Basics for casting my own .58 Minnie balls?

[ChapK]

I want to start making my own .58 cal Minnie balls. Can someone give me the basics? I shoot an 1861 reproduction Armisport Springfield. I have been buying both .577 and .575 cal from Track of the Wolf. I just purchased a Euroarms Enfield Musketoon. Haven't shot it yet.

-My my understanding is that I need a lead pot caster. They have those at my nearby Cabelas. Where do you get lead ingots? Specific website like midway USA? I understand I also need casting flux?

-What tools and bullet molds are need for .58 cal? What lube sizing tools and dies are needed?

By the way, I am active duty Air Force stationed in SD, so I am not near any places where N-SSA events take place. I just target shoot for fun. I want to get into skirmishing when I get stationed back east or retire in East TN. Thanks for all the information you can provide.

[Eggman]

Be ready for 10,000 opinions.
Check around Rapid City junkyards. You need "pure" lead. You don't need flux. Find X-ray room lead - it's always pure, Melt it over your coleman, skim it (a real peculiarity here - don't get it too clean. Pure/pure lead just wont cast - has to have some impurities it it)and then pour it into your Lee (??) production pot. Get the lead good and melted - soak your mold in the pot to the same temp and then have at it.
Never believe vendors saying they're selling pure lead. If it's not X-ray lead it's suspect. Get a Lee lead tester.
You will find that the really cheap Lee traditional minie .575-500 will shoot great in both your guns. Probably around 40 grains fffg.

[Eggman]

By the way, Forrest's Escort is mostly based in Tennessee. Give us a holler when you're ready.

[Lou Lou Lou]

The best flux is pine saw dust. Throw it in, move it around and scoop it out. If you get serious, you will want your Minie's 1 thousandths under bore size. Get someone with a plug gauge to check the bores, they are all different. Of course, then you may need a push thru sizer. Please keep us in the loop so we can help

[Dan Mastin]

Send me your email address and I'll hook you up with an experienced shooter in Aberdeen, SD. A couple of days with him would really fast track you in getting started. If you are in Rapid City it's a bit of a long boring drive to Aberdeen. I made it more than a few times in the late '80's.

You can email me at zouave47@aol.com

Dan Mastin
11th Indiana

[Eggman]

Another possibility - there's an old hard core roundballer/buckskinner named Jerry Root whom I believe is still living in Rapid City. Might be worth a call.

[Mike McDaniel]

Taking things in relative order...

1. You need pure lead. No alloys, no wheel weights. Pure, dead soft lead.
1a. Believe it or not, you can get lead on eBay. Though most of us get lead through N-SSA contacts...group buys in the tons.
2. Run the melting pot hot.
3. Keep the mould hot. Very hot. Rest it on the lip of the pot as you melt the lead, then expect to dump the first dozen bullets.
4. Don't inspect bullets while making them, keep the bullets coming out of the mould. Inspect later, toss rejects back in the pot.
5. The gouge for bullet size is .001 under bore diameter. Ideally, get a mould that casts to that size and you can skip sizing bullets.

[Maillemaker]

Great advice already.

I buy my pure lead from www.rotometals.com. I've seen too many folks turn up at a competition and start going, "Man, I don't know what happened to my gun! Must have some bad lead!"

Bottom pour pots are much more convenient than ladling. But some molds just don't pour well without the sideways-fill a ladle delivers.

Sizing not only gets you a precision round but perfectly round also. If you use a Lubrisizer, you can lube and size at the same time.

Steve

[Eggman]

ChapK- If you decide to go with this .001" under bore size mold, and find it impossible to load the third or fourth shot using the progency bullet, you have my permisssion to burn these guys at the stake.

[Maillemaker]

I size my guns until the next size up in thousandths won't fit. So I guess I'm in the .001" under camp. I routinely get off 11-12 shots in a course of fire. I'm using RCBS Hodgdon bullets with 50/50 beeswax/Crisco lube. I clean after each course of fire, though.

Now I've shot period-style minnie balls (RCBS-500M) using the 1862 Ordnance Manual lube recipe (8:1 Beeswax/Tallow) and I can shoot those bullets pretty much indefinitely as long as the barrel stays warm.

Steve

[jonk]

Don't worry about lubes just yet.

Get a good ladle melting pot. Either an electric, or do it outside over a coleman stove.

Get a good ladle. I like the Lyman one.

While there is some debate on the proper sizing size for bullets, you must find a way to measure your bore diameter. I use a pin gauge. You can also do a fairly good job by tapping a known oversize bullet partway in, skirt first, about 1/4", then pulling and measuring with calipers or micrometer. If you get say a .575 mold and you have a .583 bore (which is what my armisport is) you will never get much accuracy. You can always size down, much harder to size up. As for sizing, if you are uncomfortable with the 1/1000 under bore diameter, go 2/1000ths. That's still fine. I think that whether the tight fit works or not depends heavily on bore condition and lube selection.

Pure lead.

S and S Firearms and Lodgewood Mfg sell sizing dies. Both for lube sizers and push through types.

A hardwood mallet, a pair of work gloves, safety glasses, an old spoon and an old can to scrape off dross after fluxing (wax, sawdust, commercial mixes all work) and you're good to go.

[gjwarren]

My experience suggests using lyman 575213, soft lead (pipes, cable sheathing, roof or shower pan) cooked in a 6qt iron dutch oven, fluxes with a candle. Also use candle to soot your mould & casting ladle. Cook on a Coleman or get a cheap, sturdy propane cooker. I had a bottom pour years & it was too slow, difficult & clogged. I shoot 5 guns & go fast with a big pot of lead & ladle & 2 or 3 moulds going. Dip Minnies in beeswax, alox, thinned with crisco less than 50%. Not necessary to size or clean btween relays unless u have trouble loading. Sizing can deform & my best accuracy has come from unsized w good lube. Keep moulds full when done to avoid rust.
Good luck. I hope to see you at Ft. Shenandoah. Grant Warren, 8th Va.

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[Kyle G.]

I have been casting with a 20lb Lee bottom pour pot which I clean and oil the pot after every casting session to prevent rust from getting in the lead and clogging the pour spout.

With both iron and aluminum molds I have noticed that a sharply pointed core pin in the mold will cause voids in the base cavity. You want to round off the tip of the core pin, preferably on a lathe for concentricity. If your still having problems with voids then you can try scratching more vent lines in both the mold blocks and the core pin. One of my aluminum Challenger molds, a 330 gr semi wad-cutter, has an excess of vent lines on both the mold blocks and the core pin. The core pin has a groove running around the bottom which gives the air venting from the skirt cavity a place to go. The first time casting I had virtually no issues with wrinkles or air pockets, something which my steel Lyman mold has plenty of.

P.S. Despite what people want to believe you can cast without smoking the mold at all, which can cause issues with final size. I go straight from a mold coated with a thin film of oil to pouring lead and have had no problems with releasing it from the mold. I have lapped my molds to remove the tooling marks caused by the machining process.

[gjwarren]

I have been casting with a 20lb Lee bottom pour pot which I clean and oil the pot after every casting session to prevent rust from getting in the lead and clogging the pour spout.

With both iron and aluminum molds I have noticed that a sharply pointed core pin in the mold will cause voids in the base cavity. You want to round off the tip of the core pin, preferably on a lathe for concentricity. If your still having problems with voids then you can try scratching more vent lines in both the mold blocks and the core pin. One of my aluminum Challenger molds, a 330 gr semi wad-cutter, has an excess of vent lines on both the mold blocks and the core pin. The core pin has a groove running around the bottom which gives the air venting from the skirt cavity a place to go. The first time casting I had virtually no issues with wrinkles or air pockets, something which my steel Lyman mold has plenty of.

P.S. Despite what people want to believe you can cast without smoking the mold at all, which can cause issues with final size. I go straight from a mold coated with a thin film of oil to pouring lead and have had no problems with releasing it from the mold. I have lapped my molds to remove the tooling marks caused by the machining process.
Those voids, otherwise known a sucker holes are because the lead, then mold get too hot.

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