.400" bullet meplat. I don't think he was interested in adding this to his selection of bullet molds, even though I strongly believe that a legitimate need and demand exists for lever action rifles with a tubular magazine.

I would appreciate any help that a reader would be able to supply me, for such a mold design, with a much larger meplat than the one offered by LEE PRECISION and other rival mold makers.

I also contacted Lee about their selection of .458" molds and getting one with a larger meplat & heavier weight without a GC. My reason was for hunting with the 45-70 using blackpowder in my highwall but understand your point on tubular magazines. For what it's worth, I had a couple tube fed 30-30's and never had a problem using the Nosler 150gr BT flat nose bullets which have a meplat slightly smaller then the OD of the primer. I loaded these pretty hot but can imagine I was getting nowhere near the amount of recoil you are with a 45-70 however, it was not uncommon for the last round to have visible marks on the primer face from the bullet behind it.

Try Dan at Mountainmolds. He can make what you want. He has a design program on his site, so you can design your own bullet. He is very reasonable, and produces a good mold. Greg

Stalker:

I like Lyman's 457193. Using 30-1 alloy my bullets weigh 415 grains. The flat nose measures about .243 inches. It has four grease groves, so it is a good black powder as well as smokeless bullet. It is not nearly as expensive as a custom mold.

Try Dan at Mountainmolds. He can make what you want. He has a design program on his site, so you can design your own bullet. He is very reasonable, and produces a good mold. Greg

I just got done looking at that website........I used the CAD and came up with just about what I wanted for a design that I included with my earlier post.

Thanks much! I appreciate your tip.

Try Ballisti-cast. They are high quality, and so are the people. I use several of their moulds, their #1437 looks very close to your drawing. I have used this in 2 45-70's for a couple of years and recommend it. I have found it accurate and with enough weight to be effective. They will ask you what alloy you are using and what size you want when you order.

Dan makes his molds acccording to his CAD program. There are certain parameters that it cannot change. The good news it that you can get a great mold for alitle more than a factory mold. Most custom molds are far more expensive, eventhough the quality is much better.

I have decided to make my own mold blocks, and have a moldmaker bore them for me in 12 gauge. Dan made several sets in 12 gauge for me, but will not make them any more. Good luck with your bullet. Greg

Problem I have with custom molds is not knowing if your rifle is going to like that particular bullet or not. I don't mind paying for a mold made to my specs but if I shell out the cash and find out they won't shoot worth a hoot...then what?

I've asked a few production & custom mold makers why they don't offer samples of their bullets for testing prior to you buying a useless mold. Some have replied simply they are not in the bullet business while others flat out said, "job security". I'm not even asking this service to be free, I'd gladly pay say a buck a bullet, buy ten and see how they work and base buying the mold on the results of that testing or if more samples are needed of some other design.

Even if mold makers didn't want to mess with making bullets, why not team up with a bullet caster and work together? Am I asking too much?

think there could be a market for that from the production molds..Lyman use to offer that service a long long time ago. Would help if all the commercial bullet makers just identified what molds they were using.

Think you are asking too much of a custom mold maker....too many designs,too many of them designed poorly (not the maker's falut, they make what you asked for)....know my reaction (if I were making the molds) would be "if you want to design one outside of the areas already covered by the production molds, you better know waht you want."

Stalker:

I like Lyman's 457193. Using 30-1 alloy my bullets weigh 415 grains. The flat nose measures about .243 inches. It has four grease groves, so it is a good black powder as well as smokeless bullet. It is not nearly as expensive as a custom mold.

Thank you for the response. I was wondering about the LYMAN mold, as I own several and have used them for years.....I like them very much. I guess that 0.243" probably would get me by, but I sure would like the 0.400" meplat with a truncated cone .....probably the only way to get it would be to order a custom mold. With the return of large caliber interest, one would certainly think that mold manufacturers would get the hint. I really believe that just because an idea that was popular years ago and even into past centuries, doesn't mean that these people were less intelligent than modern people and their "technology" today. A big bullet with a wide meplat was designed for a reason, and it apparently worked quite efficiently in the past century.

think there could be a market for that from the production molds..Lyman use to offer that service a long long time ago. Would help if all the commercial bullet makers just identified what molds they were using.

Think you are asking too much of a custom mold maker....too many designs,too many of them designed poorly (not the maker's falut, they make what you asked for)....know my reaction (if I were making the molds) would be "if you want to design one outside of the areas already covered by the production molds, you better know waht you want."

I agree with your line of thinking, however, to be successful in industry, be it large or small, the owner/operator must be thinking all the time, staying at least one step ahead of the market. It seems to me that the return interest of large caliber lever action rifles (cowboy matches for example, and strong sales of respective lever action rifle makers, for another example), would certainly indicate a strong interest in legitimate design changes of cast bullets. Furthermore, I really believe that seeking a "production design" of a bullet with a large meplat would be a "legitimate design" for a production run, if for no other reason, extreme effectiveness when hunting large NORTH AMERICAN GAME. Speaking of shooting, a large clean-cut hole in a paper target is an impressive scoring mark. A bullet with a 0.400" meplat in 0.458"-0.460" diameter would certainly increase the "shock value" on a game animal, negating the need for an expanding bullet in this caliber and bullet speed beyond say, 1500 to 1600 fps in a .45-70. Finally, the safety margin in tubular magazine rifles would be UNPARALLELED with a large meplat, such as 0.400". With all of the "pointed" bullets in cast lead design on the market, one would think that bullet makers would have been smart enough to figure this out ahead of time.

I think I know of a guy how could change the nose on your mold, but I am unsure of the cost. Let me know If I can help.
Greg

ribbonstone, Guess I didn't clarify on makers providing test bullets. Most of the custom makers also have thier own lines of molds or use submitted design to offer as "off-the-shelf". These are what I suggested they use for their samples. If they're offering a mold that is not a custom design you submit but rather an existing design they have already used then the samples are a great selling point. Now, for them to custom cut a mold to your spec's, then that's a whole different bucket of cheeze. You design it, you pay for it, if it don't work, you eat it. I was simply commenting on the existing designs.

Just got burned too many times buying molds that don't work worth a hoot in my guns and then being stuck with them or loosing considerable sums of money re-selling them. Thus is the reason I will usually go with a Lee mold. Cheap enough that if it does not work for me, I can toss it without getting upset. Another reason is I like casting with the AL molds.

I was looking for a .224" mold but decided to just buy the Beartooth and be done with it. For the low volume of these I shoot and the minimal cost of buying them, it just makes good sense to buy.

Think your best bet for a first mold is any of the Lymnan's that have been on the market fro a number or years. Lyamn keeps dropping the low production molds (their mold list is a bit abreviated from what it once was)...there is a reason for some molds to stay popular over the decades. They may not fill a specific task as well as some low volume molds, but in general the older mold designs are pretty tried-and-true.

Got no problem with Lee molds...have had one out of a dozen give me trouble...suspect many of the folks that have consistant trouble with Lees are a bit stroing handled in their handling of them.

But as you notice, no .224" Lees.

Have two .224" Lymans and one .224" RCBS. While not prefect for evry gun, haven't found a .224" barrel that would refuse to shoot the #225415 at least "well" (but have to say, it burns my butt to pay that price for .224" gas checks....given the cost per pound, wondering waht precious metal they are made of).

No kidding! I was considering getting into the GC market myself. Rolled brass & Cu is cheap, all that's needed is a punch press to stamp them out and these are quite common and inexpensive on the used industrial equipment market. I could sell them at half the price and still make a killing!

I have the ballistic cast 540 wfngc mold and it shoots great in my 4570 marlin and .458 and has done well in every 4570 ive tried it in.