Bullet mold for plug belly weights.

[Mr. Sandman]

I cooked up a couple tail weight molds that seem to work but I was wondering if there is a bullet mold that I could use to pour my own belly weights. Do you guys know of anything specifically?

[Mr. Krinkle]

Don't know of anything specific for bullet molds. You could make your own if you want.

Why don't you just pour the lead into the hole?

[Mr. Sandman]

Originally Posted by Mr. Krinkle

Don't know of anything specific for bullet molds. You could make your own if you want.

Why don't you just pour the lead into the hole?

My work is pretty nontraditional...I need the slug. I know I could make one but I was hoping to get a nice professional slug mold that lets me do a bunch at a time.

[go4broke44]

Maybe try one of those tile bits that is shaped like a spade on the end to round out the bottom of a pour mold hole?

[Pete F.]

If a wooden mold will work you can just customize a junk spade bit, you'll need to use it in a drill press. Maple molds will handle quite a few pours.

[ProfessorM]

I prefer to just buy lead shot in ball's. If you want to make your own molds just buy a blank do it mold and drill it yourself. Real easy, especially for belly weights as no thru hole is needed.

[smac]

Jim,
I made a belly/tail weight mold from a blank dot-it mold. You are more them welcome to borrow.

I have 3 slots for a 5/16x1" , and 1/4x 1" tail weights . and 3/8"x 3/8" and a 5/16" for belly weights. They work decent. You might have to reem out some of the holes in the end of the weights.

Scott

p.s. The email you gave me didnt work.

[Mr. Sandman]

Originally Posted by smac

Jim,
I made a belly/tail weight mold from a blank dot-it mold. You are more them welcome to borrow.

I have 3 slots for a 5/16x1" , and 1/4x 1" tail weights . and 3/8"x 3/8" and a 5/16" for belly weights. They work decent. You might have to reem out some of the holes in the end of the weights.

Scott

p.s. The email you gave me didnt work.

Scott,
js_fraser@comcast.net There is an underscore (_) between s and f.


I got lucky a couple years ago when I happen to see a listing in the local classifieds "bargain bin" (I never look thru them but for some reason I did that day) for some tin and mold stuff for sale. I called the guy up and told him I would take it he was asking 50 bucks or so. He had some old cast iron tin squid molds a bunch of machined molds a box of tin and several tail weight molds that were pretty nice along with a box of misc stuff. The tin alone was worth the deal ($7/lb back then, I think it is like $14 now). I asked him where he got it and he said from electrical work scrap. Anyway I have been using the tail weight and slug weights for a while now but I like the nice clean look of the bullet heads I get from M&D's. They are cheap enough but I like doing everything myself and I have the lead. I guess I could cut the lead cylinders into bite size slugs and use them, but I like the accuracy of the bullets.

[Guyver]

You could use a ball end mill to either drill a new hole in your mold if there's enough space or you could run it down an existing hole to make the bottom round. Any machinist should have what you need and could modify the mold for you. (if we're talking about aluminum molds) You can pick up an non-USA made for around $6 if you wanted to modify it yourself.

Sorry for the big pic, only one I could find that clearly shows what I'm talking about.

[Mr. Sandman]

That would work!

I will look into that. Thanks!

[ProfessorM]

so you want a radius on the bottom of your belly wgt.? Why? do you drill your belly wgt holes with a radius tool. Just curious.

[Mr. Sandman]

I don't really drill many belly weights, I do make some wood plugs but mostly I make hard plastic plugs these days. On the plugs that have lead in them it is embedded before I pour. Example of recent stuff shown below.

[VTBasser]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

...Maple molds will handle quite a few pours.

I found red oak from homies also holds up well.

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

I don't really drill many belly weights, I do make some wood plugs but mostly I make hard plastic plugs these days. On the plugs that have lead in them it is embedded before I pour. Example of recent stuff show below.

Damn! Thats cool. Deserving of its own thread too. Post some more when you got 'em.

[Mr. Sandman]

I have not tried a wood mold for lead but it doesn't burn or smoke like hell?

[ProfessorM]

apple is the wood you want but why not get a blank do it mold, cheap and easy to drill, probably cast aluminum which equals soft. IMO why bother with wood when you can use the right material. r

[Mr. Sandman]

That is the plan professor...

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by ProfessorM

apple is the wood you want but why not get a blank do it mold, cheap and easy to drill, probably cast aluminum which equals soft. IMO why bother with wood when you can use the right material. r

The only investment I have in the wooden molds I have made is a little time, maybe ten minutes. Cut some 1x3 scrap to length, clamp it together, drill 10 holes, if it is for tailweights drill ten small holes in the big holes, done.
Maple will last probably 10 pours and since I get the wood for zippo?

[ProfessorM]

Pete I am in no way putting down your method. It is a good technique for sure I was just letting Jim and anyone else interested know that for a small investment you can get something that will last a lifetime and only have to do it once. Just another option. I give you props for getting the job done. I have done it that way too. Necessity is the mother on invention and the end result is all that matters in the long run. Paul

[Nebe]

Sandman.. Check out the graphite store on ebay- you can easily drill out some holes in the graphite to use for belly weight mold- They sell blocks and plates- Now that i think about it, buy two plates and mount a hinge so you can have a fancy 2 part mold.. It will last longer than your great grand kids as long as you dont drop it

[pbadad]

Pete F what do you mean drill small hole into big hole for tailweight? Picture!!

[numbskull]

I used to use maple, worked well, but a blank mold drilled out has the advantage of letting you pour and dump repeatedly and you can make more weights faster without the hassle of trying to get them out of a one piece wood mold, or the burning and leakage that occurs with a two piece wood mold. Blank molds are not cheap, however, about $35. Space is limited in them as well, so you'll end up buying 2 or 3 if you make a lot of different sized weights.

For tail weights, I've had good luck buying a drop shot mold and re-drilling it for a pull wire (as well as a wider mouth on one end to allow a faster pour and to enlarge the hole to the diameter weight I want. You can trim the weights to size with snips.

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by pbadad

Pete F what do you mean drill small hole into big hole for tailweight? Picture!!

the small hole is in the cinter of the big hole so you can stick a 12d finish nail in for a thru hole
I don't have as much money as you guys, or I am a cheap bastage. I am just wasting time building plugs anyways, if the economy does'nt come around saltwater will become a dream.

[ProfessorM]

machinist = not much money .I am cheap too as I didn't buy a blank mold either I made the whole thing out of free alum. I got from work. Cost me nutin too. Nothing wrong with being cheap, no matter what my wife and daughter say

[Mr. Sandman]

No one wants to spend money they don't have to. This is what I have been using. I have a couple of these with slightly different diameter OD's.

It is not elegant but it works and it has lasted a long time.

[Mr. Sandman]

As for slugs, I have been pouring them out of this mold using clamps. Very simple. I can just cut off piece for a belly weight but I would like to have a cleaner way to pour them.

[ProfessorM]

that looks fine. Just throw a hinge and some handles and your good to go. You could flip the jig over and do a few shallower holes for belly wgts. too.

[Mr. Sandman]

That's a good thought. Use the rear side of this mold for shallow bullet pouring. I'm on it. I have been meaning to put a hinge/handles on this one for a while but it is low on the list and I never get to it. (The crud in the mold you see is old foam, I recently tried it to produce some syntatic foam cores that I inserted into some of the molds I have for hard plastic plugs)

[falkners]

Sorry but I just ran across this post. Here's one I made out of aluminum that enables you to get the exact length you need without cutting. Weights are consistent. This is a tailweight mold. The slugs are actually from a similar bellyweight mold without the core rods so you get the idea. Capping the cavities with a relatively small feed hole results in a very small sprue that is easily trimmed with a pair of nippers. I pour with a small bottom pour furnace. I prefer to press my slugs into my plugs and file off the excess which is minimal. That way I don't have to mess with wood fillers. I get a consistent weight on each batch of plugs this way. You could probably use a blank Do-it mold and cap it like I did with my homemade.

[Mr. Sandman]

Nice work on that mold...