.498 round ball moulds

[XXXXXXXXXX]

When I was 5 years old my Dad built a muzzleloader from scratch, not a kit. He recently handed it down to me and told me it took .498 round balls and he couldn't find his mould.

Problem is I can't find a .498 round ball mould either. I'd appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction.

[Dean D.]

You can have them custom made but if it were me I'd buy a box of .495 RB's and try them out with various patch combo's.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

You might try a .495 with a little thicker patch

if you can shoot a .490 or a .495 in a .50cal then as long as you can get it firmly down the bore it will come out.

have you slugged the bore and measured it they lee lists .490 .495 .500 .530 .535

not saying that it wasn't a .498 mold but even if it was it may have been custom , i read about guys polishing or honing out molds for boolits why not round balls the proccess should be the same you could throw it out of round but it it's what you want it may be worth a try
but if you just want to shoot it and arn't pushing for that last little bit of accuracy matching a readily available mold size to a patch thickness that works in your bore will get it shooting.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

i took to long typing and dean beat me to saying .495 oh well.

[mooman76]

I believe Lee makes a .500 ball mould if you still desire a bigger mould and the 495 doesn't work out. Also if you drop the 495 balls with other than pure lead, like WW lead, they should drop a tad bigger.

[barefooter175]

Try using a rasp on a .495 ball. This will make the ball a little larger and can then be patched and loaded.

This is a trick used by smoothbore shooters and may be helpful for your situation.

FWIW, a .495 ball and a thicker patch should work like a charm. Just experiment a little on patch thicknes.

James

[barefooter175]

There's a .498 mould on ebay right now.

James

[masscaster]

Hi XXXXXXXXXX,
Although it's not listed on our Projectile list, I do cast a .498 RB.
You can Click on our shop Link in my signature below to check us out.

Sincerely,
Jeff

P.S.
Site members seem to overlook us alot when it comes to Muzzleloading Projectiles. :(