How much Sprue?

[shaman]

I just had a chance to try out my new .735 mould from ballmoulds.com. See Bess' Bigger Balls.

The mould comes with no sprue cutter. The site suggests using diagonal cutters to cut the sprue. That's what I did. It leaves a nub.

How do y'all deal with what's left? With the first batch, I just used the belt sander to grind them off, but somehow I don't see that being what our forefathers did.

BTW: I use the proper English spelling of "mould" because it came from Britain, and it's going in a Brown Bess.

 

[garypl]

Use a tight patch/ball combination and when you seat the ball the nub should flatten out so as to not cause any problems at short yardages. If you were shooting out to 100 yards or farther or want to use a looser load, I would maybe try putting the balls between two heavy pieces of smooth steel or tile and roll them around between them and that should flatten the nubs.

 

[BillinOregon]

In the past, I have simply attempted to load with the nub consistently either straight up or straight down, if that makes sense. Never did serious load/accuracy tests to see if it made any difference, though.

 

[smo]

Nip the sprue off and put the balls (15-20 )in a plastic coffee can and shake them for a couple of minutes….

It kinda dimples the ball and flattens the remaining sprue..

 

[Phil Coffins]

On large ball I cut the sprue as close as I can then tap the nub with a small hammer.
IMG_1087 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

 

[appalichian hunter]

Cut them and load either sprue up or down. forefathers did it and it has seemed to work for them.

 

[Piquant]

I cut as close as I can then put them in a Harbor Freight rock tumbler for a little while. Comes out nice and shiny and no more spru.

 

[hanshi]

Most of my molds are from Lee and leave no sprue. But I have many other molds that do leave a sprue. I cut the sprue off, file it off, and-or tumble them. For those I also load sprue up if one is left on them.

 

[tenngun]

I just had a chance to try out my new .735 mould from ballmoulds.com. See Bess' Bigger Balls.

The mould comes with no sprue cutter. The site suggests using diagonal cutters to cut the sprue. That's what I did. It leaves a nub.

How do y'all deal with what's left? With the first batch, I just used the belt sander to grind them off, but somehow I don't see that being what our forefathers did.

BTW: I use the proper English spelling of "mould" because it came from Britain, and it's going in a Brown Bess.

It’s going in to a bess.
Smoothies can shoot pretty small, but odd it would be that it can match a rifle. The chances are your group from a bess will not be enough that spur will make a difference.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I just load sprue up. As soon as you pop the ball into the bore with the nub end of the short starter, the sprue is isually gone. Oh wait, I'm thinking rifles, sorry.

 

[NorthFork]

I cut as close as I can then put them in a Harbor Freight rock tumbler for a little while. Comes out nice and shiny and no more spru.

This EXACTLY what I do. Works fantastic!

 

[nhmoose]

Cut the sprue close and then flatten, if you are Superman with x-ray eyes I suggest you then load them sprue up.

I am not superman but have won many matches using sprue up on the ball from Bench rest and crossticks to squirrel matches. But alas what do I KNOW.

 

[Timber Wolf]

I haven’t done it yet but I picked up a cheap pair of side cutters somewhere that I plan on grinding one side of flatter to cut more flush. Then I am going to load the remaining sprue up as best I can and let her rip.

 

[appalichian hunter]

The heavy-duty toenail clippers (the ones that look like scissors) work well the cutting edge has a bit of a curve to it and does a nice job of cutting the sprue. Look around and get the heavy-duty ones they will last the longest.

 

[oldwood]

You can buy diagonal cutters ground like toenail cutters. Mine is a 40 yr. old , really junkie foreign one , and probably didn't cost over a buck. I use them to trim silver wire inlay , when I do it , almost never these days. Used to cut sprue's from the old Dixie Gun Works scissor mold balls. They had prominent sprues.

 

[Ohio Rusty]

There is a cutter called Gate Cutters that have a curved cutting edge and cuts off the spruce pretty close to flush. They are for curing the plastic nubs off extruded parts.

 

[shaman]

Thanks all.

 

[earlwb]

I just nip off the sprue and don’t worry about any nub remaining. Load it nub up. With our guns it does not affect the accuracy enough to matter any. The iron sights make it impossible to see any difference with or without a sprue nub. Thus nothing to worry about.

 

[BJHabermehl]

I use Tanner molds for a couple of the calibers I shoot. They have no built in sprue cutters. I simply use the heavy duty toenail cutters that look like diagonal wire cutters. They nip the sprues off almost as flat as the Lee molds do. Plus they are spring opening for faster use. BJH

 

[User_Dan]

Try twisting the ball while cutting with side cutters, seems to get a smoother cut