For Dummies: Casting Minies?

Stantheman86 said:

I'm doing just this tomorrow, taking my .69 Musket out with a variety of paper types, a bunch of round balls, .660 slugs and different lubes and I'm just gonna go to the pistol pits at my range and shoot .

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Sounds like good times. I test fairly often looking for better loads for my guns. The load and lube used in the Scout project was the result of one experiment. I found I could shoot over 50 rounds straight with no issue with that combo. Since we aren't allowed to paper patch in the NSSA, that's one avenue I have yet to explore.

I'm basically going to be a one man testing unit , compiling and taking phone pics of 50 yard targets to decide if future testing out to longer ranges is even warranted.

I "test" at 50 so I can hole up in the back pistol pit for 4 hours with a canteen full of iced tea and a bag of food, and shoot without worrying about other people shooting next to me or having to wait for people to drive down to change targets.

My parents have a little mini range on their property but I can't be sitting back there letting off a .69 Musket for hours , the neighbors might not be ok with that much ......could probably get away with a little .32 squirrel rifle

Stantheman86 said:

You should be able to shoot properly sized Minies all day without cleaning.

I routinely shoot a 40 round Cartridge Box full of them.

I just suck it up and pay Dixie 50 cents a piece for .575 Minies, and I use a candle wax melter to hot dip them in SPG lube and a cheap Arbor press and dowels to push them through sizers.

Roll em up into 1863 Pattern cartridges, lots of fun. Accuracy is just fine. Minies were designed to give acceptable accuracy in combat and load in a fouled bore.

Forcing tight Minies down a bore or wiping in between shots , is, in my opinion, going against the entire reason the Minie exists.

If you want accuracy and a tight bullet shoot a solid base bullet like a REAL.

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There's really not a lot of things cooler in the shooting hobby than grabbing a full cartridge box with 40 rounds in it, maybe a few more in the range bag......a repro rifle-musket and going to the range.

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Wow! Nice photos, and you've got the whole idea down pat!

People who are interested in starting in Muzzleloading are often turned off by what they think is "loose powder with banging tight patched balls down the bore" I'm like, no way, I shoot with paper cartridges, the way it was actually done and it's way more fun .

Stantheman86 said:

KISS, keep it simple.

A lot of people try to outsmart 200 year old technology.

Both the various developed military Ordnance Dept's and civilians simply took a bunch of different bullets, powder charges/types, lubes, paper etc and just shot guns with them to see what worked.

Both the US and CSA did a lot of testing of ammunition, the US changed the composition of Minie lube at least once or twice.

If an entire US Ordnance Dept took months of daily shooting in the 1850s to decide if .58 was better than. 69 Minie, then I don't expect to develop a load for one of my rifles overnight.

I'm doing just this tomorrow, taking my .69 Musket out with a variety of paper types, a bunch of round balls, .660 slugs and different lubes and I'm just gonna go to the pistol pits at my range and shoot .

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The Minie in .69 was found to be very accurate. The problem was that the ammunition was heavy, the cartridge box was too big, and transporting large quantities of cartridges was found to be very ponderous in comparison to the .58. The .58 was lighter, the cartridges and cartridge box smaller, etc. etc.

I just cast about 40 535-grain .685" "wadcutter" Minies for my .69 with a re-lined barrel. I have a skirmish on Saturdy. I'd have cast a lot more, and done a bunch of so-called North Carolina "tarheel Nesslers" but the sun went down, and I couldn't see too good... (I cast out-doors, running a power cord out of the laundry room to a table I've got set up in the yard... The key to casting Minies is to use hot lead, and to make sure the mould is plenty hot too. In my case, I tip these out into a large metal box that is padded with old scrap pot-holders from my kitchen and pieces of an old towel. The first several have to go back into the pot/furnace because it takes a while to heat up the mould. The wadcutters are a nose-pour type mould, which is to say that the sprue plate hole is at the tip or point of the bullet. I store the monster .685s in a plastic 20-gauge shotshell box to keep from deforming the skirts. It really doesn't take much to bend or distort the skirts.

Good luck with your casting! My set up stores in a little metal file cabinet out of the way when not in use.

I'm slowly trying to get a setup going to cast some stuff, plus when you get into stuff like .69 Minies you kinda have to, they're like a buck a piece to have someone else do it. Basically just paying some dude at Track of the Wolf to cast bullets and mail them.

I cast .451 rlb with a double cavity, Lyman steel mold. My ladle, holds about 3 ounces and has a pour spout. It's about the size of a large egg, with a quarter of the shell, "missing". I cast my ball, outdoors and on the ground. You dont want to breathe the fumes or drop a molten vessel (why i cast, sitting on a concrete slab, cant drop what's already there) or get ANY moisture into the molten vessel. Not so much as a drop of sweat. Nothing.

I melt mine with a plumbers, propane torch. I learned a curious fact, early on by casting wheel weights, the steel clips "float" on top of molten lead. WWs are not the most ideal. Pure, soft lead, is best. I use a long screw to scrape the dross off the melt pot. You will see it, it's obvious. When the lead is clean, looks like quicksilver, when molten.

Smooth and sure actions are needed, especially when using a lite torch and only several ounces in a small "crucible". Now, ask me about ant mound castings Needless to say, wear leather gloves, eye protection (I like a full face shield) and all cotton, clothing. Never synthetics, such as nylon, rayon...etc

Yeah, I go a bit "overboard" on safety. I have an old bicycle cap to soak up any brow sweat and a full face shield. I wear old jeans and and an old work-shirt, a set of gauntlets, and even a leather apron, which is total overkill. Oh, and steel-toed boots/safety shoes.

How do you use the screw to get the dross off the top? I've got a little metal spoon-type ladle I don't use for casting with a wood handle. I use bees wax to flux, but I don't seem to ever get a lot of fire out of the furnace.

My ladle sounds about like yours. I try to put the little spout against the sprue hole of the mould, and then turn both together at 90 degrees to flood the interior with lead. Then I let a bit drip onto the top as it cools. My lead is so hot that plenty runs across the top and back into the pot. Hot as I keep it, I still have to throw back some .670 round balls and Miniés with obvious voids into the pot.

A pair of old pliers is mighty handy to pick stuff up, and to pull off excess lead from the mould or table-top.

With a Minié/Burton bullet, I think it is key to store them so they don't get knocked around.

DaveC said:

Yeah, I go a bit "overboard" on safety. I have an old bicycle cap to soak up any brow sweat and a full face shield. I wear old jeans and and an old work-shirt, a set of gauntlets, and even a leather apron, which is total overkill. Oh, and steel-toed boots/safety shoes.

How do you use the screw to get the dross off the top? I've got a little metal spoon-type ladle I don't use for casting with a wood handle. I use bees wax to flux, but I don't seem to ever get a lot of fire out of the furnace.

My ladle sounds about like yours. I try to put the little spout against the sprue hole of the mould, and then turn both together at 90 degrees to flood the interior with lead. Then I let a bit drip onto the top as it cools. My lead is so hot that plenty runs across the top and back into the pot. Hot as I keep it, I still have to throw back some .670 round balls and Miniés with obvious voids into the pot.

A pair of old pliers is mighty handy to pick stuff up, and to pull off excess lead from the mould or table-top.

With a Minié/Burton bullet, I think it is key to store them so they don't get knocked around.

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No such thing as too safe. I just use a long wood screw to drag the surface, the dross gets pulled into the threads, I tap the screw on the concrete and the dross drops off. I never bother to flux, the screw does a good job. I'm only melting, 3 ounces tops. With a small propane torch, right in the ladle. Yes, pliers are a must for handling scrap bits.

Smokey Plainsman said:

How would you slug without pulling the breach plug and driving it through? I’m sure there’s a way?

Seems a Lee 110V electric pot might be really nice? What type of ladle would I need?

I’m reading casting minie balls is really hard? Do you guys think I can learn to do it??

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If I was still in Vegas, I'd let you use my setup. I have done it on the kitchen stove before. With a good vent fan it's no problem. One thing I might add is when casting minies and there is a separate pin for the HB it can be a peta at times. The pin needs to be hot and stay hot for the bases to come out good.

The last time I slugged my bore, I used an oversized ball, (0.590 in a 0.530). I center drilled the ball for an 8-32 bolt. I used a nut and washers under bore size to hold the bolt in the ball. I drive the over sized ball into the bore using a deep socket with an outside diameter of less than bore size. I used a pair of vise grips to pull the bolt and ball out and I had my slug.

Check out. castboolits.gunloads.com they have a vast knowledge base and likes to many good suppliers.
I have been loading since 1960, and find them to be great sorce.
21 years Navy moved me many times also.
A iron pot, propane stove and a ladle, Lyman makes one with a spout that I like. Roto metals is my source of lead that my mailman hates. Check yard sales for a small iron pot and camp stove. That will save $. I have several Lee molds.
Good luck

I started molding bullets from a cast pot and lead dipper fashioned at the forge, on top of an old wood stove. Wasn't to worried about toxicity in those days as the old house wasn't air tight. .575 Minnie was what the old 1969 Euro arms Zouave required. The newer, 90's version Zoli Zouave handles a .578, thin skirt.