Best Roundball mold

Been casting a few roundballs wilt an old songle cavity Lyman mold,they seem to be ok but I dont case for the rather large sprue,.I dont know how or if this will affect the way they shoot,any reccomendations on a mold that doesnt leave this large sprue?I have also tried the Lee mold and didnt care for it

 

[fatboy]

I have cast a few hundred .54's with a lyman the sprue doesnt seem to hurt your groups if anything what I cast seemed to do better for me and my buddy. I sorted out the odd ones that were on the lite side or to heavy . Load sprue up or down wish ever works for ya and I think you will be pleased :m2c: :results:

 

[Rebel]

I use Lee moulds and they don't leave much sprue at all. Why don't you like using them? They work fine for me.

 

[Bearbait2]

We have had the same experience as Rebel with Lee molds. And you can't beat the price.
Best Wishes

 

[merdean]

I have about 20 Lee molds for BP and the other types. They are lighter, heat up faster and have a special spru cutter that leaves about nothing. I have Lyman and RCBS mold also. They cause more fatigue in a short time than they are worth. :imo: :results:

 

[CrackStock]

I have Lee, Tanner, Lyman, DGW bag mold and DGW hair curler molds.

Lees cut the lowest sprue, were inexpensive and are my most commonly used molds. I favor these for most of my casting when on my own.

Lyman seems to throw the roundest ball according to my mike. It also has a tall and ugly sprue, but shoots well anyway. These are good molds, but I seem to use to Lees more often. It may be because I do not like cleaning the preservative from the steel and then reoiling when done.

Tanner has no cutter, but is inexpensive and offers any diameter that you want. I know that good side ctters are available, but I am lazy and do not like the lack of an attached cutter.

I have heard that the DGW brass bag mold is no longer available and throws the ugliest ball. It has a cutter that smears more than cuts the sprue. It is very pretty in a display.

The DGW hair curler mold is offered in any diameter, also has no sprue cutter, but seems like it will throw a better ball, but does have some grooves from the cherry. As previously shown here, the handles can be cut to make it look a bit more primitive for demos. I am in the process of doing just that and will let you know how the balls work out in my Bess and .50.

CS

 

[BS]

Can you find someone with a surface grinder? I just grind a few thousands off the top, till the sprue looks better, maybe you can find someone too help you out.

 

[riarcher]

I was just going to mention that. :redthumb:
Take the plate off, clamp both halves together and grind.
DGW hair curler can be drilled and tapped for a spue cutter also and the surface ground for flatness. Just don't tighten the plate to the die too much and it'll last.

 

Lyman, SEACO, RCBS, or the Gould or Hinsley and Gibbs blocks will not work with the above stated method. They have dowels pinned in place as stop pins that protrude from the top of the block!

The sprue protrusion on these good quality molds is not going to affect your shooting anyway, You ain't that good! Even the nationally ranked RB shooters do not worry about the sprue except to place it consistantly during loading.

There have been about a gazillion tests run over the years in every magazine from the American Rifleman to Muzzle Blasts and the result is always the same. Unless it's a big honking chunk of lead hanging out there it will make no diference.

You guys worry too much!

:front:

 

[BS]

There have been about a gazillion tests run over the years in every magazine from the American Rifleman to Muzzle Blasts and the result is always the same. Unless it's a big honking chunk of lead hanging out there it will make no diference.

I beg too differ, as the ole saying goes!
That big ole hunk of sprue seems to matter to many people!

Even though it don't mean dog manure :blah: Just looks ugly :cry:

:m2c: :m2c: :m2c: :m2c: :m2c:
A dimes worth!

 

[JOHN L. HINNANT]

Greetings Kaintuckkee,

The large sprue has never been a problem for me or a number of other very good BP shooters I know. Between the 6 or 7 of us we probably have 200 plus years of round ball casting.

A common practice for us is to drill the the sprue plate hole out to match the same size of the hole in the mould blocks in order to quicker fill the mould with molten lead.

A 3/4 inch diameter ball end mill is used to enlarge the sprue plate pouring hole counter-sink. This leaves a large puddle of molten lead for the ball to draw from and cool slower giving the ball more time to form before solidifying.

It is also very helpful to make new sprue plates out of 1/4 inch aluminum plate. This is a suggestion from C.E. Harris, one time technical writer for the NRA AMERICAN RIFLEMAN and who also put together an excellant book on casting lead bullets.

More important is to weigh and seperate balls after casting than to be concerned about a large sprue.

My ball seaters are coned for specific ball diameters and swage the sprue flush with the contour of the ball.

Hope this information will be useful.

Best regards and good shooting,

John L. Hinnant

 

[Rebel]

I can't weigh the balls i just cast for the Bess, since the only scale i have, an old Redding Model#1, only goes to 350 grains, and the round ball weighs close to 500 grs.

 

[robert smith]

Sounds like good wisdom. For .54 or .58 roundballs, what weight increments do you recommend seperating to?

 

[BS]

rebel, you can hang a counter weight on your beam. This will let you check the heavyer balls, you just won't know the actual weight.

 

[Rebel]

Thanks for the tip.

 

[JOHN L. HINNANT]

Greetings Crossed Arrows,

Most of my shooting is is at competitive events, so I am rather picky about my cast balls.

I start by weighing a number of balls to find out the consistent average weight.Once this is done, all balls of this weight plus .3 of a grain are seperated as the match grade balls.

Ball that weigh over the plus .3 grain are boxed seperately and labeled "heavy match". They will shoot very accurately, but to a slightly different POA.

Those balls that weigh in light are remelted and recast, except for those are just .1 or .2 grain light. These are kept to use for 25 yard offhand practice.

I never cast less than 200 balls at a time and prefer to cast 300 or so at a time. There is usually 5 - 10 percent reject to be remelted and recast.

For whatever reason, from one casting session to the next, the average ball weight will vary .2-.3 of a grain even if the lead is from the same lot. For this reason, each lot of balls is also segragated and dated.

This small variance does not affect offhand shooting, but in bench shooting can mean the difference between a 10X or just a 10. It is not a question of not grouping accurately, but just that different lots of ball with a .2-.3 grain weight difference will shoot to a slightly different POA.

Of course this difference is noticeable only in an extremely accurate rifle.

Other shooters may have completely different and/or opposite results. I can only relate what my experiences have been as a result of 50 plus years of ML blackpowder rifle shooting.

Hope this information will be of help.

Best regards,

Johm L. Hinnant

 

[brubincam]

what extremly accurate rifle do you have...please post a picture..what are your loads..please share the details

 

[JOHN L. HINNANT]

Greetings brubincam,

To begin with, there is no certainity that my loading data will be SAFE or ACCURATE in any other rifle. Therfore, what information is listed here is for my own personal use and is not recommended for anybody else to use.

Next, I do not have the equipment or knowledge to post photographs on the forum or any other place on the internet for that matter. Perhaps in a few weeks or so when a friend who is a computer professional comes to visit we can change that.

As far as an extremely accurate rifle(s) I will begin by discussing first the following rifle.

(1) A Kenneth Briesen bench rest rifle - Briesen under hammer action with Briesen Barrel 42 inchs long, 2-1/8 inch diameter with false muzzle and stainless steel sealed ignitor.

Total weight or the rifle is 51 pounds. (I told you it was a bench rest rifle).

Caliber is 58 with 1-72 rifling twist

Loading data is .575 diameter round ball, .018 inch Teflon coated pillow tick patching of Eygptian cotton, 180-200 grains of 2FF Goex Black Powder, and a RWS CAP

Sights are a Redfield Palma aperature rearsight and a Redfied Big Bore Globe/aperature front sight.

This rifle will shoot 5 or 10 balls into one big hole measuring 0.75 inch or smaller at 25 yards.

At 50 yards, this same rifle will consistently shoot a 50 with X's on the OFFICAL NMLRA 50 YARD 6 BULL, 8 RING ROUND BALL RIFLE TARGET,

The X ring measures 3/8 inch in diameter, and the 10 ring measures 7/8 inch in diameter. NMLRA AND TMLRA rules require the bullet hole to cut AT LEAST half way through the scoring ring to count the next higher scoring ring.
Just touching the scoring ring does not count.

Scores at 100 yards run from 45 to 50 with X's. THE X ring is 1 inch in diameter, the 10 ring is 2 inches, the 9 ring is 4 inchs, and the 8 ring is 6 inchs in diameter.

Scoring high at 200 yards is much more difficult. A score of 40 is good, and will not throw you out of the aggregate, but probably not win a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place individual target metal for you. A 45 plus with X's is needed to garner one of the top 3 metal places on the 200 yard bench rest target.

When I read the wind correctly, a score of 45 to 48 is the averag.

The NMLRA OFFICAL 200 YARD TARGET X ring is 2 inchs in diameter, while the 10, 9, and 8 rings are respectfully 4, 8, and 12 inches in diameter.

This pretty well defines one of my extremely accurate rifles. I will describe afew others later.

For those who think this level of accuracy is not paticularly high for a round ball rifle, I respectfully suggest you take your favorite rifle to the range and shoot five of each target (to determine an average) No shot can be claimed as a flyer; all five 5 shots must count, and conditions are not an alibi

I will continue later with descriptions of some of my other "extremely accurate" round ball rifles.

Best regards and good shooting,

John L. Hinnant

to be continued.......

 

[Riley/MN]

Total weight or the rifle is 51 pounds.

So I am guessing we don't have to worry about competing against it in the (offhand) postal match.

 

[Slamfire]

I don't know a couple of the poster's look like weight lifters to me. :crackup: