50 cal lyman mold

[cptjack]

bought a used mold for my deer stalker.....problem is bullet very loose in barrels ,sent back to lyman and they said absolute mold and would only give me a few dollars for new mold .my barrels is 503 and casts at 500 any suggestions ,how about setting up a jig and making them hollow base? thanks in advance CJ

[Maven]

Is that a conical mould by any chance, cptjack? If so, beagling* it will probably increase the diameter enough so that the [resulting] CB's will fit your bore better. Also, casting with something other than pure Pb will also increase the diameter. Btw, a hollow base will allow the CB to "slug up" to better fit your bore, but you'll have to stick to pure Pb + you'll have the added expense/time for the conversion with an uncertain outcome.

*Check this site's archives and Castpics for more information on beagling a mould.

[Oleman]

bought a used mold for my deer stalker.....problem is bullet very loose in barrels ,sent back to lyman and they said absolute mold and would only give me a few dollars for new mold .my barrels is 503 and casts at 500 any suggestions ,how about setting up a jig and making them hollow base? thanks in advance CJ

Send it back to Lyman with a tube of KY.

[44man]

You can lap the mold until the boolit is a snug fit in the muzzle. They do not have to fit the grooves in a ML, just the lands.
Tests with HB Minie' balls has shown they still must be a thumb press fit. I had to lap many of them.

[runfiverun]

about an hour or so of your time, a hot mold and a hand drill should get you pretty close to that 3 thou.
do a little lapping, cast a couple and measure [water drop]
taking the blue color out of the cavity will gain you about .001.
three runs and you'll have it.

[44man]

Need a cast with a way to turn it, screw in front, etc. Put grit in the mold and turn the boolit. Clean all out and cast another because as the mold gets larger you need a larger boolit. Do it until the boolit will fit the bore.
I have made a Minie' ball that could not stay on a 4'x4' board at 50 hit a swinger at 200 meters.