There is no real reason why one should design his own bullets. There is a plethora of designs in every single caliber on earth so the only reason I did  my R.E.A.L. Cal 58 (for my Zouave 1858) is bordering on the irrational (not to mention sheer lunacy) and can be explained like this: I did it for the Hell of it!

I have one excuse though. In Australia we don't have acces to anything Black Powder or if we do it is at the other end of the continent, it costs a fortune to buy and another small fortune to ship... And the choice is awfully limited.

So I made a few tools on the lathe and the milling machine (I don't have two machines but a "combo" that does pretty well for small jobs...)

In fact I needed to make my own because I have some unusual calibers such as 12.4 mm and 22 mm. I also spare a thought for my "spiritual forefathers" from the Appalachians who had to rely on themselve as truly independant free men. 

One tool for the REAL self cleaning Cal 58

One for  the Round Ball same caliber

One for a RB 12mm smoothie

One for a RB 22mm cannon ball 

 

I dug the molds in Soap Stone and so far so good! 

Other types of molds can also be made quickly on the lathe from a 35 mm round stock of  aluminium cut in half (lengthwise) then put back in the spindle and drilled to just under the desired caliber. Then a special boring tool shaped according to the desired shape of the bullet (round nose, wad cutter etc...) can be made and  introduced in the hole and then back-cutting which will enlarge le cavity to the exact desired caliber while producing at the same time the 2 or 3 "lands" (the grooves on the cast bullet). The only difficulty here is not to over do it and pass the size, ending up with an oversized cavity! Careful mesurements must be made and keep a good eye on the micrometer.