A bonnie, a beauty, and a joy forever...

Ian

Notorious member
That's right, just another custom masterpiece from Tom's Miracle Machine Worx, "You dream 'em, I ream 'em", AKA Accurate Molds, LLC.

Iron this time, probably all I'll buy from now on unless I need more than three cavities or are just experimenting and want the least expensive option. I could literally open the blocks and drop both bullets to stand on their noses. Cast 3/4 of a Lee 20-lb pot full and never once had to even shake the blocks to get the bullets to fall out from first warm-up pour to the last.

The mould is a 45-297G, spec'd .452" with STRAIGHT clip-on wheel weight alloy. It casts bullets that measure .4521" and weigh 298 grains with my straight WW alloy @710°F. How's THAT for getting it right?

Thank you, Tom.

AM45297G.jpg
 

Cherokee

Medina, Ohio
Yea...you got everything right for the specifications and Tom does a great job. Now you need to get out there and make those things shoot.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
just looking at them they'll shoot.
they are waay too balanced not to, unless you got a jacked up 1-30 twist rate or sumthin.
and if you do 2 wraps of 25% cotton bond will make them perfect In the 45-70.
 

quicksylver

Well-Known Member
Yup... Tom's molds are a joy...FYI...not only do .45 cal bullets balance on their noses when drop...so do .30 cal..
I was casting some 31-167N's yesterday and they dropped and balanced on their nose as well...AND THOSE ARE A lOUVERN STYLE BULLET.. WOW !!

BTW..my mold is a "two for"..one cavity is the 31-167N the other it's big brother the 31-179N...both drop like rain ..and both are tack drivers..literally

Enjoy!...Dan
 

Will

Well-Known Member
Mold looks great Ian. Tom does great work.

I highly debated going with a iron mold. I only have 2 iron molds but have noticed the bullets seem to jump out of them. Also I don't seem to have any trouble keeping the mold hot when running 2 at the same time.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Time permitted this afternoon to try these out in a couple of different carbines, using good ol' Bullseye this time for propulsion. Some bullets were powder coated, lubed and sized .454" and the rest were as-cast, lubed in a .454" die and loaded. The only difference the PC made was 20 fps more velocity and a tighter SD (5.0 for 30 shots) vs. 8.7 for 20 out of the plain lubed ones.

My Henry turned in several 3" groups at 50 yards with the uncoated ones and the one group I shot at 75 was a semi-respectable 4.5".

The NEF, suppressed, was up to its usual shenanigans of throwing the first shot way low-left, the next high-right by the same amount, and then put as many into 3/4" as you feel like shooting. Did this with PC/lube and lube only, no difference, and repeats the exact pattern every time from a cool start. The NEF didn't want to shoot at 75, though, scattering 6-8" patterns all around the bull. This little rifle must have some sort of bedding/locking/forearm issue that needs to be addressed, for it would be nearly a tack driver at 50 if I could get the first two shots to settle down.

I'm going to cast another batch, this time with about 2% tin added, and get them just a little fatter for shooting without coating and see how that goes.
 

Will

Well-Known Member
Ian I'm anxious for you to get that Henry shooting. I'm planning on getting one but want to make sure you are able to get good accuracy before taking the plunge.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
the nef is a single shot?
you need to check the trunnion area.
if it's able to be taken down, something as simple as the grease you lube the trunnions area with can do that.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Yep single shot. I think it's bearing unevenly on the pin. The locking bolt has even wear, but the pin has more shiny on one side than the other. I use Mobil Centaur synthetic #3 organic moly/graph stuff. The Henry shoots, I just can't see the peeps well enough to shoot better than about 6 MOA right now. I just put a Leupold 2-7 on the NEF.
 

Stonecrusher

Active Member
That is a beauty! I love the way iron casts. I have just sent Tom an order for a new mold for my Victory, alas it will be brass. One day I will have to try one of his iron molds. The price difference is pretty good and the brass works almost as well.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Back out with both rifles again today. This time I was working with a 50/50 clip/stick weight mix +1% tin, cast last weekend. MUCH better, groups holding together at 75 yards now. Nothing to write home about, but 3-4" from both rifles after cleaning and lubing the NEF's trunnion and bolt. Almost good enough for deer, I just wish I could figure out the flyer problem in the NEF because if would be grouping in an inch easily if I did. Always throws one or two out of five from the core group, which is usually a ragged hole.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I know this is getting a touch anal.
but it is a single shot and it does H/S on the rim.
a trick from waay back I learned from 22 shooters is to measure rim thickness.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I need to double-check the extractor, too, make sure it isn't putting pressure one the rim when the action is closed. I noticed a smiley-face of lead buildup right in front of the case mouth on the bottom side (there's no step in the transition from chamber to throat), so I know the bullets are not going in the bore straight be it from gravity or from ejector pressure on the rim. If I clean all that up and go back to powder coating it might improve things considerably. One thing I'm not seeing now with this new bullet is varying POI downrange: It's dropping like a rock, but not corkscrew-looping the whole group downrange like it used to with the 250-260-grain bullets. It was weird having to aim left and then right and then left again within just a few yards at any given distance.