Brass bullet/ball mold question

[kBob]

Just picked up a set of presentation case type brass bullet molds. I know Dixie says such do not cast decent balls, but know Busyhands and others have used them in the past. These are no name, un marked and the box is plain white except an outlined "CAL. 31 BULLET MOLD" they feature cavities for a bullet and a ball and the sprue plate is screwed down so tight it will hardly move when struck with a hammer handle.

Yes I expect them to get hot fast. Helped a friend in the way back. I have no idea if they will cast a ball or bullet remotely close to .321. I do want to give them a try though. SO is is the question that is the point of all this,

Should these be smoked before casting like iron or steel molds of my youth?

I had to have a set because the .31s cry out for a dedicated case of their own, and a case has to have a brass pliers mold in it. I am working on a "cleaning rod" idea and will see how that turns out. Now if I could just find a small flask that would not set me back a week's play money!

-kBob

 

[Busyhands94]

I don't smoke mine, but it works just fine.

 

[StrawHat]

Anything you add to the cavitiy of a mold will reduce the diameter of the bullet it casts. There are many other ways to get a problem mold to be less problematic. Try casting first and see what you need to do. Personally, the brass molds are cute and I have a couple for cased sets but I do all my casting with better quality molds. The end result is a better bullet and more accuracy on the target.

 

[col.lemat]

I smoked one once, left a metallic taste in my mouth and was hard to keep lit

 

[25cschaefer]

I smoked one once, left a metallic taste in my mouth and was hard to keep lit

I had a similar experiance with summer sausage.

 

[Busyhands94]

Brass mold Cavendish? Haha!

 

[MCgunner]

Mind casts fine and I did smoke it with a candle. It's .31 caliber, bought from Dixie some years ago. It casts one ball and one conical.

 

[Hellgate]

Years ago I used a 36 cal DC brass mold and it helped to slip a couple of .410 shotshell hulls over the handles to keep from burning my hands. Otherwise you might drill out some dowels and make som insulators for the handles. A lot of antique molds have pretty long and sharp handles. I suspect they were tapped into the ends of wood dowels.

 

[Jaymo]

How do you like that white bag Captain Black, Levi? It's one of my favorites. Nice and smooth. No bite. Smooth enough to inhale, but will give you a good buzz, if you do.

 

[Busyhands94]

How do you like that white bag Captain Black, Levi? It's one of my favorites. Nice and smooth. No bite. Smooth enough to inhale, but will give you a good buzz, if you do.

Captain black white is the best, my personal favorite of the Captain black varieties I've tried. It's become my everyday smoke too. The aroma in the pouch almost reminds me of cookie dough and vanilla, but with a rich caramel scent. Out of a brier it's awesome, sipped out of a corncob pipe and it really shines.

Another good one to try is Captain Black Gold, it's a blend of golden Cavendish. It's sweet and mild, with just a little more nicotine than the white pouch but smokes dryer.

~Levi

 

[Tinpan58]

I have one for my Howdah, I smoked mine the first time I used it, I works fine, makes good balls, but it stays hot for ever.

 

[scrat]

Good friggen luck. You have a very small window to work with before the mold gets to hot. Same time you do not need to smoke a brass mold as brass has a natural lubricant. Meaning the lead will not easily stick to it like on other casting molds

 

[AJumbo]

My experience with them has been about 15% positive, but they will produce balls that will go downrange; since you're asking about a .31 mold, I think you're going to be using the balls in a "belly gun" where accuracy isn't the biggest concern. The molds get really hot, really fast, and some of them were made of such awful brass that they warped after the first use.