Howmuch lip is ok

[pearcetopher]

Hi guys,

Lee 451 round ball mold is producing a small lip around the ball where the mold blocks mate up

the lip just barely catches my fingernail if I pass it over.

After looking at some pictures of other peoples casted balls online I see that they have lips too, but not as pronounced

is this just how the round ball molds go??

Your friend,

Chris from canada

[montana_charlie]

It is not uncommon to see a line at the seam, and you might even have a raised one.
But, just to be cretain it's something you will have to live with, check to see if anything is interfering with getting those blocks to close completely.

With them closed, look through the pour hole to see if you can detect any light shining in.
If you do, remove the handles and try again.
If you still see light, look for a burr or any other obstruction that keeps the faces apart.
Strong magnification is your friend, and a cotton ball being dragged around can detect extremely small burrs.

If you come up with something that warrants more discussion, somebody is almost always here.

CM

[Blammer]

'bout sums it up for me, too

[Beagle333]

Can you take some good pictures?

[runfiverun]

you might be able to round them off by placing them in your tumbler.
I generally throw my buckshot [about 5 pounds at a time] in the tumbler and give them a couple squirts of graphite and let them run for an hour or so.
it seems to help knock the nibs and such down quite a bit.

[pearcetopher]

fired them last night and the ones that seat firmly and have a nice round ring of lead come off fire with great accuracy however the ones that do not produce a perfectly concentric ring of lead when they are pressed in fire with very poor accuracy

[rockshooter]

regarding the question: If it's from a teenager, none.
Loren

[Baryngyl]

fired them last night and the ones that seat firmly and have a nice round ring of lead come off fire with great accuracy however the ones that do not produce a perfectly concentric ring of lead when they are pressed in fire with very poor accuracy

You should not be having a ring of lead come off when you seat the bullets, you need to flare/expand the mouths of the cases just a bit more before seating the bullets so they seat with out plowing up a ring of lead.



Michael Grace

[giz189]

Round balls and flaring case mouths. It might help if we knew what this was being shot in.

[swheeler]

I don't take much lip, so very very little is too much.:) I think R5R has the answer if it bothers you.

[Foto Joe]

You should not be having a ring of lead come off when you seat the bullets, you need to flare/expand the mouths of the cases just a bit more before seating the bullets so they seat with out plowing up a ring of lead.

I'm pretty sure that he's shooting these round balls out of a cap & ball revolver. If that's the case then yes indeed you do want to shave a ring off the ball as it seats into the chamber, otherwise you could get a demonstration of a chainfire.

[pearcetopher]

will a good set of gloves save me from a chainfire

[fcvan]

Chain firing can certainly be prevented in several ways. If you are seating the ball onto the powder properly (no air gap) there should be plenty of room for some lube over the ball. If the flame can't get to the powder - no chain fire. I load the powder first, top with some corn meal (leaving enough room for the ball) and then seat the ball flush with the cylinder. I usually fill each chamber and then give it a spin. This leaves an even amount of corn meal and allows me to seat properly. The flame can't get to the powder through the corn meal.

Anyway, shooting with corn meal helps keep the bore clear of fouling and gives a nice consistent combustion with low standard deviation. I started using Pyrodex back in the 1980s because I didn't know any better. 30 grains of Pyrodex was actually less velocity than 25 grains with corn meal and I seemed to get a more complete burn. The bore stayed clean enough to fire at least 50 rounds without cleaning but the base pin on my 1858 Remington copy likes to be lubed more often.

I've never had a chain fire with either lube or corn meal. I watched a YouTube video of a guy making paper cartridges using cigarette papers, a forming dowel, round balls, corn meal, and black powder. When I find the right size papers I'm going to make some up.

[Foto Joe]

Gloves won't do you much good but chain fires are generally "non-events" resulting in no damage to the gun or the shootist but they will get your attention. The guns of that era were designed so that when a chain fire occurred, the chamber not in battery going off could discharge the ball with little or no restriction which would result in catastrophic failure or injury. Even the bottom chamber on a Colts pattern gun has room towards the rammer to expel the ball although if that chamber goes off the result can sometimes be a bent rammer or frame.

As far as the correct papers for cartridges: I use Buglers as they're pretty easy to come by, they're cheap and they're just about the correct size. Although I usually don't include the ball in the paper cartridge as it's just an extra step in the manufacturing process and it's easy enough to just stuff the ball into the chamber on top of the paper and ram it down.

[dikman]

Pearcetopher, I have 3 Lee RB molds - .440, .445 and .451 and none of them produce a lip. As has been mentioned, make sure that the faces of the mold are absolutely clean. I once got a minute amount of lead caught on one face and the thing wouldn't cast properly (it doesn't take much!).

What gun are you shooting them in? I have an Uberti 1858, and when I bought it it came with a .457 mold. It shaved a ring, but took some force to ram the balls down. Then I found out that Uberti recommend .451 balls, so I bought a mold. These do not shave a ring, but when I rammed in a couple of balls and then knocked them out there was a nice flat band around the circumference where the lead had been squeezed into the chambers and the balls made an interference fit in the chambers. As long as you get this happening you cannot get a chainfire.

I'm surprised that you noticed much difference in accuracy between the two lots. I suggest you do what I did - ram the balls into the chambers (no powder, of course), down to their normal loaded depth, then remove the nipples, knock them out - I used a piece of brass rod - and have a look at them. This will at least tell you if they're seating properly. If they are, then I can't see where a slight lip on the ball is going to make any difference.

[Foto Joe]

I personally wouldn't load round balls that had "fins" on them, I just wouldn't want to take the chance that some flame would get past and give me a demonstration of chain fire. As dikman stated, make sure your mold faces are clean and there isn't a smudge of lead stuck to one prevent it from closing all the way. It should be an easy fix.

[Baryngyl]

I'm pretty sure that he's shooting these round balls out of a cap & ball revolver. If that's the case then yes indeed you do want to shave a ring off the ball as it seats into the chamber, otherwise you could get a demonstration of a chainfire.

I must have missed that these were in a cap&ball, I thought it was loading into brass.



Michael Grace

[nanuk]

a good digital camera, a strong magnifying glass, or a loupe

I prefer the loupe (mine is 12x) for a good scan

then I take some digital pictures at 16mp, as close as I can get and still get focus.
I take multiples and move up/down the face as I take 'em.

then download them and delete them off the camera to save space.

you'd be surprised at what you can see with a digital camera.... everything looks like a burr