The Twin Groove MKII 45-70 Bullet - Who's got the Mold or Bullets?

[john boy]

Back in 2006, there was a Twin Groove MKII 45-70 Bullet mold.  Well, I had the mold and very quickly, Lee Precision 'lost' it.
Wanting to know:
* Who has the mold?
* Who has cast bullets from it?
* Who has shot the bullets
* What were your results?

... I'm interested to buy a used mold (again) ... got to be a reasonable price
... Or buy good bullets cast (1:20) from the mold ( 100 - 300)
... Or lend me the mold so I can cast the bullets

[Dick Dastardly]

There were Three Marks of the DD 45-70 500 grain bullet.  The first Two were Single cavity and the last is a Double cavity.  I have one of each in my reference cupboard.  Next time I cast bullets, probably sometime this month, I'll cast up some from each of them.  I'll package and ship these to you for your continuing study.

I  am now working with several mold makers that can make any of these designs for you.  One would make them in Iron, same as the Mark III you now have but in the earlier design(s).  The other mold maker is just getting started up and it wouldn't be before next season before he will be ready to make custom orders.  He is the same engineer machinist that is producing my new DD Tower of Power Cylinder Loading Stand that is now in production.  First order expected in November.

DD-DLoS

[john boy]

Dick - thanks kindly.  I am only interested in the the MK-II - the Lee single cavity that Pat so 'conveniently' lost on me.  It was the spitzer nose mold.  I have the Original - 400gr and the MK-III as you know.
This is the bullet:

(Notice the ridges in the nose ... is the reason I sent it back to Lee Precision for re-cut or replacement)

Truthfully, I'm not interested spending $125 -150 to prove that a bullet will or will not fly anymore. But, digging through my archives, I found this ... http://www.theopenrange.net/forum/index.php?topic=2216.msg15862#msg15862

I'll make an offer:  Lend me your mold so I can cast my own and I'll pay shipping both ways.  I'll look for your reply on Monday - have a 100-200-300yd BPCR match this Sunday.

[Dick Dastardly]

Those ridges in the nose are the reason that the Mki-II was dropped.  The design was at the absolute maximum dimension that LEE could cut from that mold block.  When I designed the Mk-III I kept the geometry of the Mk-II but changed the nose to semi-spitzer instead of full spitzer.  LEE could not reliably produce the Mk-II with their existing mold blocks and were not interested in using larger sized blocks.

I'll be finally posting some of the results I'm getting with the Mk-III tomorrow.  I have to take some photos to accompany the posting.  Today, I had a great SASS shoot at my home club at Beloit.

I'll take your offer of postage under advisement with my engineer.  We may re-introduce that mold now that I've found another source for aluminum mold blocks.  Also, this profile could be produced by Pioneer Products in Iron.

Those are some pretty good results you had posted earlier.

DD-DLoS

DD-DLoS

[Dick Dastardly]

Ho John,

I await your reply.

DD-DLoS

[john boy]

Dick - send it and I'll pay the shipping both ways for use of the mold... reimbursement for your shipping will be with the mold when I return it back.  I'll send you a PM with my shipping address