Questions for the Pritchett bullet shooters/casters

[BillinOregon]

Curious who made your mold and what diameter you chose. Apparently Steve Brooks molds are the gold standard, but at nearly $300 ...

 

[dave951]

Curious who made your mold and what diameter you chose. Apparently Steve Brooks molds are the gold standard, but at nearly $300 ...

I shoot a number of minie designs and had one mold cut by Steve. It's a slightly modified Enfield pistol minie designed to fit a 50cal rifle like is found in most summer camps. Yup, Steve's molds aren't cheap, but you certainly get what you pay for. It's one of the best molds I own.

 

[Cubreac]

@BillinOregon I hope you don't mind if I piggyback on your thread with related questions.

I bought some Pritchett bullets to make into cartridges. The skirts of some were slightly deformed. Does this matter?
What sort of plug to you use, if you use a plug?
The bullets I bought are about .568. Does the cartridge paper make up for the undersized bullet?

thanks

 

[nkbj]

By the way and to no one in particular, if you'd like to give them a try you can paper patch minies with no lube in the grooves and then size them after patching. Not a perfect solution but they're easy to reduce in diameter.

 

[shoe303]

I have both the NOE .550 and .566 four cavity molds. I paid less than $300 for both of them. I got the clay plug molds with them too. Both work well when made up into British style cartridges. The .566 is a bit more accurate. With the lubed cartridges you can shoot all day with little fouling buildup. Making the paper cartridges is a bit time consuming and you must have the correct paper but they do work well.

 

[Nobade]

Same here, I have the NOE moulds and plug plates. I haven't made cartridges with them yet but they work well patched and loaded over loose powder.

 

[tjiann]

NOE .550 and plug molds. Cartridge paper templates from Forth Armoury.

 

[BillinOregon]

I had checked NOE a while back and they are currently "sold out" of those molds and plug molds. If I can ever find an affordable Enfield I may bug them about starting a new run. Assume the lads are making their plugs of Bondo or one of the bakeable clays.
It's quite pleasant looking into these matters whilst reading Brett Gibbons's "The English Cartridge."

 

[Cubreac]

This is the stuff I use. The NOE plug molds were sold out when I looked, so I just make a pea sized ball and push it into the base, trimming off excess. When it solidifies it shrinks a little bit. I haven't tried them out yet. I need to make up the cartridges, but I haven't found the right paper yet.
https://www.dickblick.com/products/aves-apoxie-sculpt/

 

[Cubreac]

It's quite pleasant looking into these matters whilst reading Brett Gibbons's "The English Cartridge."

Amen, brother.