Homemade version of Ideal Cylindrical Adjustable Mould

[Snidely70431]

I recently found a picture of an old Ideal mould in The Paper Jacket by Paul Matthews.


Matthews also included a picture of his version:

 

[Snidely70431]

My version is a bit different than the Ideal Mould. I bored a hole in a 3' x 11/8 and reamed it to about.454". At the bottom I threaded for a 1/2 x 20 thp x 3/4" bolt, bored a bit over 1/4".





The weight of the projectile is determined by the length of a sleeve. The longer the sleeve, the lighter the projectile.

In the pictures, the longest projectile was cast without a sleeve, and weighs a bit less than 700 grains. The next longest projectile was cast with a sleeve .389" long and weighs about 500 grains. The second shortest projectile was cast with a sleeve 1.000" long and weighs about 240 grains. The shortest projectile was cast with a sleeve 1.050" long and weighs about 204 grains.



This picture shows the internals for producing a 240 grain projectile all assembled outside the mould.

Unfortunately, the Ideal Cylindrical Adjustable Mould is no longer manufactured, but I am sure any competent machinist could make one. I find it especially useful for making projectiles to use with sabots in a .50, though I understand the originals were made to be used with paper patching.

 

[Snidely70431]

Picture of an original. It sold for $145.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

Paper patching. There's a sub-forum over on CastBoolits site, just for that bit of lunacy.

I've always been fascinated by the concept, but have never been tempted to try. Perhaps if I owned one if the older BP cartridge rifles.....

 

[Snidely70431]

Paper patching. There's a sub-forum over on CastBoolits site, just for that bit of lunacy.

I've always been fascinated by the concept, but have never been tempted to try. Perhaps if I owned one if the older BP cartridge rifles.....

If you think you might have any interest in paper patching, I would suggest you buy a copy of "The Paper Jacket" by Paul Matthews, if you can find one. He gives chapter and verse. As for being appropriate for older BP rifles, he says they are useful for any firearm where the velocities are less than about 2200 fps. I tried to find one on Ebay just now with no result, and Midway and Track of the Wolf both have them on back order.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

Thanks Snidely, I will watch for a copy. One never knows what the future holds.

 

[PapaG]

I made one for my .58 musket. Small hollow base to tuck the paper tail in, not adjustable, however. Made a false muzzle, starter, the whole shebang. Miserable failure. My gun hated all elongated bullets. Patched round balls enabled me to set, for a brief period, a national record.

 

[Snidely70431]

This is my latest iteration of the Ideal Cylindrical Adjustable Mould. I still have not found a picture of the internals, but I think this version is closer to the original.





The bolt is a 3/8 - 16 x 2.5". It is threaded into the 1/2 - 20 x 3/4" to position the bullet point. The farther the bolt is screwed in, the shorter and lighter the bullet.

 

[Snidely70431]

I made one for my .58 musket. Small hollow base to tuck the paper tail in, not adjustable, however. Made a false muzzle, starter, the whole shebang. Miserable failure. My gun hated all elongated bullets. Patched round balls enabled me to set, for a brief period, a national record.

A projectile a particular firearm likes has to do with the rifling twist. A heavy bullet generally needs a faster twist.

 

[Snidely70431]

This is the latest version of my take on the Ideal Cylindrical Adjustable Mould. It makes projectiles about .492", and in weights to over 700 grains.

The body of the mould is a 1 1/8" aluminum round rod about 3 1/2" long. The projectile front mould is a piece of 1/2" aluminum round rod about an inch long. I used a 1/2" ball end mill to shape the front of the projectile and the back I threaded for a length of 8-32 NC threaded rod. The front mould is positioned within the cylinder with a 3/8-16 bolt drilled to allow the threaded rod to move

 

[Snidely70431]

https://www.modernmuzzleloader.com/...-of-ideal-cylindrical-adjustable-mould.34406/ - Latest version





The biggest difference is that I have settled on using a saw blade for the sprue. I describe it in the linked article. The Vise-Grip is used for a handle when pouring.

 

[Snidely70431]

The lock nut serves to keep the weight of the projectiles pretty much constant.

 

[Snidely70431]

This is my latest version of a homemade ICAM, this one for making .30 caliber projectiles. The barrel is a 4" length of 1/4" stainless steel schedule 80 pipe. The nominal inside diameter is.302", but the projectiles come out about .305". With different reamers projectiles of just about any diameter up to .45 can be made using stainless steel 1/4" pipe ( the nominal ID of schedule 40 is.364" )

Without the positioning lengths (pieces of 1/4" OD tubing) the ICAM throws projectiles of about 350 grains. With the positioning lengths installed I get projectiles from 174 to 178 grains.

The top piece is a piece of 1 1/8" aluminum round rod threaded to fit the pipe. The sprue cutter is a reciprocating saw blade.