I bought an Ideal 678 Round ball mould

[Randy in Arizona]

I bought an Ideal 678 Round ball mould - Is this for patched ball in a 69 caliber front stuffer or two or three ball loads in a 12 gauge?

I bought it for the large Lyman mould handles that it was mounted in, although the mould itself is in great shape.

[gregg]

Sooo your saying you want to sell the mold? How much?

[Randy in Arizona]

Not just yet, gregg, I am tempted to make up some varmint (two legged) loads for the 870 to play with. [smilie=w:

Now if you want to make an offer - - - - [smilie=1: - - - - I will at least know what you think it is worth to you.

[jhalcott]

Randy ,you might be better off using 00 or O buck . Think about the range you MIGHT have to shoot that varmint. the 3 balls you are using wont cover much area,OR way too much area with NO holes.

[longbow]

.678 is awfuly small for 12 ga. unless you load it in a shot cup.

I have a .690 round ball mould and it is loose in the bore as is and gives very poor accuracy except for close encounters (like across a room - or tent). Loaded in a Winchester AA shot cup works much better (Ballistic Products has loading info availble). Alternately I have made an AQ slug clone using it and that works fairly well (see Ballistic Products AQ and other slug info on their sight - lots of good stuff). This would work with the .678 as well.

I think .678 would be a little small for a Winchester AA but I'm pretty sure the Lyman Shotshell manual has loads for .660 in a shotcup so they should be close to what you would need.

A benefit of .678 is that is is smaller than a full choke which .690 isn't! Not that intend to shoot it through a choke but... that is a consideration for safety.

If you are in need of loading info I probably have some that is suitable.

Longbow

[Leftoverdj]

Yeah, multiple balls would be way too much weight in a 12 gauge shell. One ball is an ounce, more or less. Weigh a few when you have them cast. An ounce is just under 440 grains.

Federal wads are probably the best suited to RB. They are tough, straight walled, and the bottom is cupped to cradle a ball. That .678 ball is small enough to be safe even in a full choke since the wad petals are soft and the ball itself can squeeze a little.

Just to play around with Frederal hull, primer, and wad is safe enough with 22 grains of Unique. Top the hull up with Cream of Wheat or similar, cover with a bit of paper or plasticwrap and star crimp.

I'd say you have a find there.

[26Charlie]

Seem to me the .678 is for the .69 caliber Charleville etc. flintlock muskets, and also maybe for the 16 gauge shotgun.

[Greg5278]

Use the .678 ball in a BPI LBC series wad to take up the extra space. It should work, if not use some Buffer from Precisions reloading, and try it again. I would not give up on that mold. You might be able to create a 3 ball load, like the Dixie Tri-Ball. o8u would need to use a slow powder, as the total weight would be a bit much. I guess the max velocity would be 900-1000FPS depending on weight.
Greg

[Leftoverdj]

You might be able to create a 3 ball load, like the Dixie Tri-Ball. o8u would need to use a slow powder, as the total weight would be a bit much.

That's an understatement. Three .678 balls weigh around 3.5 ounces. One ball is aplenty.

[Dale53]

This may or may not be of interest to you (depending what you have in mind). If you intend to use the 12 gauge as a home defense load, you are much better off with something like 71/2 shot. Inside a home they are deadly but they will not penetrate much drywall. You neighbors will have little to fear. A .678 ball will penetrate SEVERAL walls and endanger your neighbors.

FWIW

Dale53