casting wrinkly balls

2nd round of casting .600 and getting better. wear in the new mould.

I find it relaxing to cast round balls oddly enough.

have a nifty powder and shot measure comming from
france.



and the measure.


be well all.

camo

the brass hammer......

I found in the alley one day back when I lived in the city with the Mrs.

i love that little hammer.

camo

some old man put a lot of miles on that hammer.

hand whittled finger marks in the wood. sorry Cecil if your missing your hammer.

camo

I have found that putting an extension on the cut off lever will prevent your hammer from striking the mold and causing it to not line up properly. I had a friend who poured 4000 balls striking the cut off lever and the side of the mold about equal number of times. Only the first two hundred or so were usable by the end his balls were egg shaped rather than round.I now put extensions on all of my cut off levers and don't use a hammer and have poured over ten thousand balls with my one mold and the balls are still nice and round.

thanks my friend,

not particularly worried about it.

as I understamd it......will take a lot of casts to break in.

I'm actually happy with the 2nd..

the brass hammer strikes home a good separation.......so not worried about that. much better than the stick I used the first time.

the biggest point I'm finding.......is yet another stress relieving activity remotely different from my occupation.

big win..plus even the wife finds this interesting and wants to participate.

win win.

camo

ohio ramrod said:

I have found that putting an extension on the cut off lever will prevent your hammer from striking the mold and causing it to not line up properly. I had a friend who poured 4000 balls striking the cut off lever and the side of the mold about equal number of times. Only the first two hundred or so were usable by the end his balls were egg shaped rather than round.I now put extensions on all of my cut off levers and don't use a hammer and have poured over ten thousand balls with my one mold and the balls are still nice and round.

Click to expand...

thanks again for the advise.

knowledge is power.

camo

A brass hammer is overkill. A rawhide mallet gets the job done nicely. And it won't beat the snot out of your gear.

Get your lead hotter and it will fill your mold out better. The lead is cooling as you're pouring. Causes wrinkles.

it's a small brass hammer.

less than 6 inch in length.

camo.

well guess it's an eight inch handle to be exact.
camo

64Springer said:

A brass hammer is overkill. A rawhide mallet gets the job done nicely. And it won't beat the snot out of your gear.

Get your lead hotter and it will fill your mold out better. The lead is cooling as you're pouring. Causes wrinkles.

Click to expand...

will look at that this weekend.

supposed to snow tomorrow morning on the gun opener........might have some time then.

camo

Wrinkly balls almost always translates into lead and/or mould not being hot enough. I have long used an old tomahawk handle for banging open my sprue cutters. Works, and the price was right.

Lee's aluminum molds need a good preheat as they lose heat rapidly unless you are using a 6 cavity or high weight mold that takes a lot of lead per cycle. With a ball mold, it takes hot lead and a lot of cycles to get it to temp. Dip the corner of your mold into the lead to get it to casting temp then, cast quickly to keep it up to temp and preventing wrinkles. If you start getting a frost looking finish, slow down on the casting tempo until you get the proper pace sorted out. If you are casting pretty fast and still getting wrinkles, crank up the lead pot temp another 50-100F. And remember all this can vary some with the ambient temperature you are casting in.

When the stars are aligned, mold, dipper, and lead pot at proper temps, my casting is a pleasant thing. Then I run out of lead in the pot. Wrinkle. Wrinkle.

I can cast 50 fishing weights without a hitch nor wrinkle. Hollow-base .58 minies ? Maybe 3 out of 5.

camoloc said:

2nd round of casting .600 and getting better. wear in the new mould.

I find it relaxing to cast round balls oddly enough.

have a nifty powder and shot measure comming from
france.

View attachment 174363

and the measure.

View attachment 174364
be well all.

camo

Click to expand...

Wrinkly balls…product of aging

And there it is

Dutch7 said:

And there it is

Click to expand...

We were all thinking it. Just waiting to see who would say it

camoloc said:

and shot measure comming from
france.

Click to expand...

Yep, it is an old measure for the hunting powder "Poudre T" (that powder doesn't exist anymore), I've one like this somewhere in my shop, frequently the other side was graduate for the weight of small lead...

pwbsmokey said:

We were all thinking it. Just waiting to see who would say it

Click to expand...

I've been working on my new t-shirt idea. A companion to my "Muzzleloading Takes Balls" t-shirt

"Bore Butter Makes My Balls Smell Minty Fresh"

Lead balls that is.

One thing I notice. The more precision I need, the more apt the casting is to be messed up. Sizing/lubricator cannot cure wrinkles. Now that manufacturing is no longer making several types of molds, out-of-production ones are increasing in value.

ohio ramrod said:

I have found that putting an extension on the cut off lever will prevent your hammer from striking the mold and causing it to not line up properly. I had a friend who poured 4000 balls striking the cut off lever and the side of the mold about equal number of times. Only the first two hundred or so were usable by the end his balls were egg shaped rather than round.I now put extensions on all of my cut off levers and don't use a hammer and have poured over ten thousand balls with my one mold and the balls are still nice and round.

Click to expand...

I did the same with most of mine. I use a wooden dowel instead of a hammer to strike the cutters; softer blow and less likely to damage the molds.