I have a Master Caster. Great machine, will throw 500 bullets an hour using 2 cavity mould blocks.
There could be some issues with trying to use it for minies. In use, the blocks swing down and separate in an arc making it near impossible to use a mould where the core pin is attached to the bottom of the pair of blocks with a solid plate. A teammate on the 1st Michigan had his Master Caster set up to use a flexible steel plate (spring steel maybe?) to hold the core pin. He had it figured out where he could cast minies.
I use hard alloy for all of my breechloaders, so casting minies means cleaning out the pot to make the switch, or buying an extra pot (Not cheap!).
For that reason, my Master Caster is restricted to hard lead alloy, a.k.a. smoothbore balls, pistol caliber bullets and civil war breechloader projectiles. Two notable success stories were one, modifying my Elka round ball mould to throw smoothie balls. At 14 balls per pound, a 40 lb pot gave me over 400 balls before I gave up. That should keep my two smoothies running for this year for sure. My second project was to convert my Moose Moulds "Bobtail" Sharps bullet. The Master Caster uses "keys" that simulate the mould handles we all use so I made keys and got the Master Caster throwing about 250 Sharps bullets per hour. I guess I just don't enjoy the slow progress when you cast bullets from single cavity moulds.
Bob Anderson
Company C, 1st Michigan Volunteer Infantry
Small Arms Committee
"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."
- John Wayne in "The Shootist", 1976
Bookmarks