Casting Balls

[Steel Horse Rider]

After finishing my Brown Bess kit and then taking it to the range in order to get a feel for the trajectory and aiming peculiarities I have the feeling that the cost of the .740 diameter balls is going to become excessive due to addiction. This has led me to consider casting my own balls, and after watching a number of videos on youtube, including some from our own Brushhippee, I have decided that I need to acquire the material to cast my own. This leads me to a few questions for those of you who cast your own:
How much shrink can be expected from the given mold size, or is the mold size given in finished ball dimensions? I read a lot about impurities and alloys used in wheel weights and other sources of free casting material being too high in tin or zinc content to use. Can you mix wheel weights with pure lead to cast muzzle loading balls? Eventually I will probably cast balls for use in .45, .50, .54, .58, and .75 caliber firearms so I think I will need a goodly quantity of raw material and I am a frugal person.

I will probably hit the flea markets for a heat source, melting pot, and dipper but will purchase the molds although I am not sure as to the proper mold size and would prefer not to purchase molds that do not produce the proper sized balls. I currently purchase balls which are properly sized for the patch material I use and would prefer to cast to that finished dimension, but have been unable to find a definitive source for finish ball sizes in relation to published mold sizes.
Thanks in advance.

 

[EljaySL]

The molds are sized in finished ball dimensions *for a particular alloy*. It'll say on the box what alloy they assumed you used. For muzzleloaders it'll be pure lead.

For cap and ball the lead needs to be soft enough to squish in without killing your loading lever. For a minie ball it's critical or the skirt won't flare out right. For a rifle it's helpful (blah blah oblate blah blah) but maybe doesn't have to be perfect. Smoothbores, well, I've never been very fussy about the exact alloy and if the size is off by a small amount it doesn't seem to be that critical. I'm sure somebody will be appalled by that statement and will let you know.

 

[Skinny 1950]

All of my molds have given me the size as advertised don't worry about it.

 

[StrawHat]

Casting for muzzle loaders can be a lot different than casting for casting for cartridge firearms. I use pure lead only in my muzzleloaders. It is a bit harder to cast but a little more heat helps with mold fill out. If you are going to ladle cast, get a good cast iron pot or electric pot. A gas fired stove can be made to work with modifications but I prefer the electric pot. Mine are made by Lee but others can be had. The molds from Lee have served me well but ones from Lyman, RCBS, NEI, SAECO and others are also good. Folks say Lee molds are flimsy but since I don't beat on my molds, I have not had any problems.

Wheel weights are made from a nondescript mix of meltable materials. Recently more and more have gone over to zinc. Because they are not a repeatble alloy, I do not use them. Others seem to be okay with the non repeatable factor and you might consider it, but for my uses, pure lead and pure tin that I use to alloy my melt are the way to go.

Casting is an enjoyable hobby as much as reloading and shooting. Don't scrimp on your tools for any of them.

Kevin

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The old wheel weights, modern handgun cartridge lead, and linotype, are/were a lead alloy, and when cast didn't shrink as much, so the rifle guys would sometimes find problems going from pure lead to an alloy.

The nice thing about Zinc... it has a much higher melting point than lead, (lead is 622 degrees; zinc 787 degrees) so if you got a bunch of old and new wheel weights mixed together, you can pretty easily spot the zinc when you add heat.

I use a .690 ball, in a well fitted paper cartridge in my .75 Bess. I have a Lee mold for that sized ball. Shoots pretty well, and since I'm only going out to 50 yards, that's plenty with 80 grains of 2Fg pushing it.

The nice thing I have found for Lee molds is they are aluminum so they heat up quickly and give you a good bullet sooner, and they are much less expensive. Sure if you were casting 50 to 100 rounds to feed a .45 every month, then a Lee mold might wear out quickly, but since the rate of fire for a ML is so much lower, the Lee molds last a long time and do well.

LD

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

Dave: Will the unmelted zinc float to the top of the molten lead like the other impurities so it can be skimmed off? I am surprised you use a .690 ball in a .750 bore. Are your paper cartridges several layers on the wrap?

 

[J-Bar]

If you are going to use any metal other than pure lead ingots, such as wheel weights, roof flashing, lead pipe, etc., melt that stuff down in a separate pot to get the dirt and crap out of it. Don't put it in your primary casting pot.

Wheel weights in particular have a lot of crud on them, and you don't want to take a chance on those impurities getting into your projectiles. Make your own ingots from whatever scrap you find first, then re-melt the ingots in your casting pot. I use an iron skillet over a propane burner to make ingots from scrap.

Buy a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, if for no other reason than to learn how to handle molten lead safely. It has a wealth of information. You will also have to decide which flux to use (I use both canning paraffin and sawdust). You should flux when cleaning the scrap, and again when remelting in your casting pot.

 

[EljaySL]

.690 is actually the historical ball size. The bores varied (in fact they still do) and the ball had to go down a dirty small bore quickly.

Personally mine has a .745 bore and I use .715 and .735 balls depending on how I'm loading it. (.715 with patches, .735 the way you would load a shotgun, with wads).

 

[Officers'Wife]

My uncle had a series of dies from 31 caliber up to 75 that fit in a hydraulic press. He would put the lead in the die, apply x tons of pressure and they would come out shot that he claimed made cast balls look square in comparison.

This method has the added benefit of not having heavy metal fumes contaminate the work area and high heat is not required.

Added thought, he had a similar set of dies he had made for my Grandfather's 45-70 that would create 3/4 jacketed bullets that the old gentleman preferred in his old swing block rifle. So remember OMBs of America, there are other ways to cast rifle ball than stealing your niece's cast iron skillets to melt lead in.

 

[DD4lifeusmc]

moulds

For the most part moulds are labelled in the actual cast size, but there will be some minor fluctuations of actual to slightly under. Normally this won't affect anything.
You can get pure lead many places. On line and most likely locally.
Our metal salvage yard usually has a pretty good supply.
Really pure lead will develope a bluish grey / gold hued dross. you can't flux it back in. Just skim it to edge of pot and it will soldify to a crust, that you can skim odd now and then.
To help reduce this I add 1 or 2 oz of wheel weight lead to a 10# pot of pure lead. Not enough to really change the lead mix, but enough to reduce the blue gray gold dross.

I prefer a steel mould like Lyman versus the Aluminum from Lee.
The aluminum IMO is too soft, galles easily. But each to his own.

 

[EljaySL]

If anybody doesn't know, if you want known good alloys: http://www.rotometals.com
And if you want to save money and you're willing to sort of take some guys word for what it is exactly, which may or may not be exactly what you want: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?18-Swappin-amp-Sellin

I tend to use rotometals pure lead for muzzleloaders and semi-dubious castboolits lead for things like my 38 Special which doesn't seem to care very much. The difference being $2.50/pound versus $1.00/pound.

You'll find pure on castboolits occasionally but it sells fast. usually the guys with an ongoing supply are mining range berms or something.

 

[BCRider]

I walked and shot with a group of smoothbore guys at one of my club's BP days. I picked their brains as we went and found out a few helpful ideas for shooting smoothbores with better accuracy.

The two big ones is that they played with various snug but overly tight fits of ball and patch and a fairly stout load.

A loose "military grade fit" isn't going to give a good long range accuracy. But back in the day there were enough targets that hitting SOMETHING was a reasonable likelihood. They also lube the patches with a cleaning product such as Murphy's oil soap or other product to basically wet patch the bore with every loading. Doing so makes using a tight fitting ball and patch possible.

The other one is using a fairly stout load. Not sure of the dynamics on this one but all three of the guys shared this practice. And the results spoke in support of this since they were hitting small targets at a good distance with alarming regularity. If I remember correctly the guy with the Bess replica was using something like 120gns.

 

[ontarget]

I get pure lead in various forms at my local metal scrap yard for .50 cents per pound.
I would personally stay away from wheel weights whenever possible.

 

[Zeke/PA]

I get pure lead in various forms at my local metal scrap yard for .50 cents per pound.
I would personally stay away from wheel weights whenever possible.

I agree with the statement about wheel weights as I've been told that they are not necessarily made of lead these days.
I use only pure lead for my black powder needs and I'm fortunate to have an ample supply, mainly because of some "scale dampeners" that my employer decided to scrap.
I have some questionable stuff though and I use it for casting fishing lures.

 

[Officers'Wife]

If it's "questionable" cast it into a round ball then compare it to the weight of a ball you know is pure lead. If's it's lighter it's an alloy if not use it.

 

[Palehorseman]

If Lee molds wear out fast, just buy three of them for the cost of one Lyman.