John Westenberger
07-09-2022, 07:02 PM
Let me open first by saying I have no affiliation with Martys Arms molds, and have never even spoken to the man himself.
I purchased an 1842 Springfield over the winter built using a nice 1849 dated lock and a whitacre barrel. The assembly was subpar, the stock inlay looked like it was done with a sledgehammer, and there was more epoxy holding the thing together than wood in some places. But boy, did it shoot. I borrowed some roundballs of various sizes from a few fellow N-SSA members and went to the range. 10 shots turned the 10 ring into a ragged hole with .680. I figured it would be easy to find a mold. A few phone calls, an email or two and I'd be in business in a few weeks! Boy was I wrong...
Since round ball molds are no longer in production by Moose at Moose molds (I still egg him on every time I see him!), and Rapine molds are a thing of the past, a majority of new smoothbore shooters have been either dealing with the big dogs (Lyman, lee, etc), or having to track down a used or new old stock mold. Through some deep internet dives I came across Marty's arms. Primary a manufacturer of buckshot molds, they also produce standard and metric roundball molds. CNC cut out of aluminum in Minnesota.
First: the service.
I ordered my mold on the evening of 7/1. My hope was to have it for the last skirmish I will be attending for the season at the end of the month. I received it this morning around 7:30am! Even with the fourth of July mixed in, he made my mold Tuesday morning (It's marked 7/5/22 under the handle) and shipped it out the same day. Now that's speed! The beauty of a full time manufacturer, and a few CNC machines making mold at the same time.
Next: The mold.
Pulling it out of the USPS box, it was wrapped up fairly nicely. Opening the wrap and inspecting the mold revealed nice machining, with 4 cavities (Yes, FOUR!), unfortunately no sprue cutter. The handles are rather short, but usable. Visually the mold has his logo and "Round ball .680" machined into it. I immediately got the lead pot cooking, and prepped my other molds for a day of casting. Acetone, compressed air, and moose juice were applied to all three. As usual, the moose molds performed well, but the stunner was the new Marty's arms mold. After leaving the mold on top of the pot to get warm, and 3 fills with lead to get it hot, it started dropping beautiful looking roundball, right at .680. The fourth cavity closest to your hand was hard to reach using my lee 4-20 bottom pour pot, but was usable. I did find I got the best results if I could get the spout of my pot right over the hole, and drop the lead into the mold directly. But that's normal. I casted about 100 within the album I was listening to, and shut the pot off. Moving everything inside, my carbine and musket rounds went into their tupperwares to be lubed and loaded at a later date, and the roundballs stayed out. Getting a pair of flush cutters, I grabbed each ball and trimmed the sprue. Another 15 minutes and I had 93/100 up to snuff roundballs, with 7 having imperfections of some kind. Weighing each one, almost all of them fall between 460 and 470gr. A few dropped a little lighter, but in the high 450's. Nothing that will effect performance substantially. Putting the roundballs away, and after some dinner, I start to clean the molds. I get to my new Marty's arms mold, and the handles are easily removed with two screws on each side. An acetone wash, and a quick coat of ballistol, and I'm done.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the mold. It's made nicely, and will definitely get used for years to come. My biggest, and really only complaint, are the handles. They are of nice construction, being made of a decent hardwood, but far too short. They also have no coating, leaving just a bare finish. The design of the mold also means that you get the ends nearest the mold burnt with long periods of use. I wear gloves while casting and even I could tell the mold handles were hot, and my hands were too close to the mold. There was also a light wood burning smell near the end (There are, in fact, burn marks in several places.) I took the mold apart, and am putting a few coats of linseed oil to get as much mileage out of these handles as possible. But during the offseason I will fish out some scraps and my router and make longer and more comfortable handles. Unfortunately he doesn't advertise molds specific to the thousandth, just the hundredth. If you need .680, you're set, .678? I'm not sure. I'd imagine it's just adjusting a CNC file, but I don't know.
At the price of 120$ (Plus shipping) it is an expensive investment. But one that I wouldn't hesitate to purchase, should you have the need.
I purchased an 1842 Springfield over the winter built using a nice 1849 dated lock and a whitacre barrel. The assembly was subpar, the stock inlay looked like it was done with a sledgehammer, and there was more epoxy holding the thing together than wood in some places. But boy, did it shoot. I borrowed some roundballs of various sizes from a few fellow N-SSA members and went to the range. 10 shots turned the 10 ring into a ragged hole with .680. I figured it would be easy to find a mold. A few phone calls, an email or two and I'd be in business in a few weeks! Boy was I wrong...
Since round ball molds are no longer in production by Moose at Moose molds (I still egg him on every time I see him!), and Rapine molds are a thing of the past, a majority of new smoothbore shooters have been either dealing with the big dogs (Lyman, lee, etc), or having to track down a used or new old stock mold. Through some deep internet dives I came across Marty's arms. Primary a manufacturer of buckshot molds, they also produce standard and metric roundball molds. CNC cut out of aluminum in Minnesota.
First: the service.
I ordered my mold on the evening of 7/1. My hope was to have it for the last skirmish I will be attending for the season at the end of the month. I received it this morning around 7:30am! Even with the fourth of July mixed in, he made my mold Tuesday morning (It's marked 7/5/22 under the handle) and shipped it out the same day. Now that's speed! The beauty of a full time manufacturer, and a few CNC machines making mold at the same time.
Next: The mold.
Pulling it out of the USPS box, it was wrapped up fairly nicely. Opening the wrap and inspecting the mold revealed nice machining, with 4 cavities (Yes, FOUR!), unfortunately no sprue cutter. The handles are rather short, but usable. Visually the mold has his logo and "Round ball .680" machined into it. I immediately got the lead pot cooking, and prepped my other molds for a day of casting. Acetone, compressed air, and moose juice were applied to all three. As usual, the moose molds performed well, but the stunner was the new Marty's arms mold. After leaving the mold on top of the pot to get warm, and 3 fills with lead to get it hot, it started dropping beautiful looking roundball, right at .680. The fourth cavity closest to your hand was hard to reach using my lee 4-20 bottom pour pot, but was usable. I did find I got the best results if I could get the spout of my pot right over the hole, and drop the lead into the mold directly. But that's normal. I casted about 100 within the album I was listening to, and shut the pot off. Moving everything inside, my carbine and musket rounds went into their tupperwares to be lubed and loaded at a later date, and the roundballs stayed out. Getting a pair of flush cutters, I grabbed each ball and trimmed the sprue. Another 15 minutes and I had 93/100 up to snuff roundballs, with 7 having imperfections of some kind. Weighing each one, almost all of them fall between 460 and 470gr. A few dropped a little lighter, but in the high 450's. Nothing that will effect performance substantially. Putting the roundballs away, and after some dinner, I start to clean the molds. I get to my new Marty's arms mold, and the handles are easily removed with two screws on each side. An acetone wash, and a quick coat of ballistol, and I'm done.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the mold. It's made nicely, and will definitely get used for years to come. My biggest, and really only complaint, are the handles. They are of nice construction, being made of a decent hardwood, but far too short. They also have no coating, leaving just a bare finish. The design of the mold also means that you get the ends nearest the mold burnt with long periods of use. I wear gloves while casting and even I could tell the mold handles were hot, and my hands were too close to the mold. There was also a light wood burning smell near the end (There are, in fact, burn marks in several places.) I took the mold apart, and am putting a few coats of linseed oil to get as much mileage out of these handles as possible. But during the offseason I will fish out some scraps and my router and make longer and more comfortable handles. Unfortunately he doesn't advertise molds specific to the thousandth, just the hundredth. If you need .680, you're set, .678? I'm not sure. I'd imagine it's just adjusting a CNC file, but I don't know.
At the price of 120$ (Plus shipping) it is an expensive investment. But one that I wouldn't hesitate to purchase, should you have the need.