Bag Molds, Pro's/ Con's

[Crewdawg445]

Talked to Mr. Callahan last night for awhile, very informative individual. I'll be purchasing my molds from him and his copper bag ladle.

 

[Brokennock]

Thanks Zonie, that is basicly what I was looking for. Took several reads to follow along but the end result is what I figured.

As far as precast balls being more "practical," well, duh. To a point. If out for a day to a week round ball all the way. (Seems I stated this in my inial post) but several weeks/months, using pack animals or boats,, short of the ability to carry barrels of balls, a mess of balls with means to make more seems like a good idea.

 

[Pete G]

Pro: They are really really cool.
Con: They get really really hot.

 

[Billnpatti]

Bag molds are historically correct..... if you need or just want such. The down side, and I think it is a big one from a practical standpoint, is that they get very hot very quickly :cursing: and, unless you have some welding gloves or have some way of attaching wooden handles, you will be able to cast only a very few balls before the handles get too hot to hold. If you need or want to be H.C. then go with the bag mold but if you just want to be able to cast your own balls at home, go with a Lee mold.

 

[jbwilliams3]

I have two Larry Callahan molds. I cut the fingers off of some old leather gloves and cover the handles with those (corn cobs work great as well). I recognize the advantage of the Lee molds, but it doesn't make much of a difference to me and I use them for historical interpretation as well as all my casting for shooting. I'll make 100 rounds balls in the afternoon and when the balls cool my little boy likes to cut the sprues off. It's fun for him for some reason and he feels like he's helping. Win win. I don't get to shoot enough to care about super efficiency.

 

[robinsroost]

I have a visual of the movie "The Patriot" in mind where he melts a toy soldier in a ladle, with a lip, and casts a ball using a bag mold. I wonder what more you could want. I do not have a bag mold, but I have such a ladle, (mine is a little larger), that is very useful. I like the idea of using corn cobs for handles........robin :wink:

 

[Crewdawg445]

It's rather simple to alleviate the heat issues with the handles, not a single issue there, nor does it concern me. Again, not mass producing round balls here so all will be well! For the purpose of sitting around a fire and casting a few round balls it'll be great!

 

[Crewdawg445]

I have a visual of the movie "The Patriot" in mind where he melts a toy soldier in a ladle, with a lip, and casts a ball using a bag mold. I wonder what more you could want. I do not have a bag mold, but I have such a ladle, (mine is a little larger), that is very useful. I like the idea of using corn cobs for handles........robin :wink:

Funny you mention this, for some reason I always have this image in mind as well!

 

[tenngun]

Did a demo in October, had lead bars, iron ladle and bag mold. One chop on a bar with belt ax would give enough lead for about three ball. Chop bar, in to three or four pieces, melt a piece run ball add hunk of lead. It's small and melts in a few min. Repeat. The old boys often wrote of having full powder horns but few ball.
Surviving guns from the era range in caliber over some odd sizes. .43 ,.48,.53,.57 they had to make thier own in the field. A bundle of bars is s lot easier to pack then a bag of balls. A half hour every two or three days running ball in camp wouldn't be a big strain

 

[eggwelder]

soapstone .32 cal. ish. two different pieces obviously, buy can cast about 25-30 before it gets too hot to hold with a welding glove. works very well, although one side slightly out of round. makes very little difference to the squirrel at 35 yards

 

[Crewdawg445]

Very nice sir, I can see a future project on the horizon...

 

[coloradoclyde]

Nice.....how did you cherry it?

 

[eggwelder]

i used a worn out dremel ball bit that fit almost loosely into the barrel of the .32. then i cast a few balls to see how they fit. little bit of touchup grinding and i had a double mold that makes satisfactory balls. i hold it with a welders glove and cast away.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Might be going a bit off topic here. Hope not. But, this talk about moulds got me to wondering how rb moulds were made back in the day. e.g. It is well known the old forged iron barrels needed to be 'freshed' periodically. So, how did the barrel maker make moulds to fit. e.g. a .45 cal. barrel is freshed to .47 cal. How did he make the new mould?

 

[Stumpkiller]

He fashioned a cherry/bit. He tempered it to suitable hardness and then he used that to cut the mold from soft iron or soft steel.

Then he oiled and put the cherry away until the next job that needed that size.

I imagine they made quite a few of their tools as required. There was a very good series called "The Old Gunsmith" as I recall that went through the process of building a rifle as it would have been in the late 1700's. Muzzleloader Mag, Ibelieve.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Here's one example, though I believe it to be a later version.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/imgPart/aan-604_1.jpg

 

[Crewdawg445]

He fashioned a cherry/bit. He tempered it to suitable hardness and then he used that to cut the mold from soft iron or soft steel.

Then he oiled and put the cherry away until the next job that needed that size.

I imagine they made quite a few of their tools as required. There was a very good series called "The Old Gunsmith" as I recall that went through the process of building a rifle as it would have been in the late 1700's. Muzzleloader Mag, Ibelieve.

This is absolutely downright interesting... Certainly need to find that literature!

 

[Rifleman1776]

He fashioned a cherry/bit. He tempered it to suitable hardness and then he used that to cut the mold from soft iron or soft steel.

Then he oiled and put the cherry away until the next job that needed that size.

I imagine they made quite a few of their tools as required. There was a very good series called "The Old Gunsmith" as I recall that went through the process of building a rifle as it would have been in the late 1700's. Muzzleloader Mag, Ibelieve.

Interesting. I guess I short shrifted the old timers on their inventivness.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I always figured a blacksmith could make one by forging a mold blank then drilling each half of the mold to almost the proper size and depth.
Then he could heat the mold head and insert a cold hardened steel ball of the appropriate size and hammer it closed conforming the drilled holes to the size of the ball.
A pin inserted into the ball same size as the our spout would facilitate removal of the ball when finished.

Someday I hope to try it and see if it works..

 

[Stumpkiller]

I don't think you can get the pressures with an arm-swung hammer to close the iron tight around the cherry. I may be wrong. If you heat it up to where it gets soft enough you've welded the cherry in.