.36 CAL BULLET MOLD

[Zonie]

At yesterdays gun show I bought one of those .36 caliber brass Italian bullet molds. The kind that comes in those boxed pistol sets folks want too much money for.
The price for this mold was right and I didn't have one.
Of course, after getting it home I started thinking, "Why not cast up some bullets just to see what you get?"

After getting my leather motorcycle gloves, gas stove, ladle and melting pot out I found that it is possible to cast bullets using these things.

I'm not saying they are top quality but at least they are pure lead! :grin:
Anyway, I now have some pointed bullets which have a heel diameter of .353-.370 X .120 length (out of round but under the chamber size on my revolvers) and a body diameter of .380-.385 X about .180 length. They are .547 long, overall.

Before I bend any of my loading levers off I must ask:
Have any of you folks ever cast up some bullets out of similar molds?
How well did they load?

Each cast bullet also made one ball.
It too is out of round measuring .378-.388.
I'm not too worried about loading them even if they are .013 oversize. As I mentioned, they are pure lead.

Hope to hear from you folks. :grin: :thumbsup:

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

Yes, I have probably an identical style of .36 cal (ball and conical) mould that I also bought for a very low price. These are also made for the .31 cal and the .44 cal guns.

I have been informed that it is "luck of the draw" as to whether you get one that is close to spec. I don't have any currently cast to check dimension to compare to your's, but mine were also slightly out of round (just only very slightly though) and a little oversize.

Yes, likewise, being of soft lead, they were easy enough to load--but I really wouldn't want to break my loading lever--just to shoot some cheap oversize & out of round balls & bullets. and they DID shoot reasonably well in spite of their variances. Got to watch the temp. of that mould, they heat up VERY fast and I believe it is possible to distort them if not careful.

While I wouldn't recommend using these projectiles for competition (or precision shooting), they are good enough for plinking loads and that's mostly what I do with the cap-n-ball guns anyway.

If you're interested, I'll see if I can find you the .31 and .44 moulds. I usually come across that stuff at the NSSA nationals in the spring. I even found a .36 cal Maxi Ball Lyman mould, so there are some uncommon moulds that show up there.

Regards,
WV_Hillbilly

 

[Zonie]

Thanks for your time and the information.

I'm not really interested in getting any more of these molds but was just curious about the results others have had with shooting the bullets they make.

Thanks again. :thumbsup:

 

[Zonie]

Well, to add some information about the pointed bullets and round balls cast by the Italian Brass bullet molds, I went to the range today with my .36 Remington and "Schneider & Glassick".

I loaded the Remington with 24 grains of Swiss FFFg and the pointed bullets (which weigh 130 +/-2 grains).

The recoil was similar to a modern .38 loaded with light wad cutters. Nothing attention grabbing, but defiantly more than the normal round balls normally shot.

The group at 15 yards wasn't that bad, hitting about 7 inches high. The vertical dispersion was about 2 inches. I think the horizontal spread of 6 inches was more my fault than the bullets and with better sights the bullets (and I) could have done better. (IMO, the vertical dispersion measured the bullets performance and this Remington has the old cast groove rear sight which was (to me) annoyingly wide with the post front sight).

These pointed bullets do load hard even though they are cast using pure lead. On the good side, I didn't bend the loading lever or shear off the screw it pivots on.

The Schneider & Glassick is a brass frame gun (Confederate replica of the 1851 Colt Navy) so I decided to keep the loads light and use the newly cast round balls mentioned above.

They loaded just fine over 15 grains of Swiss FFFg
and with a rather feeble pop made a 2 inch group about 4 inches to the left.

Reloading the S&G with more of the round balls and 20 grains of powder created a more soal satisfying bang but made a 2 1/2 inch group, centered but about 3 inches high.

All in all, I would say if your set up to cast bullets for your pistol and you see one of these bullet molds for about $5 (what I paid) I would say go for it!
In fact, I think I'll keep my eyes open for a .44 caliber mold. You can never have too many toys, Ah says.

Shooting the bullets makes an interesting change from the round balls everyone shoots and the round balls seem to work just fine (for a fraction of the cost of swaged balls).

Good Shooting to you

 

[mothernatureson]

Case moulds. Hi, I bought one of these at a gun show for five dollars. It is solid brass with a case hardened sprue cut off plate. Its 36 cal and makes one rondball and one conical. I use it for my 51 navy in a presentation case. I also display a few cast conicals. Actually, it casts some decent looking projectiles. I have never measured them or loaded them. Nice looking mould.