Just another mould..or two.

[Distant Thunder]

Somewhere in a box or file I have drawings for both of those bullets, but it would be a while before I have things moved to my new place and begin to sort through it all.

The #4 is really just a modification of Brent Danielson’s prolate design. It is simply capped at the tip with a 1/3 caliber radius. The design of #4 was my first attempt to get more weight in a bullet short enough to stabilize in my 18-twist .45-90.

The #1 was Brent’s prolate which was too long for an 18-twist. The #2 was the same basic form but shortened proportionally overall for the 18-twist and those only weighed 505 grains. We both felt that was too light for Creedmoor.

#3 was the same as #4 but was cut in a set of Lyman blocks and those were too small and over heated quickly. The #4 I cut in a set of RCBS blocks and those worked much better but tended to whisker and still do. That one reason I keep looking for a bullet to replace my #4. It also fins at the base if I’m not careful. It is a very temperamental mold and that’s the only reason I even look at other molds.

The #6 just has a shorter major axis to make a shorter ogive. I’m sure it was supposed to have a nose radius but I di not know then how to program that on my then new software to get it to come out like I drew it up.

Not that it matters but #7 & #8 were just pointier ellipticals that I abandoned after fooling with them for a little while and they clearly didn’t hold up in the wind as well as #4 or #6.

Losing the capability of cutting my own molds when I retired was hard and has hampered my experimentation with designs and ideas. Now I buy my molds like everyone else but that has limits and I don’t have as much control over the final product.

The CNC allowed me to make changes quickly and easily because it wasn’t tied to any specific cutters, the tools I used just followed my programmed lines.

Nothing lasts forever!