Is one better than the other or are they about the same?

Nah, that's easy... first you have the custom cherry made. ($$$), then you have the mold made ($$$), then you see if it works!
Then, of course, to refine the design, you have a couple more cherries made...

Lathe sure has some advantages for small production runs!

As for which is "better"?  No idea... I haven't used enough molds to render an opinion. 
I can't really see that they'd be all that different from each other as long as they're made well by either method though.
Could be wrong, of course....

Paul F.

Thanks for the info Dave, I just asked the question thinking it would be a good discussion topic, and I was curious also to what folks thought.

I've found no difference between lathe, bored, cherry cut or nose pour versus base pour (though I'm sure Ol' Harry will not agree). What will make a difference is how round it is. Even if the out side is trued by the barrel, the enter bullet groove diameter will never become true to the OD. 

The fit of the pins is very important (as in totally) when the mold is made and when it's used.

Frank

Unless you have a CNC lathe,(most custom makers do) you are somewhat limited on bullet shapes, i.e., it is very difficult to cut a curved shape on the forward half with a manual lathe. Harry Pope made some pretty nice moulds without cutting this ogive.
Chuck  

    I agree with J Louis, if the bullet is not perfectly round the throat and barrel is going to make it round.  Anything up to .001 out of round is good enough for me.   ledball

Frnkeore  just as soon as you yank on the trigger if the alloy is not to hard they will bump up and become a perfect fit.

In all honesty I would be more concerned with shooting a real sharp pointed bullet ( spitzer ) and the nose slump that is associated with it!

When the gun goes bang the nose of the bullet stays stationary for a short period of time while the base of the bullet trys to catch up with it at which time the nose of the bullet will slump in one direction or another which is not predictable and will cause more defined off shots than a bullet that is just a tad out of round.

J.Louis

Two issues here, maybe more.

Some folks have reported good accuracy with oval bullets - ok, what does 'good' mean?

Dr Mann recorded the path of the bullet that was not co-axial with the bore (tilted).  It moved down range (IFRC) in a spiral.  Orienting it helped the group size by moving the group postion from random to one place or another around the clock.

SO, are lathe-bored or cherry-cut moulds more predisposed to be seated coaxial to the bore?  (concentric means same center, coaxial means same axis, and in America we tend to use these interchangeably.)

Either could be just as perpendicular with the base - as a facing cut could be made before/after boring.

I would think that the SEATING of the bullet and the matchup of the bullet and throat would have more to do with coaxiality than how the mould was made.