Moulds

I've been using three different Lee round ball molds and they are working very nicely for me.

As MC posted we don't usually use the exact size as the caliber of the bore. Gotta leave room for a patch. Or in the case of cap and ball revolvers we go over size to allow some lead to be cut off during the ramming home of the ball.
 
Just looked and Cabela's shows a Lee .490 ball mould for 24.95. I've used this type a lot and they work well after you warm them up to about 400 degrees with a propane torch. After warming they just keep on cranking. Watch your lead temp- if the balls get a frosted look the temp is too high and balls will be slightly undersize when cooled. Nice and bright is the right look. Cheers
 
wr.sainsbury said:
Just looked and Cabela's shows a Lee .490 ball mould for 24.95. I've used this type a lot and they work well after you warm them up to about 400 degrees with a propane torch. After warming they just keep on cranking. Watch your lead temp- if the balls get a frosted look the temp is too high and balls will be slightly undersize when cooled. Nice and bright is the right look. Cheers
Click to expand...

..... and too cool a melting pot will show up as deformed balls or fissure like lines or actual fissures in the surface. For the one above turn down the pot a little. For the one here turn it up a little.

I'm fairly new to casting for round ball but so far just sitting the lower corner of the mold block into the lead pool has worked out just fine. Any lead that sticks to it knocks off easily back into the pot and after warming up like this for about 45 seconds the mold produces good drops from the very first pour.

Once you start pouring you need to work smartly but smoothly to keep the blocks hot enough. Especially with .5'ish and smaller as there's more surface area shedding heat than the lead pours are bringing in if you don't. For example after the pour I only wait long enough to see the top of the sprue plate to barely chill visibly then I knock the plate and drop the sprue back into the pot then the balls onto an old cotton bath towel folded double as padding.

If you get lots of flashing then it's likely that the mold blocks are not closing correctly. I solved this by giving the blocks a little rap with my knocking stick before applying a firmer pressure on the handles. With this trick I get perfect forms every time.
 
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