pro's and con's on round ball molds?

[chewie]

lyman? or lee?

right now i have a lyman for .457 and thinking about another?

which one and why.

[44man]

You didn't say what for??????

[Bent Ramrod]

I like Lee better, as they don't have the sprue neck that Lyman moulds leave. But I do use them both. I can see no practical difference in the shooting.

[Wayne Smith]

I think Lee makes, hands down, the best round ball molds going today, and it's the design. The sprue is cut on a diagonal, leaving just a small flat on the ball. By the way, NEI uses the same design, so theirs are just as good.

[44man]

A little sprue sticking up has no effect on shooting so the Lyman is as good as the Lee and the Lee is as good as the Lyman. Just put the sprue up when you load.
All of my ball seating rods and short starters have a hole the sprue fits in to keep it straight. They also fit the ball perfectly and are lapped to a ball.
Even when I load the Ruger Old Army, I remove the cylinder and use my home made tool to seat balls and the seater fits the ball.
I shoot steel chickens at 200 meters, off hand, with my .54 Hawkin with balls from a Lyman mold.
Here is what I mean. You can see the starter holds the ball in position as do the rod ends. There are a few groups shot with my home made Hawkin, 5 shots at 100 yd's with a peep sight and 5 shots at 50 yd's with open sights.
Some file the sprue off of every ball. Does it look like I worry about it?
And some of you thought I was only an accuracy nut with revolvers. I have news for you all, I know how to make a round ball muzzle loader sit up and talk.

[Maven]

I've got no quibble with the above, but wish to add that not all a given manufacturer's RB molds cast to the exact same dimension for a particular caliber (using Pb as pure as possible) nor do they cut the same size sprue. Btw, Bevel Up & Bevel Down (NMLRA) found, as did 44man, that sprue position has little effect on peformance as long as it's consistently placed up or down.

[ktw]

I have Lee, Lyman and RCBS roundball blocks.

The Lees make great round balls and they are cheap.
The Lymans have the most pronounced sprues (if that bothers you)
RCBS makes some of the nicest casting blocks around (which you should expect to pay extra for).

You won't see any difference on the target based on who manufactured the mold.

-ktw

[chewie]

are they made out the same type metal? if not it looks like my lyman is steel? will that make a different in waiting to start another pour on the balls? another words letting the mold heat up?

i know alot of rookie questions.

[44man]

No, I never have a problem with either. It is the same as you wait for the sprue to set and harden. When the mold is at the proper temp, you just keep casting. I would go to around 800* for pure lead and pre heat the mold.

[mooman76]

An RB is pretty much an RB so it is mostly what you perfer in a mould. If you don't like Lees then get the kind you do like. If you like Lee or want the economy route, go with Lee. If you don't mind ebay the RB moulds are pretty common and go for good prices.

[725]

Doesn't matter a lick with RB's. Get what you want.

[chewie]

cool thanks for information