Bag Molds

Are the primitive style bag molds any good? Or would I be better off with a modern one?

Depends on how you want to use it. The bag mold will be OK for casting a handfull of balls but will not be as efficient as a modern style for large/long casting sessions. My opinion YMMV

I wouldn't recommend one as an only mold. I use a bag mold, but only when I'm in camp and doing a few balls over the campfire just for kicks. Mine does a good job, but for serious work a block mold is much better.

Spence

I have several bag molds and they all prove difficult to fill with lead in a clean manner. Plus they get hot quickly and need careful handling. The two ball modern molds are the way to go for serious casting.

ballbag
My thoughts echo the other guys. I have one bag mold and I love it and plan to use it while camping. With that said though.....it is kinda a pain to fill, it tends to be a bit harder to cast a really wrinkle free ball and it does get hot quick! Fo really casting a bunch you need a good Lyman or even a Lee and a good lead pot. So I suggest you have both type molds.
Macon

It's all I've used for over 20 years...I have a Rapine for my .40 and my .54...It only takes me a couple of hours to roll two hundred balls...I alternate between the two molds when one gets hot...

A couple of guys mentioned that bag molds get hot, and that's right. I wrap the handles of mine with thick leather strips, that lets me work a lot longer before I have to let them cool off.



Spence

For doing an authentic impression of a trapper or other personna from that time, you will need a bag mold. But if you just want to make balls at home, you will be far better off buying a modern mold. Those bag molds get hot pretty quickly and result in a rather short casting session.

Bob,
I have a brass mold like yours with corn cob handles. I like the looks of yours. I think I'll do my other one with leather.
Regards,
Pletch

Purchased one once. The quality of machining in the cavity was so bad...
Well, the ball would have had fins like the coil out of an air conditioner. Sent it back and got stuck with a restocking fee from an outfit that knew they were selling trash to start with.

ballbag said:

Are the primitive style bag molds any good? Or would I be better off with a modern one?

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"Any good" is always an open ended question.
Personally, I wonder why there is such an interest in bag moulds. The only practical purpose I can see is to use them in rendezvous camp over a campfire so as to try to emulate what was done 'back then'. It is a slow and messy process and, IMHO, will not produce the quality balls you would get at home with modern equipment and moulds. Plus you have to haul pots, lead, ladels, etc. to camp instead of just a bag of balls. But, this is America, do wat floats yer stick.
To answer the question: modern moulds like Lyman or Lee will, most definitely give better quality balls

Rifleman1776 said:

It is a slow and messy process and, IMHO, will not produce the quality balls you would get at home with modern equipment and moulds. Plus you have to haul pots, lead, ladels, etc. to camp instead of just a bag of balls.

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Or you can just do it for fun, as I do. I take that little ladle in the picture, the mold and that's it. Cut and split a stick for a handle, melt the lead in the little ladle over the campfire and pour away. First day of squirrel season I'm going to go early, taking no balls, no food. I'll build a fire and mold a few balls, use them to take a squirrel, boil it up for lunch. Just 'cause I can. My Lee mold wouldn't be half so much fun on a jaunt like that. :haha: :haha:

Spence

George said:

Rifleman1776 said:

It is a slow and messy process and, IMHO, will not produce the quality balls you would get at home with modern equipment and moulds. Plus you have to haul pots, lead, ladels, etc. to camp instead of just a bag of balls.

Click to expand...

Or you can just do it for fun, as I do. I take that little ladle in the picture, the mold and that's it. Cut and split a stick for a handle, melt the lead in the little ladle over the campfire and pour away. First day of squirrel season I'm going to go early, taking no balls, no food. I'll build a fire and mold a few balls, use them to take a squirrel, boil it up for lunch. Just 'cause I can. My Lee mold wouldn't be half so much fun on a jaunt like that. :haha: :haha:

Spence

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Fun is a great excuse. Why do we do this messy shooting game at all except for the fun.

I like to run out a few balls after supper has cooked and is off the spit. Just somethin to do while waitin on sundown. Then out comes the book.

I get just as good if not better quality from my Callahan bag molds as I do from my Lymans.

Spence, I like the way you think. :thumbsup:

Sometimes at our annual club get together we'll have a shoot where we have to cast the balls over an open fire that we shoot in the match, talk about wrinkled balls, it's fun though. If your only going to have one mould get one with handles.
You can still pack it.
Deadeye

Bag molds are for playing make believe, real molds are for accurate shooting.

I think that mostof the guys hit it pretty good with using the bag molds to get a "feel" for how they made balls while out in the bush in the past but a block mold will be a better choice for running a seasons worth of balls for your own use, I got out of making balls around the fire and sold the bag molds I had, many still like to do this when out as it is a part of the picture of the past, The leather wrap is about a must of you go with the bag mould for your main mould or for tinkering around the campfire, some do not have a sprue cutter but this is not a biggy as a knife or flat surfaced side/end cutters will do.

I have long pondered this. For the space and weight of carrying lead, mold and ladle I can carry a goodly supply of cast balls. The chance of finding a lead outcropping in the wilderness is slim, so why not just leave the mold in the cabin and pack balls?

Makes sense on a long excursion where a central stock of lead (like L&C's lead powder containers) can be divvied out, or in use of "captured" balls of the wrong size, I guess. And for the 'skinners that get in to trade once a year and may get some raw lead at that time.

In any case it's a neat exercise and a good pass-time for non pipe smokers who you need to keep busy and out of mischief.

The first two molds I had were "bag" molds. one was a fairly nice 2 cavity (rb & conical for a c&b revolver). It was made of brass and worked well until the small handles got hot. The second (actually my first) was a cheaper bag mold that came with my first bp rifle. It got me through a lot of shooting until I bought my first Lyman. It had no sprue cut-off and often produced ball with "fins" but I still have it.

I've never run ball in the field; all casting is done at home. My still growing stable of molds is well over two dozen.