.54 ball mold

[mainiac]

Am having a .54 longrifle built.It will have a colerain barrell.

Should i buy a .530 mold,,or a .535 mold??

What are you fellers opinions here? Thanks,,,

BTW,,i prefer pillowtick or pocket drill patching,,,,

 

[Little Wattsy]

Id try a hand full of each BEFORE I commited to a mold.
I have 3 differant .54's. Two, T/C's, prefer the .535 but one, my GPR, likes the .530's better.
At the end of the day I ended up with BOTH molds. :grin:

 

[Tom Compton]

Similar to Wattsy,

Buy a box of both, weigh them and keep the heaviest -2 grains to fire for group. That'll tell you which mold you need.

Then you can melt the light ones.

 

[poordevil]

I have a .54 and with pillow tic a .530 ball is tight. I like .520 better and am about to get a Tanner .520 mold....along with a .636

 

[necchi]

I'm with Wattsy and 40flint, different barrels and different loading techniques of an individual will determine what your barrel likes.
I too have one that likes 535 and another that likes 530,,the differance in accuracy is dramatic.

 

[BrownBear]

Between my wife and I, we have four 54 cals. And they're split right down the middle. Two prefer .530 and the other two prefer .535, all with pillow ticking patches.

I second (or is it third) the advice to buy a box of each and try them before snagging a mold. You just don't know what that rifle has to say till it starts talking to you.

 

[buttonbuck]

I would agree but expect a couple of fliers from a factory box of swagged round balls. I weighed and sorted my last boxes individually when I got a new toy (scale). I found much more variation in weight than I accept from my own casting.