I know this has been asked before but....

[hatter78]

I have a 1861 Springfield replica and here are my questions

1. What moulds are decent to make a round ball and a minie? And where to get them?

2. What size moulds to make round ball and minie?

3. Is there a patch needed for the round ball?

4. Where to buy lead?

5. My father works for a phone company and they are pulling off old lead sleeves from phone lines. He says it is soft lead. My question is will it work to make bullets? If not can it be made to work? If so then how?


Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks :bow:

 

[ohio ramrod]

That lead is a real danger. I am willing to remove that danger from you and your family just ship it to me for disposal. Seriously that is some of the best sources of pure lead. Just stay away from any soldered seams as they will have some tin in the solder.As to the rest of your questions. You can shoot either minis or patched round ball. I am sure others can advise you on where to get molds.

 

[mazo kid]

Those lead splice cases should work very well for casting ball. Just be sure to use PLENTY of ventilation and stay up wind of it as I understand the lead had a small amount of arsenic in it to discourage rodents from chewing. I have used a small amount of it myself and it is soft lead. As far as mould size, you have to measure your bore and get a round ball about .010" smaller, the minie should maybe be a couple thousandths smaller, just so it slides easily down the bore. Lee Precision makes good moulds at a reasonable price and MidSouth seems to have the best price for retail.

 

[hatter78]

Thankyou

 

[Swampman]

old lead sleeves from phone lines

Makes great bullets. I've cast a lot of them using it.

 

[jtmattison]

My father works for a phone company and they are pulling off old lead sleeves from phone lines. He says it is soft lead. My question is will it work to make bullets? If not can it be made to work? If so then how?

All I use is telephone cable lead. It is almost pure. Using my crude testing technique it comes out at about 7 BHN. Pure lead is 5 BHN. It works perfect for all types of muzzleloading projectiles.

Luckily I work in telephones also and get mine free.

:thumbsup:

HD

 

[Dphar]

I have a 1861 Springfield replica and here are my questions

1. What moulds are decent to make a round ball and a minie? And where to get them?

2. What size moulds to make round ball and minie?

3. Is there a patch needed for the round ball?

4. Where to buy lead?

5. My father works for a phone company and they are pulling off old lead sleeves from phone lines. He says it is soft lead. My question is will it work to make bullets? If not can it be made to work? If so then how?


Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks :bow:

Get all the cable sheathing you can,
I like Lyman Moulds but there are other choices.
Look at Track of the Wolf's web site.
Dan

 

[gbsclohn]

Before you waste money on moulds,find musket shooters in your area.NSSA or some CW skirmish groups. Borrow their minies and load data and try it in your gun to see if your gun likes the combo.Took me about a year to find a good load for my musket by borrowing everyones bullets and powder info.You will find they know the mould number and the size of the bullet that they use. Keep good records on what you find out your gun likes or doesn't like---will help you out in the long run
Been There - Done That
Greg Lohn

 

[paulvallandigham]

Measure the bore diameter of your rifle with calipers. Measure to the thousandth of an inch! Its that important to know. Bore diameter is from land to land, on opposite sides of the barrel. Groove diameter is measured from the bottom of one groove to the bottom of another groove opposite.

The depth of your grooves is going to give you an idea of how thick a patch material you need to use with your round ball. The bore diameter will tell you what diamter RB will work well in YOUR gun. Generally, you will want to find a RB that is about .020" smaller than your bore's diameter. Patch thickness will vary with the depth of the rifling grooves, but begin with .015 and go up from there. Most of the rifled bored to shoot the hollow based " minie" balls( bullets) have fairly shallow rifling, for that purpose, so you rarely can use much thicker a fabric for patches than the .015" patches. Yes, use a micrometer to measure fabric thickness- even on Pre-lube, or packaged patches you can buy. Don't trust the markings on any box, barrel, or package. If you didn't measure it yourself, and make those marks, do it yourself! Always check what Others are supposed to have done with any gun you shoot.

There are few better pieces of advice I can give you from the view of more than 30 years of being around guns and working with them, than to tell you to always check, and always measure your own bores, and components. My father, brother and I all owned Springfield Trapdoor rifles. The gun that looked in the best shape on the outside, had the worst chamber and bore sizing. The gun with the worst appearance, has the best chamber, and bore diameter. Go figure. That was just the beginning of my education about measuring my own gun barrels, ammo, and components.

 

[hatter78]

Thank yall for your help. :v