First Timer 58 cal Minie

[Jax]

So I bought 58 cal musket about a month ago, and I had problems finding ammo local. So I decided to make my own. I think I do well for my first try. I watched a few videos online, and read plenty about it. I used a burner, cast iron pan, and my mold.

At first it seemed like I would never get a good one to pop out. Id heat the mold, pour, and drop it out, and something just didnt seem right. One of the videos I watched had them dropping the bullet into a bucket of water after poured. I found that that was causing issues for me. So after I got rolling, I would just flip it and stand them up on my deck to cool. Made about 24 keepers, and about another 10 that will be re-melted.

one questions. Both of these pictured. The one on the right, it is almost porous. I was wondering if that was a bad thing when making these? ( its in the re-melt bag)
The one on the left has a little line where the lead formed together.

Are both of these bad?? I just dont want the round to fracture or something while being fired.

--Justin

[Doby45]

Even though the one on the left is not gorgeous, I would say it is very serviceable and could dispatch pert near whatever you shot at with it. The one on the right definently goes back in the pot.

[Hickory]

I use to cast that exact boolit in my H&R Huntsman.
Use pure lead and cast'm HOT.

[stubert]

I grew up shooting an origianal 1864 springfield. Try 60 grains of 2f, lube the minnie with crisco and fill the base also. Too much powder and you'll blow out the skirt. More powder doesn't get you much, the trajectory is awful, but inside 75 yards or so that minnie will shoot thru about anything that walks in N. America. The 60 grain load was the service load during the civil war.

[Jax]

Thanks for the responses. Those were my other 2 questions. What to use for lube, and how much powder was enough.

Im also having issues find the caps for this gun, So looks like I will have to get those online...

[stubert]

Look here: www.muzzleloadingforum.com

[.357]

when i cast for my 58 i cast 20 to 1 lead to tin, helps with the flow doesn't make it hard really. cast them hot! and shoot the ugly ones.

[jhrosier]

I tried casting minies years ago and pretty much despaired of ever making a good boolit.
I gave away the mould and bought commercial cast boolits to meet my limited needs.

Earlier this year I bought a .58 cal Zouave carbine and decided to give casting another try.
A fellow BP shooter told me to cast hot and let the lead run onto the bevel of the sprue plate and never pour directly into the cavity.
By golly, he was right !
The first couple hundred pours yielded nearly all good boolits.

Jack

ETA: my boolits were a shade too large so I had a fellow at work bore out a .575 hole in a piese of scrap steel and I push them through with a dowel rod in my drill press. They are dipped in Lar's Carbauba Red before sizing. At my last outing I fired 40 shots without cleaning and every one went down the bore with only the weight of the ramrod, requiring only a small push to seat the last 1/4" or so.

[JeffinNZ]

+1 with Hickory. That doesn't look like soft lead to me and it wasn't hot enough.