As promised, here are some pictures and specs on the 10 gauge cast RB.











Here's one with an 8mm cast bullet for size comparison.


They weigh on average, 615 grains. Because of the mold not closing well they are larger than the nominal .760" that they are supposed to be. ONE of them, (might have been the first good one), was able to go down the right barrel - barely. I will roll them around between a pair of steel plates and see if I can get them a bit rounder.

Here are a few photos of the area on my bench around my pot. For some reason, the camera didn't want to take a picture of the ceiling or the cabinets.




Here is the genuinely primiitive mold.


There are lead 'splashings' about 6' in all directions around the pot.

Paul

PS - Here's the story behind the pictures of the bench: http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16343

Paul

I shoulda posted here, but you'll find it
 
That is quite a mess
 
RJ

I assume you are referring to the lead...:)

Yes, it is pure lead.

Paul

If nothing else you could throw thoes things at something and still put a hurting on it!

The mold is similar to the Kirkland made mold I got for my .36 H&A, I shall post a picture of it.
I planed off the top and made and installed a sprue cutter, much neater than hacking it off with dikes.
It is even less advanced than the Colt .31 pocket mold my cousin and I used to make bullets for his .32-20.

I hate like the dickens to have to order a custom mold, but it looks like it may be necessary. I'm thinking a .750" would be about right. I'll shoot these and see how they work, but I'm sure that if they don't all go in the same hole at a 1000 yards that I will be 'wondering' if a better mold wouldn't produce better groups.

Paul

Where's the picture?

Paul

Hey Paul,

Nice job with those round balls.

I saw this 10 gauge vintage crimper that may be of interest.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SHELL-CRIMPER-POWDER-MEASURES-ANTIQUE-RELOADING-TOOLS-/171820560914

Cheers

Jorge

Thanks, Jorge. I don't have a 10 ga. breech loader, so won't be loading any "shells". The round ball is for the sidexside muzzle-loader hunterbug found for me.

Paul

Quote from: gitano;139933Thanks, Jorge. I don't have a 10 ga. breech loader, so won't be loading any "shells". The round ball is for the sidexside muzzle-loader hunterbug found for me.

Paul

No worries Paul.

Since I haven't been to the range since the last post in this thread, I thought I would just continue it instead of starting a new thread.

I went out to the shop to cast some more of these round balls (RB). Since I was now after the most consistency I could squeeze out of this mold I took some 0000 steel wool to it and scraped the mating surfaces to get the best possible connection. It did some good.

I figured I'd cast 30 or 40, maybe 50, in hopes of getting 25 good/consistent ones. After it was all said and done, that turned out to be about right. These balls are 0.754" -0.005" in diameter and weigh a very consistent 621 +/- 1 grains with the alloy I had in my pot. With that diameter and that weight, the density of the alloy turned out to be ~10.94 g/cc. Pure lead is 11.34 g/cc.

I allowed the mold to get hot enough that it was throwing 'frosted' balls. I thought that would be the most consistent. However, with something as large as this, it takes a LONG time to solidify. I dropped a couple of molten 'balls' into the water bath before I changed my procedures.

After I had made about 30, I took them out of the water bath and had a look at them. There were only 6 that were satisfactory. So I dried the discards off COMPLETELY and dropped them back in the pot - CAREFULLY. No problems. Whew!

This time every time I filled the mold, I would let the sprue harden then dip about half of the mold into the water bath to cool it. Doing this I got VERY consistent weights and shapes. I cast another 20 or so. I took that batch out and kept 24 of them.

I used the sprue cutter built into the mold handles to snip the sprues off. It does a pretty good/acceptable job, but there's still a nubbin of sprue left, and there is a bit of a 'seam'. So, employing a 'trick' that Jay Edward told me about, I rolled them between two steel plates. Worked a treat for generally 'rounding' them and certainly rounding over the sprue. If you want to see what they looked like in general straight from the mold, see the pictures in post #1. Here's what they looked like after being 'rolled':


Here's a close-up of how the sprue stub is 'faired' into the ball:


The first 8 of them I weighed went 621 grains each. I was amazed! Out of the 24 I took, 19 of them were between 620 and 622. One each of 615, 616, 617, 623 and 629. I'm really surprised at the 'tightness' around 621.

As I said, the diameter is 0.754 -0.005". The muzzles of the shotgun are both 0.764". I dropped a ball down each barrel, and they 'floated' to the breech and rolled out when I tipped the muzzles down. There's only ~0.010" of space between the ball and the barrel, but I don't anticipate any problems with well-lubed patches.

This piece will go to the range with me next time I go. The Zouave, this, and probably the flintlock, .635 caliber, pistol along with the Sauer.  Since I'll be taking the chronograph, I'll try to get numbers for the Zouave and the SxS.

Looking at the Lyman Black Powder loading book you gave me Al, and considering the weight of these RBs at ~1 7/16 oz, I think I'll start with 120 grains. The book says 140 grains for an ounce and a half charge of shot. We'll see what happens with 120 and almost an ounce and a half patched RB. Anything you think might be wrong with that, let me know, please.

Paul

Don't see a problem.

I use 90 grains of 2F mostly because that is my powder load for 1 - 1.5 ounce bismuth goose loads in #2

If you have really roaming POI you might want to lessen the powder some

Interesting a friend gave me a bag of round balls he cast for a 12 gauge he has loaded them on top of a shortened shot cup. He was getting reasonable groups out to forty yards and by 45 they were going everywhere. He was getting huge amounts of penetration with them as well. If you feel like it try a penetration test. He has a 55 gal drum filled with cow spit and they went through that as well as several 2 inch planed lumber spruce.

I'll back off to 90 grains, Al, and see what happens there first.

I would certainly consider a 'shot' cup, farmboy, but the problem is that these RBs are only 0.010" smaller than the muzzle. That doesn't leave much room for 'plastic' unless it is REALLY thin.

Paul

How are you going to crimp them? Will they be full length shells? That has me wondering what to do with the one I had given to me he also gave me a bunch of slugs that he had cast.same thing not sure what to do with them. When you talk about the space my friend was talking about cutting the petals of the wad down l should find out what he did I was thinking the ball was shorter than the wad but maybe he cut them down below the centre line of the ball.