loading a .680 ball.

[longbow]

Yow! What did KinkBreaker ever do to you to deserve "...Those are some sorry lookin balls."?

[45-70 Chevroner]

pipe:
My .680 mold was supposed to be sent today. I am wanting to start casting and loadin balls really bad. I certainly hope that my Dixie Gun Works mold casts better than Kinkbreakers did. Those are some sorry lookin balls.
I will update when my mold gets here, probably/ maybe Friday.
Jack

I have a Dixie .680 mold and they do ok but they are not as round as I would like them to be. I actually thought that Dixie quit make those sissor molds, but I think someone above, maybe it was you that said he had gotten it used.
I just reread the thread starter and it was you. I do like the sizzor mold and it works great when casting. The only problem is, having to cut the sprue off with a pair of dikes or something.

[KinkBreaker]

just talked to track of the wolf and they said to send the mold back for a refund, i will just have to pay postage. guess i just be out the 10 dollars for postage i paid to get it and postage to get it back

[pipehand]

KinkBreaker, I cast up a hundred last night from the Lyman mold. I have more than I have empty hulls for.

[KinkBreaker]

i may have to just bum off ya. even after i get a refund i just wont have quite enough to swing for the lyman mold until the next payday or 2. i guess ill have to bring those hulls i have in exchange.
were gonna get in trouble for making this our own personal thread in a minute

[littlejack]

If my used Dixie mold does not cast round, I will try lapping it, depending on how far out of round it is.
Good for you Kink. You should insist that they pay shipping, as it is not your fault that the cavity is egg-shape. I AM sure sure that the shipping cost is NOT going to bankrupt them.
Jack

[KinkBreaker]

i did go back and look at the listing on their site and it does state there that you have 10 days to decide if you like it and send it back for a refund if not, but you will pay the shipping. ill be happy to get 30 of the 40 dollars back in the end. i should have read more and looked around more before ordering.
suppose they will have the opportunity to make it really right when they post the refund to my credit card

back to the topic of the thread

a variable diameter ball approximating .6XX did okay from a doctored up store bought cheapo shotshell from my smoothbore. as to say they did all hit the paper i was lookin at

[pipehand]

You don't want to take a credit on anything else? .440 RB maybe?

[KinkBreaker]

sent the funny mold back to trackofthewolf, as soon as i can afford the couple of ball molds i need ill add some reports back about the successes and failures with the new one

[littlejack]

I received the Dixie Gun Works .680 mold today. Cavity looked a little rough with light rust. I fired up the pot and went to work.
I cast a few to check for size. The rust did make for a rough ball. I mic'd three, and came up with about .675 average around the waist, and .690 from the top to bottom. I drilled the three balls to take a short length of 8x32 threaded stock, and started to lapping the mold with some fine valve grinding compound.
After getting it all cleaned up again, I cast some more ball. These mic'd at an average of about .678 around the waist. The top to bottom dimension did not change any to speak of. I wanted the balls to be closer to the proper dimension at the waist, and from top to bottom, so I drilled the second batch, and lapped again. This time the waist diameter averaged about .683, and the top to bottom was about .691. I figured I would stop there, as I had shot .690 balls in wads, and some of the petals were pinched in two.
When I load these, I will seat the ball with the sprue up, and the smallest dimension will be at the waist, .683.
The average weight of four with the sprue filed nice and smooth , was 471 grains. If I was to cast with pure lead, it would probably be really close to 500 grains.
The lapping came out very good, but I do wish that he mold would have been the stamped .680 dimension as stated by the manufacturer.
I will let you all know how they shoot after a range session.
Jack

[pipehand]

Glad it finally showed up! Looking forward to range results.

[KinkBreaker]

does the waist mean where the mean where the mold separates? maybe you could sand a litte off where it closes to bring the large dimension down if thats what i think your saying

[littlejack]

It "waist" (equator) is around the perimeter of the ball, perpendicular (90*) to the parting line.
The parting line is slightly bigger, as the lead tends to seep into the crack and leave a raised line. I'm not too concerned about the minor increase amount at the parting line, but I do wish that the dimension from the top to the bottom, was closer to the perimeter dimension of .683.
Regards
Jack

[littlejack]

I cast up about 70 - 75 balls today. Enjoyed the new to me molds. Balls came out real nice.
Last week, contemplating that I was going to have a ball mold without the sprue plate to cut off the sprue, I went a huntin. I found a pair of nippers at a local second hand store. I did not buy them at the time, but stored the image in my steel trap mind (yea right).
Today, after trying my dykes (side cutters to be politically correct), and finding that they leave way too much sprue, I whizzed down to the second hand store with sprued balls in hand. I found the nippers, and gave the sprued ball a little snip, and wa-la, perfect trimmed sprue. 5.00 American, and they are mine. I brought them home, and all of the balls have been de-sprued.
For your information, these nippers look like the ones that horseshoers use to trim horses hooves with, but they are only about 7" long. These particular ones were made in Czechoslovakia.
Jack

[pipehand]

Upgraded the sighting arrangement on Black Betty with the barrel shimmed with Busch beer can to take out the slack. The scope is a 1x Tasco Bantam that I had on a Mectech CCU I use on the 1911 occasionally. That's why it is a "see thru" high ring setup. The shotgun doesn't need it, but I didn't feel like changing out the rings. The mount is the Weaver no gunsmith mount.



Shown is the view from the high tech plastic 55 gallon drum I use as a rest for the shots at the 25 yard line. The gun itself is not rested- I just rest my forearm between wrist and elbow against it. It's more "steadied" than benchrested.

The targets are supposed to be a 1 inch grid, but printing them off made the grid 1-1/8." So the 5 shot groups are 12% worse than they look!

I shot a control group with the Winchester 1 ounce slugs. Wow. 1600fps, but they sure group well.

The groups with the Lee slug did well with no major fliers today. They were loaded with Federal 12S3 wads, a .125 nitro wad, and 25 grains of Unique. The .678" (actually around .680") RB's were loaded with the same wads, but with 1.6 cc's of cornmeal as a buffer, and 18 grains of International clays. Both reloads were with Winchester AA-HS hulls.

I learned a few things:
1. Winchester slugs work just as good as they did 30 years ago,
2. My group sizes with the 1x scope are not appreciably smaller or closer to the center of the target than those shot with just the front BigDot. Definitely a confidence booster.
3. Group with the round ball was not significantly smaller than that shot with the Lee slug.
4. I really want to MAKE something that can shoot as well as the Winchester slugs.
5. I would hunt with any of them at 25 yards. 50 yard testing is in order.

[longbow]

Yeah, some factory slugs do shoot pretty well. Years ago I got very good results with Remington Foster slug loads and more recently (just a few years ago) I got quite stellar results with Federal factory Foster slug loads ~ running about 6" at 100 yards.

I have as yet to achieve that with home made slugs and loads.

The best groups I have gotten with hollow base/Foster slug style home cast run about 2" to 3" at 50 yards. The Rapine 0.730" TC slug was one of the best but I only had a few to test. Those groups ran about 2" + but I did get occasional fliers. The next was with a TC wad slug from a home made mould which gave 3" to 4" groups at 50 yards. I am currently making a similar mould but it will be attached wad style (like Brenneke). I am hoping this is the answer and that accuracy will hold up beyond 50 yards.

I was in discussion with a fellow recently and he said the secret to good Foster slug accuracy is a really solid wad column. From the recovered slugs I have, it does seem obvious that many do tip in the hull/forcing cone/bore... somewhere, as they have crushed ribs, damaged noses, etc that are not from impact.

I gotta get time to post some photos! You will see what I mean.

Longbow

[KinkBreaker]

i had never considered a scope to take more of the person factor out of the equation. very impressive really
my new ball mold should get here tomorrow

[pipehand]

Longbow, the "some factory slugs do shoot pretty well" thing is what's bugging me. I've always been able to better factory performance of rifle or handgun ammunition by handloading. When I started messing around with the Lee slugs, and later, the round balls, the performance of the Winchester slugs was always on my mind. Many years ago I tested the Winchester, Remington, and Federal slugs in my 1982 vintage 870, and the Winchesters won hands down. I haven't tried the newer Federal "Tru-Ball" slugs, but I've read they do well. Shooting the Winchesters today wasn't that bad as far as recoil goes- I've built up a tolerance, I guess. 1200fps or less is still more fun than 1600.

KinkBreaker, I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but Betty has a left hand/ right hand single point sling attachment plate mounted between the stock and the receiver. When I ordered it from wherever it was that I ordered it, it was described as "Steel". I figured I could TIG weld a platform to attach a Ghost ring sight to it, and use the Big Dot with that. When it shipped, it turned into aluminum. Not welding that. I've been thinking of all sorts of sighting arrangements using the big bead, but was out and about today when I found the Weaver mount for <$30 and figured it was worth a shot. I am a variable most days, and even at 1x the scope takes out a lot of maybe's.

[Carryacolt]

"I was in discussion with a fellow recently and he said the secret to good Foster slug accuracy is a really solid wad column. From the recovered slugs I have, it does seem obvious that many do tip in the hull/forcing cone/bore... somewhere, as they have crushed ribs, damaged noses, etc that are not from impact."

Why do the gun manufactures put a "forceing cone" in a dedicated slug gun? I know of a few posters on this site that have had custom slug barrels made without the force cone. It would be just one less variable to contend with in the quest for better groups.

[KinkBreaker]

ive been thinking i should have ordered the mossberg with sights on it originally. since it seems that all the trigger pulls with it for some time have been a single projectile