sprue up or down

[CaptainVane]

Well, while my wife is extremely tolerant of BP and is happy I have this hobby and me taking over the kitchen when i need to clean multiple pistols after a day at range; She even went to the local BP shop Tuesday to get me 2# of T7. I know she will draw the line with lead ingots on the kitchen table, and melted lead in her Farberware pots. So its just easier to purchase round balls from TOTW.

 

[64Springer]

Come on page 4.

 

[TFoley]

Some people place a value on their time. If you have nothing better to do than melt lead & cast lead balls then good for you. Personally, I would rather spend that time shooting. BTW, I'm not rich, but the price of lead balls is trivial compared to the total cost associated with MLs.

I'm 77, and retired from full time service in the Army at 54. Then I worked in back in Canada for a couple of years, then eight years in Japan, then I REALLY retired. I'm a part-time carer for our daughter and her husband, and do what I can to enjoy life when I can fit it in.

I'm not rich, but paying 19c for a round ball is outside my remit, when I can make'em for almost zilch. I also cast for my .577cals and a Whitworth .451, as well as .577 and .45-70s of the unmentionable kind.

 

[Trot]

Since we're talking about a revolver, if you put the ball sideways wouldn't it shear off with the lead ring?

 

[64Springer]

Since we're talking about a revolver, if you put the ball sideways wouldn't it shear off with the lead ring?

That's the second dumbest thing I've ever read.

Cutting a square keyway the width of the sprue lengthwise through each cylinder would allow the sprue to slide in effortlessly.

No need for sprue up or sprue down or removing the sprue with a file.

 

[Whughett]

I've never noticed any difference. Just shoot 'em all....life's short & one day we'll all be sprues up.

I cast my own, on the range loading em in the revolver how ever they land on the mouth of the chamber is how the get pushed down. Then again I’m not match shooting for scores either.

 

[64Springer]

I'm 77, and retired from full time service in the Army at 54. Then I worked in back in Canada for a couple of years, then eight years in Japan, then I REALLY retired. I'm a part-time carer for our daughter and her husband, and do what I can to enjoy life when I can fit it in.

I'm not rich, but paying 19c for a round ball is outside my remit, when I can make'em for almost zilch. I also cast for my .577cals and a Whitworth .451, as well as .577 and .45-70s of the unmentionable kind.

Take the price of a quality steel mold, handles, lead, thermometer and divide by .19 and you would easily get 800 or more perfectly swagged balls.

That's a lot of shooting. And no time casting means more time shooting.

And the silly sprue up or down debate is no more.


It's like saying deer meat is free.

Until you figure in the gun and ammo and clothing and licenses and processing and gas/diesel getting to and from the hunting site.

And if the wife gives the guy grief 24/7, a shovel and quicklime.

 

[user 52391]

I seldom cast anything other than hard to find, odd diameter roundballs myself, but when & if I do, I just use a Lee mold...Which produces no offensive sprue.

 

[flatcreek]

.

 

[alcessapiens]

All the round ball ammo I buy now seems to be forged rather than cast, so there are no sprues. However I still have a bunch that I bought years ago for my 1860 Colt replica that were cast. I've heard both ways sprue up and sprue down recommended over the years. I suppose aerodynamics is what makes the difference? Is accuracy affected? The advice I was given 50 years ago when I bought my first BP revolver was sprue down so that's what I've always done.

Just to be contrary, sideways, randomly aligned using the angle of the sun or, on cloudy days, whichever side you recently spat.

 

[Mad L]

Personally I load one chamber up, one down, one sideways at 12o'clock, one 3o'clock, one 6, and one at 9o'clock.
Then fire all six rounds and take note of which one hit center then load the next chamber that way.
Every gun is different, every cylinder is different, it's all Fluuuuu-id, so just go with flow, bro, like ride the wave!

Oh, and if you did not note which chamber the round that hit center was, just start over, man.

 

[Trot]

That's the second dumbest thing I've ever read.

Cutting a square keyway the width of the sprue lengthwise through each cylinder would allow the sprue to slide in effortlessly.

No need for sprue up or sprue down or removing the sprue with a file.

That's the second dumbest thing I've ever read.

Cutting a square keyway the width of the sprue lengthwise through each cylinder would allow the sprue to slide in effortlessly.

No need for sprue up or sprue down or removing the sprue with a file.

I'm saying it probably doesn't matter which way the sprue goes. Think about it, if a ring of lead is cut off the circumference of the ball when it is loaded, and there is a protrusion sticking out beyond the ball, if the ball is loaded with the protrusion to the side it is going to get sheared off when the ring of lead is sheared. If you disagree, how about doing it without the insults?

 

[TFoley]

Take the price of a quality steel mold, handles, lead, thermometer and divide by .19 and you would easily get 800 or more perfectly swagged balls.

That's a lot of shooting. And no time casting means more time shooting.

And the silly sprue up or down debate is no more.


It's like saying deer meat is free.

Until you figure in the gun and ammo and clothing and licenses and processing and gas/diesel getting to and from the hunting site.

And if the wife gives the guy grief 24/7, a shovel and quicklime.

Not sure what you are saying here, TBH. My Lyman and NOE moulds have been paid for many many years ago. The lead is free. And so is my spare time. all it costs me is the electricity. I shoot an easy 120 balls per guest day session, sometimes, during the long summer days, more than that. Casting is part of the hobby for me, and I enjoy it, especially seeing a brilliant shiny hexagonal Whitworth bullet fall out of the mould.......................

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Same as the rifle, sprue up, you can see it, center it, and I bet to dont matter either way.
Its just what Ive done for decades.

 

[Josephg]

"sprue up or down" Yes.​

 

[64Springer]

Not sure what you are saying here, TBH. My Lyman and NOE moulds have been paid for many many years ago. The lead is free. And so is my spare time. all it costs me is the electricity. I shoot an easy 120 balls per guest day session, sometimes, during the long summer days, more than that. Casting is part of the hobby for me, and I enjoy it, especially seeing a brilliant shiny hexagonal Whitworth bullet fall out of the mould.......................

That's a lot of shooting.

I think for the average guy who doesn't shoot 120 balls a day, buying a few boxes here and there wouldn't break the bank.

I like a long pour, so my rule is any ball under .50 gets bought and any ball over .50 gets cast.

Except for the Unmens. The .45 bullets get cast.

 

[AlexB]

Lee molds leave a very minimal sprue.
Fortunately for me my times my own so casting balls of all sizes is just something else that needs doing.
Grab a six cavity from tow and make a lot real fast if that matters.
Retired and still not enough hours in the day for all the nothing I have going on.

 

[TFoley]

That's a lot of shooting.

I think for the average guy who doesn't shoot 120 balls a day, buying a few boxes here and there wouldn't break the bank.

I like a long pour, so my rule is any ball under .50 gets bought and any ball over .50 gets cast.

Except for the Unmens. The .45 bullets get cast.

A lot of shooting? I 'spose so. But when you have people lined up to try out a real handgun, never having fired one before in their lives, from 9 am to 6 pm, it's no so much. The only ball I cast is the .457cal for my trusty ROA, all the others are rifles of one kind or another for which there is no other way of shooting economically without casting.

True, friend Brett Gibbons swages his excellent bullets, but he lives in Gettysburg, and I live in eastern England, so getting a couple of hundred of his fine bullets to me would likely cost as much as buying a new rifle. I recently sent fifty bullets for an unmentionable to a contact in WV, in the usual plastic box in which they are sold - that cost me $48.90 - so what price ten pounds of lead?

 

[64Springer]

Not trying to argue with you.

 

[M. De Land]

I seldom cast anything other than hard to find, odd diameter roundballs myself, but when & if I do, I just use a Lee mold...Which produces no offensive sprue.

Yeah most of my round ball molds are Lee and they work fine.
ONe has to like to cast bullets or balls and have a ready supply of lead or it is more convenient to use swaged balls but I have mic'd a lot of the swaged balls and they are far from perfectly uniform in diameter, which surprised me.
Actually my home cast balls were as good or better in this regard.