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I just saw this topic and it's quite interesting.
Production metal lures are not as easy as you think they would be to duplicate.
Here's an example. You take your favorite lure to your local spin casting shop. What spin casting? That’s another topic. A rubber mold is made from your sample that you bring in. Now you have a master copy and a master mold. From there the guy makes 20 pieces. You now have 20 copies of the original. He then makes another mold, a production mold. Now you have your mold and your ready to place an order for a few thousand pieces. He does a run of 500 and you realize that they are not "just like" the original, they are a little small and .5oz lighter.
Shrinkage! You didn’t think about the shrinkage problem, and in fact you didn’t even know they would shrink. Now what? Hmm... You have them dipped in chrome to build them up so account for the shrinkage. Great, but you have to dip them in chrome so many times you loose all the detail in the metal. Now what....your stuck, plain and simple.
Unless you have the original master mold, which wears out over time and are usually unuseable when you do come across them, you have to settle for a smaller size lure. Or pay a mold maker to make you an over sized lure to account for the shrinkage. Good mold makers are not cheap.
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