Bullet Mould Idea

[dylan84]

Here is my "Grease Ball" bullet idea. By the picture it is basically a ball with a flat base that holds grease. Base will optimally be cast to cylinder dimensional bore size with a slightly oversized ball section. I have it drawn up at a .450" base diameter and a .454" ball diameter. This is my rough second drawing.

Planning on using an existing Lee mould to mod for this bullet. I think this would be a nice alternative for cap and ball 44's as the lube will be retained on the bullet itself. Dump powder and seat bullet. Should add enough mass to make it around 180 grains vs the 140 grain round ball. Also it won't take up much more powder capacity in the chamber for revolvers such as the 1858 and 1860.

Lastly I don't think the revolver will have to be modified at all for this bullet. Top portion is a ball and short enough to fit in. I will try to get some cut before the new year to test out.

Thought I would post on here to get some knowledgably feedback! Thanks for looking.

 

[earlwb]

It is quite interesting. Looks OK to me. Do let us know how well it works or doesn’t work.

 

[Freedom]

The ball like you pictured has already been made. It's called the EPP-UG . The El Paso Pete Ultra Gamer....a "BigLube" bullet.

 

[TDM]

It's an interesting design either way.

 

[user 52391]

There's the Biglube.com bullet mentioned above and also the Lyman Ideal 450225. Accurate molds has a few similar designs in their catalog as well. Still an interesting concept though.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Hate to throw cold water on a positive idea. But......that looks like a solution for a problem that does not exist. As said, there have been/are several similar ball moulds already on the market.

 

[dylan84]

The ball like you pictured has already been made. It's called the EPP-UG . The El Paso Pete Ultra Gamer....a "BigLube" bullet.

http://www.biglube.com/BulletMolds.aspx?ItemID=d3fb4508-70e1-4d9b-87bd-6d9c2d504d33
Look at the print and you will see it is not the same. I was looking at that first. The main thing to me that I don't like about it is the fact it doesn't really have a full ball to fit the loading lever plunger and it also doesn't have a very long straight section to load reliably into the cylinder.

The mould you listed is in stock but that isn't the story for many other interesting ones! One more reason for yet another choice in my opinion. Also I wanted more mass. He was going for basic ball weight.

 

[dylan84]

There's the Biglube.com bullet mentioned above and also the Lyman Ideal 450225. Accurate molds has a few similar designs in their catalog as well. Still an interesting concept though.

But the Lyman isn't like mine either! lol

 

[Freedom]

Yeah I see the epp-ug wasn't exactly like your ball. And for what it's worth, loading a flat base bullet (straight) into a cap and ball cylinder sucks.. I soon went back to the round ball.
But the epp-ug is awesome in my suppository conversion cylinder!

 

[dylan84]

Another thing is if I get it to work it will be cheap. Take a Lee 2 cavity mould that has enough meat left to carve this profile into it and hit the green button. It of course might not work as planned but worth the effort. I have wasted time on worse ideas!

 

[dylan84]

Yeah the main issue will be the variance in cylinder size. I was going to custom fit this to my Pietta 1860 and 1858 so the smaller diameter flat section fits perfectly into the cylinder. Then you can't load it crooked. Be easy enough if it does work to size the cylider to the bullet accordingly.

 

[Pete453]

Give it a shot, that's how we learn. You're idea of smaller base size will work, Lees are sized that way and they have some great potential. I'm not seeing how you will get that shape out of a roundball mold, but I'm sure you've already thought it through.
My only negative comment, and it could be a minor concern for your purposes, is a big lube groove won't give the same results as a lube wad UNDER the bullet.
Good luck with your project, keep us in the loop.

 

[dylan84]

Give it a shot, that's how we learn. You're idea of smaller base size will work, Lees are sized that way and they have some great potential. I'm not seeing how you will get that shape out of a roundball mold, but I'm sure you've already thought it through.
My only negative comment, and it could be a minor concern for your purposes, is a big lube groove won't give the same results as a lube wad UNDER the bullet.
Good luck with your project, keep us in the loop.

Very good comment! That is what I started thinking also. What I am really trying to do is come up with a handy way of loading lube behind the projectile with consistency. I think I might be onto something, but it will be harder to machine and not sure about how the bullets will drop out of the mould. I will post the drawing when I get some more time!

 

[user 52391]

But the Lyman isn't like mine either! lol

Nope, it was a double lube groove design...I played around with that bullet plenty 30+ years ago, along with a few others of similar design since...My only point was that the whole ball-et design concept has been around for quite a long time now. But, if you're passionate about your project, I say, good luck & carry on!

 

[Bunk]

Here is my "Grease Ball" bullet idea. By the picture it is basically a ball with a flat base that holds grease. Base will optimally be cast to cylinder dimensional bore size with a slightly oversized ball section. I have it drawn up at a .450" base diameter and a .454" ball diameter. This is my rough second drawing.

Planning on using an existing Lee mould to mod for this bullet. I think this would be a nice alternative for cap and ball 44's as the lube will be retained on the bullet itself. Dump powder and seat bullet. Should add enough mass to make it around 180 grains vs the 140 grain round ball. Also it won't take up much more powder capacity in the chamber for revolvers such as the 1858 and 1860.

Lastly I don't think the revolver will have to be modified at all for this bullet. Top portion is a ball and short enough to fit in. I will try to get some cut before the new year to test out.

Thought I would post on here to get some knowledgably feedback! Thanks for looking.

looks like the collar button bullet should work fill that groove with grease and keep fouling soft.
Bunk

 

[dylan84]

Ok here is my more advanced idea. This will retain grease on and behind the bullet. still have to use a powder wad of some kind if left loaded or in hot weather (I have used cork gasket material with great success). This in theory is possible to machine with some specialized tooling and "should" drop from a mould. This is getting interesting!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Give it a shot, that's how we learn.

Positive comment. We all should have encouraged before bashing you.

 

[dylan84]

I didn't take any comments as bashing my idea. I posted this to get more ideas and that is what is happening. I realize most everything has been done before especially when building things for 160+ year old revolvers! I just want an easier, faster, more consistent way to get grease behind a heavier than ball bullet.

 

[earlwb]

I was thinking that the generous grease groove was a good way to make it. It helps prevent chainfires and provides lube too.

I think that Dixie Gun Works still sells their classic iron bullet molds as blanks. Where you machine your own bullet in it. They did that to help those with old guns that had oddball calibers from being refreshed and rebored. DGW found a source for the old style iron hair straighteners and have been selling them for ages now.

 

[Pete453]

Dylan, try lubing paper towel with beeswax and tallow or lard, instead of sheet wool, and cut your wads out of that. I played with these this summer, one or two under the bullet will get it done without taking up much room.

Not my idea, BTW, I found it here in older posts. Sorry, can't give proper credit.