Custom Mold for an old 1894

I have never had a "custom" mold made, but I think Accurate Molds will do so - of the ones that I bought from there, were pretty much "bang on" for dimension when I used the wheel weight alloy that they had spec'd. No clue what they charge / cost these days. Lee Precision used to make custom stuff - but I do not know if they did custom molds or just on their various dies, etc.

If you are very set on that particular bullet dimension, you will likely want to source that particular size of sizing die as well - possibly NOE, or Lee or where-ever.

It might also be cost effective to get a more common off-the-shelf slightly smaller mold and powder coat to increase diameter, or a slightly larger one and size down to what you want - either way, I think that you will need a bullet sizer? The NOE or the Lee "push through" type seem to be very cost effective if you do not already have a lube-sizer machine?
 
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Accurate moulds has what you want. Just under $200 for a double cavity aluminum mould to your door. Has multiple moulds to choose from and if they don’t suit you he will make what you want. Brass and steel moulds are available and multiple cavity. Quality is excellent. I will be ordering from him again.
 
Accurate Molds can make the mold. The problem you may run into is the reloading dies. The only 38-55 dies that will work with a .381" bullet is RCBS Cowboy dies. I don't know if they would work with a .383" bullet.
 
I have a set of Lyman dies. Only problem I had was the expander was made for 0.375 bullets so too small. I ended up making a larger expander on my lathe. I was damaging bullet bases with the small expander. The RCBS is supposed to be bigger, I believe 0.378 if I remember correctly. I like my case mouths expanded 2 thou under bullet diameter
 
Snider shooter said:
I have a set of Lyman dies. Only problem I had was the expander was made for 0.375 bullets so too small. I ended up making a larger expander on my lathe. I was damaging bullet bases with the small expander. The RCBS is supposed to be bigger, I believe 0.378 if I remember correctly. I like my case mouths expanded 2 thou under bullet diameter
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The expander die in the rcbs cowboy is .379". That isn't necessarily a problem for .383" bullets, it worked fine with .381" bullets i loaded. But I don't know that a .383" bullet will fit in the seating die.
 
jethunter said:
The expander die in the rcbs cowboy is .379". That isn't necessarily a problem for .383" bullets, it worked fine with .381" bullets i loaded. But I don't know that a .383" bullet will fit in the seating die.
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I'm not familiar with the particular dies in question but is it possible to open the seating die to fit the larger bullet? I'm assuming it is a roll crimp seater? As for expanders I've had great luck buying larger expanders for my Lee dies and polishing them to desired size (a lathe would be optimal but I don't have access to one). Another option is NOE expander mandrels if they have one in an appropriate size. I have a few and like them.
 
jamesharrison said:
I've bought over a dozen moulds from Tom at Accurate. All were/are excellent.

The problem you may have is that the bullet you want, seated in your cases, may not chamber, without having the throat re-cut.

You may want to check that.
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This a problem I ran into with my 43 Mauser. I tried neck thinning but cases only lasted two firings so stayed with a smaller bullet.
 
supernova said:
I'm not familiar with the particular dies in question but is it possible to open the seating die to fit the larger bullet? I'm assuming it is a roll crimp seater? As for expanders I've had great luck buying larger expanders for my Lee dies and polishing them to desired size (a lathe would be optimal but I don't have access to one). Another option is NOE expander mandrels if they have one in an appropriate size. I have a few and like them.
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Opening up the seating die would not be easy.
 
If you can provide a blueprint of the bullet I can probably make ya one for around 100$. I made a mold last fall for lead weights - CNC machined of course.
 
Thanks to all who commented. Lots of great info and much appreciated. Yep, i reslugged the bore on the old 1894 and it's groove diameter is a whopping 0.381". I now have leads on sourcing a mold, and great technical information on other factors to consider like expander die size, bullet seating die size and possible chambering issues with such an over spec bullet. Nothing is simple in this scenario.
 
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