"Traditional" style bullet moulds

[bezoar]

Who has used the traditional style bullet moulds sold by pedersoli and others? The ads say these old molds will throw and undersized ball that will be bad for accuracy and should just be used for decoration. But when you go to gunpix, this picture http://www.gunpix.com/gallery/Muzzleloaders_and_Blackpowder/36bullet.jpg makes me think they can give pretty good accuracy.

So what kind of problems have you encountered with these bullet moulds?

 

How can a picture from an add give you any indication of the accuracy of a bullet?

There companies usually overstate the capabilities of their products! There are a dozen threads here right now asking how to get products they say will work to function properly!

If they say it won't work I'll take their word for it.

:front:

 

Ya mean it might NOT be true? :hatsoff:

 

99% of what DP produces only works by accident!

He absolutely, positively guarentees that these molds are unacceptable.

Why would you buy one and expect it to work?

:front:

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

If you are referring to those very simply constructed moulds made of brass pincers with a steel sprue cutter, and are for round ball (single and double) or a round ball w/ conical, or just a conical... am I correctly describing them?

The most obvious problem is that the brass conducts heat very well! and you need to make or rig a set of wooden handles to protect yourself, as these moulds probably get up to 300 degrres F in no time! :curse:

Secondly, as they are VERY simply made, the inaccuracies of an old cherry (tooling), mis-matched parting lines, or just poor quality control, or just plain poor design... Now you can see why even a very inexpensive mould (like a LEE) can make a MUCH better round ball and already has handles and can be easily replaced.

Most people I know just use these brass pincer moulds for a display item within the wooden pistol case.

BUT do not just dismiss them, as several hundred years ago, these would have been considered as VERY good moulds, and most if not all shooters cast their own bullets/balls with this type of mould. That was probably the only projectiles that they had for their personal firearm and many gunmakers provided a mould with the gun when you bought it. Calibers could vary quite a bit (look at original Hawkens' rifles), so it was best to have the gun maker (who knew exactly what you needed) produce the bullet mould as well.

I don't think Timothy Murphy went to his local gun shop or sent away to Cabela's :huh: to get bullets for his rifle. The bullets that whacked those British generals off of their horses must've been pretty good qua;ity to reach out there several hundred yards...:hmm:? NOTE: There were some stone moulds and some cast iron moulds too at that point in time, but generally (as it is today), the rich and affluent could always afford better equipment and pay someone to engineer it and build it for them.

I recently found a little brass pincer type mould for .31 round ball AND conical!!! No one currently makes a more modern designed (or better quality) mould at this time. I feel fortunate that I was able to even find that little mould expecially for the conical. I could always use #0 or #1 buckshot IF I have to for round ball in a .31, but that conical is quite a unique little bullet.

Oh well. Just don't depend on high bullet quality to occur in your casting efforts with one of these moulds, but you MAY get lucky and end up with one that is fairly decent.

Shoot Safely!
WV_Hillbilly :front: :curse:

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I've got one of those brass(bronze?)pincer molds that I use to run ball for my .62 caliber guns. It throws a .600 ball and you can barely see the parting line. Has a sprue cutter built into the handles that actually will cut sprues. No idea as to its age, but it is pretty old--the man who gave it to me used it for 50 years and I've had it for forty. It wasn't new when he got it, or so he said, and I never had reason to doubt him. Once it's warmed up it is easy to use, and I just wrap a piece of old wool blanket around the handles so my hand doesn't melt. They do get warm!
I believe you are right about Tim Murphy and Cabela's. If memory serves, he bought his gear from Dixie Gun Works. He and Turner were buds from way back. Don't think Cabela's was around in the 18th century.....

 

[bezoar]

Hill Billy your the only one to understand what im trying to say. IF the item description for the traditional bullet mould says "not intended for accuracy) and the like, how can that shooter have done so well with his traditional bullet mould?

Dixie gunworks is selling various bullets of the 1800s in their "cast odd bullet" collection. Its a good idea as its fully authentic in wieght, design, and size. I know they had to make modern style gang molds, but is there a company making traditional molds that arent going to cast a bullet with misaligned halves?

 

[44-henry]

I bought one of the cast iron dixie molds that they have been selling for decades, it was in fact Turner Kirklands bread and butter industry for quite a few years. They are not bad quality and they seem quite a bit better than the brass molds that are sold today, though I've used those too. If you want a conical bullet that would match the original colts this would be a good way of forming one.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

You still gotta watch out though... I bought one of those garden shears moulds from Dixie for .650 round ball. The two halves of the mould did NOT line up very well. The finished cast ball looked like someone took two halves of different hemispheres and glued them together off center. Needless to say that particular mould and it's offspring were useless.

BUT YET! I had bought another of those moulds at that same time for .690 round ball, and it cast amazingly round and "eyeball perfect" balls. Cutting the sprue on those large diameter balls sometimes gets tiring though. Have to be really consistent with the cutters and make sure the same amount of sprue is left on each ball. The finished products from that one would hold a 2" group at 50yds out of my gun.

Just gotta watch when you buy something that is made relatively simple and inexpensive...

Shoot Safely!
WV_Hillbilly