I just powder coated about 200 bullets yesterday. I was wondering about the lube groove as being unnecessary. So I searched youtube and in 2 minutes found this video. Awesome idea. Thanks for the info.
I did essentially the same thing but I removed the sprue plate and clamped the halves together. Because I was modifying a .358 mould I took a Letter T drill and after centering did a plunge cut into the mould cutting away most of the groove but leaving the last .010" for a crimp groove. It came out perfect and the angle on the point of the drill made a nice taper under the groove. Polished it up with a dremel a little bit and done. My bullets look very similar to yours except with a nice crimp groove. They cast at almost .358" so after coating they are .359 but I just push them through my Lee .357 sizer and they come out perfect.
Now that I'm powder coating all of my cast bullets, I have 2-3 Lee aluminum molds that I've been planning to modify to remove the lube groove or microgrooves. I have some proper machining tools (and probably half of the proper machining knowledge, ha ha) and I'm still planning on going that route, but it was very interesting to see your method. It was very clever, in that the drill would ride on the rest of the bullet shank portion of the mold and would (mostly) remove the portion of the mold that produces the lube groove. Lately, I've been buying molds with no lube groove, although they're still rare. This is a great opportunity for a mold manufacturer to gain a lot of business supplying much simpler molds to the fast growing community of powder coating enthusiasts.
This is a good video I have a RCBS 38 SWC 150 gr 2 cavity mold. I believe if I gets rid of the lube groves I’ll get close to 158gr plus the additional contact with the lands. I don’t ever plan on greasing my bullets only powder coating. I honestly believe the days of greasing the cast bullets is becoming a thing of the past.
The last one I did I just ordered a cheap reamer from eBay and used it and my drill press. It removed the groves and opened the mold to the size I wanted. I've also ground a reamer to open a mold without touching the gc shank. Just place the reamer in the mold then clouse it. I turned it by hand not by power.
Hmmm I have a mold that is a 4 cavity for my 45 acp. 2 cavitys are plain base and 2 are gas checked. I do not want the gas checked. (they both shoot ok without the gas check). I think I will have to try this on that mold to removed the gas check. I do like the idea of the smooth bullet. NOE has a few made that way. I have a 153 grain for my 300 blackout and it shoots great. Thanks for the video!
Removing the grooves on the bullet will cause an increase in friction whether the bullet is coated or not. There will be an increase of friction even on powder coated bullet because the contact surface is increased once the groove is no longer there. In many cases the reason for the groove is not for lubrication purposes.
How do you think this will go with a Lee .358 'tumble lube' mold where the lube groove is more of a ripple down the length than a groove? For .38\.357 instead of 9mm.
Not everyone is that good with a dremel. I am going to do a couple of 9mm molds. The size "t" reamer is .358 no room for polishing but I might polish the reamer to bring it down a tic so I can finish polishing the mold. Also it is advantageous to have hollow based bullets for semi auto pistols with powder coat. I am going to make a swaging die and hollow punch to make them. I know a guy who does this and gets great accuracy.
använder du egentillverkade blykulor i dina pistoler eller är det bara för revolvrar ?? Jag har svårt att få ned kostnaden för 9mm då köpta kulor ofta ligger runt 1,- kr st och köpammo kostar runt 2,- kr st.
sen är det väl så att 9mm fakbriksgjord är så pass billig i förhållande till andra kaliber att det blir ännu svårare att hålla nede egentillverkningskostnaderna. Men annars är det nu som du säger - skjuta mer för samma peng. Köper du bly från bilskrotar eller plockar du upp på skjutbanorna??
A tumble lube style mold may be fine having small lube grooves. It gives the lead a place way to move without a burst of tension in the sizer or barrel.
even if you remove too much of the mold, when you size the bullet , it will reshape the bullet to perfection. At least in theory. If you aren't or can't use a mold as it is, then you really have nothing to lose anyway soooo......
What about weight gain? I'm interested in doing away with the lube groove for powder coating myself. Thinking this more of a prototype experimental way of doing it. Lube grooves pretty large on some bullets gain weight in a hurry. Keep working with it you'll get it, remember the sizer reforms to perfection on diameter not weight .weigh that bullet and get it out of barrel. No squibs allowed. It's a hobby enjoy just be careful.
What's the point....besides turning a fine mold into a mediocre mold. What's wrong with shooting a PC cast bullets with lube groves? I think it's more versatile mold w/lube groves. Now it's a PC bullet only. Seems like someone is overthinking this.
All explained in the video. I only use PC for bullets I use for speed shooting and gaining a few grains of bullet weight equals less powder and recoil for the same power factor.
It would be more efficient to use a drill press and a 9 mm drill bit, then resizing the bullets to the precise diameter you need. This way you would have concentric and similar bullets, hence avoiding both unbalanced flight and irregular weight. Moreover, it would be a lot faster :-)
You're right. You seem to have some good tooling, hence my false idea :-) But it is possible to use a little (hand)drill with about the same efficiency, since the hole will guide the drill bit. I think you are skilled enough (Dremel job) to master this. ATB
This looks to be a very inaccurate way of removing the lube grooves on a mould, why not simply put the mould blocks in your Milling machine and bore down at groove size, you will end up with a much more concentric mould, even a thou out of concentric will give you an unbalanced bullet at the RPM that these are doing.
Whistler Sweden: Does the average person own and shoot guns ? I would think that anyone that "inkers", as you do, would have at least small Milling machine and a Lathe.
Whistler Sweden: Then it is back to the Dremel for you I am afraid, there should be an engineering evening class near you that you can use, but suppose all the manufacturing has now gone to China ! It just seems wrong that model steam engine people have no here to go for workshop activities !
how come nobody is questioning what this inconsistent, inaccurate milling technique is doing for accuracy. or does anybody even care or understand accurate shooting anymore
@@adrianrog are pc bullets not accurate? I'm no pistol expert but I reload and cast all the ammo I shoot. I test off a rest and I don't see a difference with cast, cast PC or jacketed. As long as the bullet is good. If I weight each cast bullet and make them more consistent they shoot better. Same with fancy nosler jacketed vs berrys. But I suck with a pistol. If you have some data showing PC don't shoot well I'd love to learn something. Btw I don't know what the dude in the vid is doing. I wouldn't shoot anything he gave me. Please you British bubba put the dremel down
How do you reckon? These were very accurate with powdercoating. You are right they cannot be lubed, but they are by no means useless. There are many grooveless designs out there.
@@Whistler84 sorry my shooters friend, but you worked with a Dremel...... , and now every bullet out of this mold has a different weight. Thats not what i would call precise, i weigh all my bullets because theese differences cause problems in precision. Not a great problem when you only 5 meters away from the target, but at 25 meters some shoots are far away from the middle of the target. Every single point less decides, if you win or loose a championship. Okay, for plinking these bullets are good enough.
I just powder coated about 200 bullets yesterday. I was wondering about the lube groove as being unnecessary. So I searched youtube and in 2 minutes found this video. Awesome idea. Thanks for the info.
I did essentially the same thing but I removed the sprue plate and clamped the halves together. Because I was modifying a .358 mould I took a Letter T drill and after centering did a plunge cut into the mould cutting away most of the groove but leaving the last .010" for a crimp groove. It came out perfect and the angle on the point of the drill made a nice taper under the groove. Polished it up with a dremel a little bit and done. My bullets look very similar to yours except with a nice crimp groove. They cast at almost .358" so after coating they are .359 but I just push them through my Lee .357 sizer and they come out perfect.
Now that I'm powder coating all of my cast bullets, I have 2-3 Lee aluminum molds that I've been planning to modify to remove the lube groove or microgrooves. I have some proper machining tools (and probably half of the proper machining knowledge, ha ha) and I'm still planning on going that route, but it was very interesting to see your method. It was very clever, in that the drill would ride on the rest of the bullet shank portion of the mold and would (mostly) remove the portion of the mold that produces the lube groove.
Lately, I've been buying molds with no lube groove, although they're still rare. This is a great opportunity for a mold manufacturer to gain a lot of business supplying much simpler molds to the fast growing community of powder coating enthusiasts.
This is a good video I have a RCBS 38 SWC 150 gr 2 cavity mold. I believe if I gets rid of the lube groves I’ll get close to 158gr plus the additional contact with the lands. I don’t ever plan on greasing my bullets only powder coating. I honestly believe the days of greasing the cast bullets is becoming a thing of the past.
The last one I did I just ordered a cheap reamer from eBay and used it and my drill press. It removed the groves and opened the mold to the size I wanted. I've also ground a reamer to open a mold without touching the gc shank. Just place the reamer in the mold then clouse it. I turned it by hand not by power.
Hmmm I have a mold that is a 4 cavity for my 45 acp. 2 cavitys are plain base and 2 are gas checked. I do not want the gas checked. (they both shoot ok without the gas check).
I think I will have to try this on that mold to removed the gas check. I do like the idea of the smooth bullet. NOE has a few made that way. I have a 153 grain for my 300 blackout and it shoots great.
Thanks for the video!
And what sort of accuracy do you get at beyond seven yards? At 25 or 50 yards, I suspect not so good.
Removing the grooves on the bullet will cause an increase in friction whether the bullet is coated or not. There will be an increase of friction even on powder coated bullet because the contact surface is increased once the groove is no longer there. In many cases the reason for the groove is not for lubrication purposes.
How do you think this will go with a Lee .358 'tumble lube' mold where the lube groove is more of a ripple down the length than a groove? For .38\.357 instead of 9mm.
I have truly seen everything done with a dremel now
Not everyone is that good with a dremel. I am going to do a couple of 9mm molds. The size "t" reamer is .358 no room for polishing but I might polish the reamer to bring it down a tic so I can finish polishing the mold. Also it is advantageous to have hollow based bullets for semi auto pistols with powder coat. I am going to make a swaging die and hollow punch to make them. I know a guy who does this and gets great accuracy.
How much did you end up reducing the powder charge?
använder du egentillverkade blykulor i dina pistoler eller är det bara för revolvrar ??
Jag har svårt att få ned kostnaden för 9mm då köpta kulor ofta ligger runt 1,- kr st och köpammo kostar runt 2,- kr st.
sen är det väl så att 9mm fakbriksgjord är så pass billig i förhållande till andra kaliber att det blir ännu svårare att hålla nede egentillverkningskostnaderna. Men annars är det nu som du säger - skjuta mer för samma peng.
Köper du bly från bilskrotar eller plockar du upp på skjutbanorna??
I would assume once you PC and size they will like nice and even.
A tumble lube style mold may be fine having small lube grooves. It gives the lead a place way to move without a burst of tension in the sizer or barrel.
Great job
A mill or decent drill press with correct size drill bit and the job is done in minutes
even if you remove too much of the mold, when you size the bullet , it will reshape the bullet to perfection. At least in theory. If you aren't or can't use a mold as it is, then you really have nothing to lose anyway soooo......
What about weight gain? I'm interested in doing away with the lube groove for powder coating myself. Thinking this more of a prototype experimental way of doing it. Lube grooves pretty large on some bullets gain weight in a hurry. Keep working with it you'll get it, remember the sizer reforms to perfection on diameter not weight .weigh that bullet and get it out of barrel. No squibs allowed. It's a hobby enjoy just be careful.
My solution was to go to Mountain Molds website and make my own mold to my specs using his PC program. Good quality and fair prices.
I leave them they fill with the powder coat and that is a good thing.
Nice mod video
Should've titled this vid "Mold Butchery"
That bullet looks sus like something else
Hi, we will be making molds without lube grooves, too.
Check www.mp-molds.com under alternative coating
Hey Miha,
I think he burns really for inaccurate bullets..... 😉
Why simply put the mold together and use a drill?
Drill the size need to equal your caliber
What's the point....besides turning a fine mold into a mediocre mold. What's wrong with shooting a PC cast bullets with lube groves? I think it's more versatile mold w/lube groves. Now it's a PC bullet only. Seems like someone is overthinking this.
All explained in the video. I only use PC for bullets I use for speed shooting and gaining a few grains of bullet weight equals less powder and recoil for the same power factor.
@@Whistler84 ok. That sense...I am just curious, how much weight did you gain?
this is a REALLY inaccurate way to remove lube grooves its ok if you're not interested in accuracy shooting
That was like going to the Dentist...frick!
It would be more efficient to use a drill press and a 9 mm drill bit, then resizing the bullets to the precise diameter you need. This way you would have concentric and similar bullets, hence avoiding both unbalanced flight and irregular weight. Moreover, it would be a lot faster :-)
You write as if I had a drill press.
You're right. You seem to have some good tooling, hence my false idea :-)
But it is possible to use a little (hand)drill with about the same efficiency, since the hole will guide the drill bit. I think you are skilled enough (Dremel job) to master this. ATB
Top job but very scary considering my molds are awesome
This looks to be a very inaccurate way of removing the lube grooves on a mould, why not simply put the mould blocks in your Milling machine and bore down at groove size, you will end up with a much more concentric mould, even a thou out of concentric will give you an unbalanced bullet at the RPM that these are doing.
Whistler Sweden: Does the average person own and shoot guns ? I would think that anyone that "inkers", as you do, would have at least small Milling machine and a Lathe.
Whistler Sweden: Then it is back to the Dremel for you I am afraid, there should be an engineering evening class near you that you can use, but suppose all the manufacturing has now gone to China ! It just seems wrong that model steam engine people have no here to go for workshop activities !
You should always run your lead bullets through a sizing die
why not just get a 9mm drill bit?
And he and his dremmel were never heard from again
Could have taken it to a tool and die shop !
There are other problems removing the lube groves, pressure being the first problem
😊
It may be a factor to consider for very high pressure loads, but NLG molds are sold a plenty without issue.
how come nobody is questioning what this inconsistent, inaccurate milling technique is doing for accuracy. or does anybody even care or understand accurate shooting anymore
If you're powder coating bullets, you're already not interested in accuracy.
@@adrianrog are pc bullets not accurate? I'm no pistol expert but I reload and cast all the ammo I shoot. I test off a rest and I don't see a difference with cast, cast PC or jacketed. As long as the bullet is good. If I weight each cast bullet and make them more consistent they shoot better. Same with fancy nosler jacketed vs berrys. But I suck with a pistol. If you have some data showing PC don't shoot well I'd love to learn something.
Btw I don't know what the dude in the vid is doing. I wouldn't shoot anything he gave me. Please you British bubba put the dremel down
Just take it to a mill shop. they will drill it out for 5 or 10 bucks.
Mike, ah-hah!=)) - 30-40euro/h and in summary about 100euro minimum ...((
Mike Warren, for 10 Bucks they will not open the drawer and put a drill in the chuck, thats for shure.
Now your mold produce lead "balls" for a slingshot, but not for a pistol anymore.
Waste of time and money in my opinion.
How do you reckon? These were very accurate with powdercoating. You are right they cannot be lubed, but they are by no means useless. There are many grooveless designs out there.
@@Whistler84 sorry my shooters friend, but you worked with a Dremel...... ,
and now every bullet out of this mold has a different weight.
Thats not what i would call precise, i weigh all my bullets because theese differences cause problems in precision.
Not a great problem when you only 5 meters away from the target,
but at 25 meters some shoots are far away from the middle of the target.
Every single point less decides, if you win or loose a championship.
Okay, for plinking these bullets are good enough.