Bullet Casting Woes

[villiers]

Maybe we´re just too discriminating. I´m sure the people who originally used BP firearms wouldn´t have expected to achieve the accuracy we now expect of modern military weapons. Most likely `twas just letting off a volley against a mass of `enemy´.

[jmoore]

Maybe we´re just too discriminating.

What's this "we're" comment? I'm thinking it's rather more singular in nature!

Did have a self-induced defugalty drilling the attaching holes for the four cavity mould. The Lyman sprue cutting plate has a secondary lock at the opposite end which can bind the blocks if not out of the way altogether when closing. So when holding the handles shut on the blocks with shims at the bottom of the grooves during the drilling operation, the holes were generated at a slight angle. After pins were installed the mould would tend to remain slightly open at the top! Took a while to figure out the cause, but it was not to hard to correct the problem after much head scratching.

Here's some photos. The sprue plate has to be positioned very specifically for the binding to occur. At least it doesn't do it all the time now that the holes in the jaws have been "de-angled"...

[villiers]

"What's this "we're" comment? I'm thinking it's rather more singular in nature! "

True! I´ve just put so much effort into it. But not to worry, I´ve now ordered a new mould from Mr. Hensel which fills from the top and will be provided with a Minié type hollow base EXACTLY according to the specs in Storz´ book. Pity I can´t do much about my my deficiencies as a target shooter.

[jmoore]

Discovered that soft swaged bullets ARE very sensitive to case mouth dimensions. The recovered bullets this weekend showed that the bottoms of th bullets badly gas cut, whilst the harder cast bullets of the same OD had no such problems. Not surprisingly, the swaged bullets leaded up the start of the revolvers' bores fairly quickly. Have just finished turning a larger plug.

On the casting front, that four cavity mould is VERY nice! The thicker sprue plate with additional lock eliminates a couple of persistant problems. Fairly uniform weights for all. Never did run the thing too hot, either.

Rain isn't condusive to casting outdoors, so the session was terminated a bit sooner than anticipated, however. Roughly 200 (?) bullets cast.

[villiers]

200! I´ve still got about 20 left from my last effort and am waiting for the new Hensel hollow base mould to make a new start. Wish I could get hold of my spent cast bullets but the 100 and 300 metre ranges have barriers and I can´t get to the butts. The 50 metre range is no good either as the sand is just too packed with spent rounds.

[jmoore]

The larger expander ball seems to do the trick. The swaged bullets seat with minor press pressure and the new cast bullets can be seated with between 20-30 pounds force as measured on a couple of scales. Ended up seating the bulk of the cast bullets using thumb pressure whilst graping the case, but a little plate on top of the bullet was needed to keep it from being minorly painful! A left over cannulure provided a nice positive stop that happened to end up at matching the case mouth with the rear edge of the bullet's crimping groove.

Now I'm wishing there was an easy way to do precision cannulures on cases that don't have them!

[Patrick Chadwick]

Now I'm wishing there was an easy way to do precision cannulures on cases that don't have them!

I have a tool that might do it, with some adaptation. One of those gadgets made to press a cannelure in lead bullets. I'll give it a try in the next few days and report back. My workshop isn't as impressively packed as yours, but I also have to dig around in the archaeological deposits.

Old German workshop proverb "He who keeps perfect order is too lazy to search!"

[vintage hunter]

Do it look something like this Patrick?

[vintage hunter]

Gave Patrick's theory a try on a .38 Special case, looks like it will do the trick.

[jmoore]

Gave Patrick's theory a try on a .38 Special case, looks like it will do the trick.

So what is that tool? And can they be bought? The way things are now, getting anything but the quickest little side jobs done could take months!

Beginning to understand the factory cannelure feature far better. But it's never been discussed as anything but a nuisance in all the reading I've come across concerning reloading.

ETA: Just noticed the "CH" logo. That would be known as a "clue"...Off to the Google thing...

ETA2: And here it is!:

http://www.ch4d.com/?com=catalog&vie...t&alias=CanToo

Only US$95. Might as well dig the hole a little deeper.