To bag mold or not to bag mold...

[Daryl Crawford]

I don't mold my own round ball. Now that I've gotten the confession out of the way, I've got a question.
I got a lead ladle from my dad and had some sort of romantic notion of melting lead in it over the fire pit and using an old style bag mold for my .50 rifles. Maybe if I liked the process I could make for the .62 smoothbore.
Am I being ridiculous? Is this something better left in the movies or a relaxing afternoon around the fire pit?
Does anyone use the old single ball bag molds? Anyone melt in the ladle over the fire?
I'd appreciate the input.

 

[Dale Lilly]

I'm old and no longer mold balls. However I have and used bag molds. I enjoyed doing it. If you shoot lots of rounds at targets, a single bullet mold may not suffice. I just sighted in and hunted. A single round bag mold was great and, yes, I did it over a fire [sometimes over a camp stove]... It adds to the experience. Polecat

 

[bud in pa]

Daryl make sure that you have a good pair of welding gloves. you are heating the mold up to over 400 degrees, that heat will travel down the metal handles eventually. I was a welder in another life, I was use to handling hot stuff. Now I use a Lee magnum melting pot and lee molds with wooden handles.

 

[Flintlock]

There are a few good makers of bag molds out there, just do a web search. I've cast probably thousands of round ball at events to show tourists and newbies how easy it is. I find it kind of relaxing lounging by a very small fire (mostly coals) casting. For speed it's hard to beat one of the modern molds like the Lee aluminum jobs but for casting at a event or at camp a bag mold is best. AND, you never have to worry about running out or buying balls again. I shoot into several rows of pine log cut into stove length size, when they get shot up I split them down and recover my lead.

 

[Brokennock]

I use one occasionally. I know a very good shooter who uses one a lot.
I know at least 2 that really enjoy making a few rounds with small ladle and bag mold while relaxing by the campfire while on a trek.
They don't use this as their primary means of obtaining enough ball for all the shooting they do. But, they enjoy doing it and shooting what they just made the old way.

 

[tenngun]

Over the past five years or so do 90% of my casting with a bag mold, and I bought some 570 balls, to make paper military cart rages for my TFC, just to play with, only fifty, and I had a box of minies I shot in a Zouave I otherwise I have not shot a ball I had not cast in forty years.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I have a couple bag molds, and enjoy making my own ammunition over a campfire. I have other means to melt lead and other molds, so it's simply a decision of how I feel like doing it that particular day. Melting lead and pouring balls over a campfire brings you more in touch with the way they did it in the old days.

I have a bag mold from track of the wolf. It's a made in India junky one. It does work though. My other mold is made by Larry Callahan. Cost me $55 but worth every penny.

Casting led balls using a bag mold over a campfire is not a fast process. Normally you will be making a handful of balls at any one time, but It will however give you enough ammunition for a couple days hunt, and it's very enjoyable.

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

I have Rapine bag molds in four or five sizes. I enjoy throwing some ball around the fire from time to time, especially to demonstrate to others. 99% of my own round balls are cast in modern multi-port molds with a bottom pour Lee furnace. I shoot a few thousand shots year, and one at at time can be time consuming.

Ditto the need for heavy leather to protect your hands. After five to ten casts, the bag molds are too hot to handle. I cast some, relax, cast some, relax,...good therapy by the campfire.

ADK Bigfoot

 

[Rató:rats]

I only use a bag mold. As has been said there are lots of great makers. If they ever get them back in stock you could order a less costly one from TOTW and see how much you use it before you spend more from a custom maker.

 

[necchi]

Well it's not the best way to turn out consistently good quality cast RB, but it is fun to do.
It does have that notion of antiquity and does bring you back to the basics of the olde days, the "romance" if you will, like Gibson melting his son's toy lead soldiers into ball in "The Patriot" movie,
Like others, I've done so as demonstration at camps.
But it takes preparation, you need small bits of lead to melt in the ladle.
Even a 1# block is too big to have fun with. They had 1/4# strips 12"s long that could be cut with a knife into small pieces and added once the melt started.

Your not wrong, it's a great idea and it is fun, ya just gotta think through the whole game to be succesfull and enjoy it. ,

 

[Daryl Crawford]

Thanks for all the comments, advice and suggestions. Sounds like it can be practical enough for me to look into.

 

[jdw276]

Well it's not the best way to turn out consistently good quality cast RB, but it is fun to do.
It does have that notion of antiquity and does bring you back to the basics of the olde days, the "romance" if you will, like Gibson melting his son's toy lead soldiers into ball in "The Patriot" movie,
Like others, I've done so as demonstration at camps.
But it takes preparation, you need small bits of lead to melt in the ladle.
Even a 1# block is too big to have fun with. They had 1/4# strips 12"s long that could be cut with a knife into small pieces and added once the melt started.

Your not wrong, it's a great idea and it is fun, ya just gotta think through the whole game to be succesfull and enjoy it. ,

I cast mainly multi cavity molds as well. But i have the set up to do bag mold and when i was running the multi cavities just filled my ladle 2/3's full a couple of times and lead to make roundball was put in the bag for later casting already formed up to the ladle. Done a few and have them with my kit.

 

[nwtradegun]

in my hayday of reenacting i carried one for lokks and to demo how it was done. only at rondavoos and fars

 

[Sidney Smith]

Regarding the handles of the bag molds getting too hot. I've wrapped the handles of my bag molds with leather strap shoe laces. They're like thin squared strips. With the handles wrapped this way, the mold can get hotter than hell but you can still grab it.

Also, I made my own small bag ladle out of a piece of 1/8 inch thick flat steel. Heated red hot with a Mapp torch then hammered into a ladle shape using a block of wood with a small depression and a ball peen hammer. Mine doesn't have the typical rounded opening to shove a stick into. I left that part flat and just ground it into a wedge shape with a point. I cut a green stick about 18 inches long and an inch thick. Then just split one end of the stick with a knife and jam the wedge of the ladle into it. Works great.

 

[Flintlock]

Almost any mold made today will cast ball plenty accurate for head shots small game hunting.