Molds questions

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hawg said:
Six cavity are a pain anyway. Most of my molds are Lee. They're all pretty old tho. I've never had any problems with them. They cast good bullets. I've got molds that cost three times as much and they don't make bullets any better..
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that was my thoughts, it’s a round ball that gets deformed when pressed in.
 
I would seriously suggest you beg, borrow, or buy a copy of Ned Roberts "The Muzzle Loading Cap lock Rifle" and read it cover to cover.
A Google search on muzzle loading will give you much !ore detail on any aspect of the subject than you will get on an online forum but, you can get lots of good advice here on THR.
 
hawg said:
.454 and a double cavity. Well, if he's going to do all the molding get the 6 cavity and let him deal with it. Make sure he only uses pure lead for your round balls. Most of my molds are Lee. I have heard of problems with the newer Lee alignment pins but mine are all older molds.
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The older ones were better but probably more expensive to make hence the chance. I have a few of the new style and so far only one has failed. Being a tinkerer I managed to fix it. It took awhile but since I have much more time than money and like to tinker anyway I feel the time invested was worth it.
 
hawg said:
The ram will leave an imprint and the sides will get shaved. When loaded they're less of a round ball than a very short conical that's rounded on both ends.
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Round nosed boat tails… :D

there’s a tutorial on cast boolets dot com for improving the Lee molds.
 
Mark_Mark said:
.44 caliber, should I do .451 or .454 balls?
suggest on brand of molds? was looking at the Lee 6 cavity. I’m going drop ship the molds to him.
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Your Uberti will need .454. Some Piettas use .451.
Lee makes a decent mold, the best thing is they leave very little sprue. Lyman ball molds are great quality but the large sprues they leave adds a step to processing.
 
SlowFuse said:
Your Uberti will need .454. Some Piettas use .451.
Lee makes a decent mold, the best thing is they leave very little sprue. Lyman ball molds are great quality but the large sprues they leave adds a step to processing.
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been looking up the controversy of chain fire and I’m convinced that you need a crispy, well defined lead ring after thr press, then a nice glob of lube for insurance…

.454 it is for me!
 
Lots of controversy there, for sure. If your caps fit tight and your balls arent undersized, id say your chances of chainfire are very slim. Ring of lead is good. I use .457's in some of my Ubertis. Nice ring but your lead has to be dead soft. Not as big of a deal if you load with the cylinder off the gun.

I personally don't care for the lube over ball method. But, I shoot competition and have to do it then, every time. Rules and such. When I'm shooting for practice/fun I don't gob the crisco over the balls.
 
SlowFuse said:
Lots of controversy there, for sure. If your caps fit tight and your balls arent undersized, id say your chances of chainfire are very slim. Ring of lead is good. I use .457's in some of my Ubertis. Nice ring but your lead has to be dead soft. Not as big of a deal if you load with the cylinder off the gun.

I personally don't care for the lube over ball method. But, I shoot competition and have to do it then, every time. Rules and such. When I'm shooting for practice/fun I don't gob the crisco over the balls.
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Sound like a good time! One day, when I have more time
 
There's a lot of opinions on chainfires, , I personally think they come from the rear of the cylinder from poorly fitting caps more than anything else. I chamfer the chamber mouths on my revolvers so they compress the ball rather than shave a ring off. I have never seen anything in original Colt loading instructions stating that a ring of lead must be shaved off the ball. I don't like it on account of changing the weight of the ball and producing some thing that can and does jam the cylinder. I don't load off the gun and have personally had this aggravation of a jammed cylinder. So, can somebody come up loading instructions from the original manufacturer that specifically states shave a ring off the ball when seating it?
 
Jackrabbit1957 said:
There's a lot of opinions on chainfires, , I personally think they come from the rear of the cylinder from poorly fitting caps more than anything else. I chamfer the chamber mouths on my revolvers so they compress the ball rather than shave a ring off. I have never seen anything in original Colt loading instructions stating that a ring of lead must be shaved off the ball. I don't like it on account of changing the weight of the ball and producing some thing that can and does jam the cylinder. I don't load off the gun and have personally had this aggravation of a jammed cylinder. So, can somebody come up loading instructions from the original manufacturer that specifically states shave a ring off the ball when seating it?
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this guy purposely was trying to chain fire with his Walker. The results were: he could not get it to chain fire form the nipple side. He got it to chain fire from the front side.

test starts at 11:00

 
hawg said:
I've got an old 58 Remington made in 1969. It has always chain fired if wads or over ball lube wasn't used. As long as I use one or the other I can leave all the caps off except the one under the hammer and it wont chain.
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you have any luck with conical bullets in a 58 Remington?
 
hawg said:
A


All I ever tried was some smokeless bullets. I had to load them with the cylinder removed. They were hard to load straight and weren't as accurate as round balls.
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alright, I’ll forget that idea and keep C&B … cap & ball
 
The bullets from the mold you pictured have a rebated base so they will load straight. You will probably have to reshape the loading window to load them on the gun.
 
Mark_Mark said:
been looking up the controversy of chain fire and I’m convinced that you need a crispy, well defined lead ring after thr press, then a nice glob of lube for insurance…

.454 it is for me!
Click to expand...
I’m using .465” ball in guns whose chambers are reamed .456”. Before I began to ream chambers this large I reamed to .455” and used .457” ball. I also shoot mostly bullets and lately a bunch of testing with the 457” 225 grain Kerr bullets. They’re very promising, easy to load, and when weight sorted they’re very accurate as well. A bit of a pain to lube but otherwise easy peasy…

62004499-9D66-4BDB-A644-B668C6D010F4.jpeg
 
woodnbow said:
I’m using .465” ball in guns whose chambers are reamed .456”. Before I began to ream chambers this large I reamed to .455” and used .457” ball. I also shoot mostly bullets and lately a bunch of testing with the 457” 225 grain Kerr bullets. They’re very promising, easy to load, and when weight sorted they’re very accurate as well. A bit of a pain to lube but otherwise easy peasy…

View attachment 1105265
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that’s some odd looking bullets
 
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