Moulded bullets came out undersized.

[cositrike]

They may both be 54's, but have you actually measured the bores. Likely they are different.that wouldn't help.

 

[Old Sparky]

I just got done casting my first batch of r e a l bullets and started shooting them right away. I got to about the fourth one and it dropped right in. I went back and micrometered the rest of them in about half were undersized on the top ring. Those were probably the first ones I made I only discarded about 10 bullets because I heated up and mold in the pot. The ones that were a tight fit shot great. Even though they were not 17 over they were only 10 over. I am a beginner at casting so all this info is great thanks guys.

 

[nhmoose]

Measure the bullets with a micrometer or dial caliper then you will know the exact size they are.

 

[OldSmoky1967]

Hi all.

Well my tale goes like this. A fellow shooter has been teaching me the art of casting our own balls & bullets. He's been casting for many years so I was happy when he told me he would show me the ropes .

Anyway, to add to our choice of cast bullets I ordered the Lee prescision .54 REAL mould. I left the mould with him when I went out to pick up some lead from the local scrap metal merchant. I got a nice bag of roofing lead off cuts that had just been bought in by a roofer.

So I return to the casting shed ( his old garage ) and he has made himself a couple 100 whilst I was away, this all but emptied his helming pot. We then fed in my lead and he continued to mould around 300 for me.

Now we went to the range this afternoon to try out the new REAL bullets, he has a .54 Thompson Center Arms Renegage and I have the .54 TCA Hawken. My first 3 shots took out the 10 at 35yds, now his first 3 shots missed the target completely, he says the bullets just drop down into the barrel where are mine need to be hammered in with a bullet starter.

I tried one if his bullets in my gun and yes it dropped straight in, and my bullet in his gun needed hammering in.

Now the only difference I can see between the bullets he has and mine , is a different lead was used.

Looking at the actual bullets, mine are nice a crisp with sharp edges , where as his are obviously slightly smaller and the edges are more rounded and not as crisp/sharp looking.

Is the issue with his lead ? Or could something else be causing his shrinkage ?

Cheers

Dean.

My renegade love this bullet. The mold needs to be hot, though. I usually throw back the first 10 or so to be recast if they look rounded. By that time the mold is stinking hot and they cast great.

 

[tenngun]

I don’t shoot conicals, but watching cap and ball tV a you tube video set by an Hungarian great shooter I notice his best groups come from over sized and then ran through a sizer
Don’t know if that helps. I did have a Zouave that was a killer with ball, but none of the conicals I tried shot well, I THINK they were undersized