Bullet molds

This bullet mold came with the cased 1851 Colt Navy I just bought. I've read that these molds are mostly for display and don't make good quality bullets or balls.
Is that true? I believe I'll just buy some balls like I do all my other black powder guns.

I tried a mold like this once. I think they're called bag molds since they don't take up much room in the hunting bag. The one I used cast pretty good balls but the short handles got too hot to handle in a hurry. I like my Lyman and Lees a lot better.

I can see no reason not to try it and see how she works. Using the mould properly will not hurt it. The original Colt moulds with the swinging sprue cutter were very well received in their day, and I read somewhere years ago that a lot of old rifles were bored, reamed, and rifled to calibers that would use balls cast from them.

It will only cost you a little time to pour a half-dozen or so balls and bullets. Then measure them for size and roundness. See if you get "fins" on the castings from the faces of the mould not mating properly, and check if the sprue cutter makes a clean shear. If it casts good projectiles, you're all set. If not, just throw the balls back in the pot to use with one of your good moulds.

ADDENDUM: I just saw @The Crisco Kid 's post. He is correct, and I apologize for my oversight. The handles on these moulds do indeed get hot. My dad had some originals when I was growing up, and we would improvise handles by reaming the pith out of corncobs and jamming them on the mould handles. This worked well enough for us, but we were not very sophisticated. You can also wrap the handles with dry leather for casting. Wet leather conducts heat very well...

Notchy Bob

I have that very mold and it casts balls just as accurate as my Lee molds. The handles do get a little warm to hot depending on how many castings. I just use one of my welding gloves on my hand that holds the handles, problem solved.

If a mold is in my possession, I cast with it to see how it does. I’ll bet it makes fine projectiles.

My experience with the reproduction brass molds has not been good. I have heavy welders' gloves and they still get too hot to hold. Both the round balls and the conicals were out of round and not suitable for shooting.

I have cast bullets with an original Colt mold for my .28 caliber Root revolver. Those are perfectly round and good for shooting, but I only use them for display. I haven't experimented with my original Colt molds in .36 or .44. But now I'm curious and I just may try some soon.

kh54 said:

My experience with the reproduction brass molds has not been good. I have heavy welders' gloves and they still get too hot to hold. Both the round balls and the conicals were out of round and not suitable for shooting.

I have cast bullets with an original Colt mold for my .28 caliber Root revolver. Those are perfectly round and good for shooting, but I only use them for display. I haven't experimented with my original Colt molds in .36 or .44. But now I'm curious and I just may try some soon.

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Did you ever test your .36 & .44 Colt molds?

Are they steel or brass?
- I bet the brass deform more due to heat expansion.

Jeff Coates said:

Did you ever test your .36 & .44 Colt molds?

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I haven’t but your question gave me a bit of incentive to try them out. I’ll be heating up the lead pot tonight to experiment and I’ll let you know.

I’ve attached a pic of my original molds. (Apologies for the quality - iPhone camera.) All but the one on the far right are “Colts Patent” marked. The oddball isn't marked at all. From left to right:

1. .28 brass for Root pocket model
2. .31 brass for early 1848 or 1849 pocket models
3. .36 steel for Navy models
4. .36 brass for Navy models
5. .36 steel marked “36 P” for pocket Navy or pocket Police models
6. .36 brass

I thought I had a .44 original but those I have are all reproductions. Any way Jeff, thanks for your interest. Have you tried casting with any molds of this type?

Can't testify about the originals but those short handled brass molds made mostly in Italy with a round and conical IMO are nothing but impulse buying for new shooters of cap and balls thinking they will suffice. The manufacturers and sellers I believe count on that. I bought one back in '72 when I bought my first capper, a Euroarms 44 caliber 1851 Navy frame model. A shooting friend and I who bought an identical revolver at the time found out how hot those handles can get trying to cast up around 100 balls one afternoon. I made some handles out of oak that worked ok, but at one ball at a time the mold was retired for a Lyman double cavity. Continued casting with the old brass mold eventually warped it and it was tossed into a box with various pieces of brass. Used one of the brass handles once for a knife hilt. Back in the day from what is written, shooters didn't go out and shoot as we do today so maybe since they didn't need the quantity we think we need today they didn't have to cast as many in a session and the molds back then lasted longer, probably were better quality also. Probably casted till they got hot and called it a day.