Among the very best of custom bullet mold manufacturers, Robert Applegate of Yoncalla, Oregon, makes perhaps the finest available at any price. Applegate molds are cut in yellow brass, featuring hardened tool steel alignment pins and tool steel alignment seats. This arrangement virtually eliminates wear in the alignment pins and sockets commonly associated with conventional designed bullet molds. The mold blocks are meticulously fitted, incorporating a multitude of vent lines both in the faces of the blocks as well as the tops of the blocks, thus virtually eliminating air voids in bullets, and insuring complete bullet fill-out even when alloy temperatures are not high.
However, most important in a bullet mold, are the cavities themselves that are cut into the mold blocks. A bullet is no better than the dimensions of those cavities! Applegate molds are meticulously cherry-cut, and are exceptionally uniform in dimensional tolerances. All of the cherries that Applegate employs, he custom grinds, and is meticulous in his pursuit of dimensional perfection and concentricity in those precision reamers. Each mold us cut to within a couple of thousandths of an inch of finished dimension, then the mold blocks are stress-relieved through a heat treatment process, then once stress-relieved, they are hand-cut to their final dimensions. The result is mold cavities that are within 0.0002” of being totally concentric and bullets that vary less than one twentieth of a grain in weight between cavities.
Applegate brass molds are robust, large brass blocks, fitted to use RCBS mold handles, and cast like a dream! Bullets fall from the mold upon opening, once the mold is up to temperature, and uniformity of bullets batch after batch is unsurpassed with these mold blocks.
These bullet molds are a work of art, in design, appearance, dimensional uniformity, and functionality. As with most things in life that are good, or great, they are also worth waiting for as well. Don’t expect an Applegate mold to be sitting on a shelf waiting for shipment! Mr. Applegate generally has a nine-month or greater backlog of work and while he is perfectly willing to make a cherry for a bullet design he doesn’t currently have on hand, his workload often precludes such tasks. So, if you’re into casting your own, and desire the very best in cherry-cut custom molds, get in line, and make your order!
Contact Information:
Robert Applegate
PO Box 58
Yoncalla, Oregon 97499
541-849-2458
robertlapplegate@yahoo.com
As of this time Applegate Molds has no website.
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