Bag molds

[Crow#21957]

Do bag molds work well enough to mot adversely affect accuracy?
66 yrs old and just now getting on mind set of starting to mold my own rb,s Late bloomer.lol

 

[Coolhand]

I have some Callahan bag molds and they drop perfect round ball. They all measure to what the molds are stamped.

 

[Crow#21957]

Thanks

 

[nchawkeye]

Cast with my Rapine bag mould, haven't bought store bought in decades...

 

[rich pierce]

Cutting the sprue by hand is the only drawback. I wouldn’t choose a bag mold for shooting a bench or chunk gun. But for hunting and offhand shooting, yes. In my .58, my Callahan .570 mold does very well.

 

[tenngun]

Only draw back is time. From a Lee or Lyman I have no trouble running a hundred ball in an hour. And reject about twenty five.
My Callahans have a lower rejection rate but you can only run about five ball till it’s too hot to hold. Takes several hours to run a hundred ball.
That’s not a problem for me as running ball, or cleaning or any little chore that goes along is all part of the fun. When I cast I set aside a whole afternoon, just like I would going to the range
But if your in a hurry a bag mold won’t get you a pile of ball real quick

 

[rich pierce]

Only draw back is time. From a Lee or Lyman I have no trouble running a hundred ball in an hour. And reject about twenty five.
My Callahans have a lower rejection rate but you can only run about five ball till it’s too hot to hold. Takes several hours to run a hundred ball.
That’s not a problem for me as running ball, or cleaning or any little chore that goes along is all part of the fun. When I cast I set aside a whole afternoon, just like I would going to the range
But if your in a hurry a bag mold won’t get you a pile of ball real quick

I straighten the handles on Callaghan’s bag molds and stick corncob handles on them.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I have a pair of fireman's gloves to wear when I cast with my Callahan molds.

 

[hanshi]

I started off casting with one of those old "hair curler" molds. The ball was far from spherical but I still killed bobcats and squirrels with it in my underhammer. I also have a Tanner mold that drops beautiful round ball.

 

[jbwilliams3]

Only draw back is time. From a Lee or Lyman I have no trouble running a hundred ball in an hour. And reject about twenty five.
My Callahans have a lower rejection rate but you can only run about five ball till it’s too hot to hold. Takes several hours to run a hundred ball.
That’s not a problem for me as running ball, or cleaning or any little chore that goes along is all part of the fun. When I cast I set aside a whole afternoon, just like I would going to the range
But if your in a hurry a bag mold won’t get you a pile of ball real quick

I've cast a ton with various sized Larry Callahan's molds. I cut off the fingers of some old heavy duty cowhide gloves and insert the mold handles. That way I can cast all day long if I want with no issues with the mold overheating. I also wear gloves because I don't like molten lead on my skin. Callahan's molds are great. With bag molds (assuming you're using an electric pot and not straight from a bed of coals), the trick to keeping consistency - in my opinion - is to rest the mold cavity against the pot for a bit before you start casting and if you step away even for a moment. That keeps the mold at a consistent temperature and keeps you casting without discarding balls. It takes just a bit of trial and error to get into an easy rhythm and you can cast pretty fast with a bag mold.

 

[Jungle Dave]

While not exactly 'bag molds' in the form most know, except one, they work good for my bore guns, 12-bore and up. But when dealing with these, you're not exactly casting more than a handful, so it's not an issue. For smaller guns, I prefer the Lee's because they heat up quick. If all I had was a bag mold without sprew plate for the smaller ones, I would never complain though, since I enjoy doing it. A lot of the smaller ones I have to use are special make, .500's etc., so they are slow, but that's just part of it. The shiny new ones popping out make it worthwhile. What else would I be doing with the time?