Buckshot from mould

[Mr_Sheesh]

A search on eBay, Amazon, etc. for "Side Cutter" will get you decent side cutters for as low as $1.30 sometimes, if you are OK with waiting for shipments from overseas. (Taiwan, HK, China, India, ...)

[megasupermagnum]

A search on eBay, Amazon, etc. for "Side Cutter" will get you decent side cutters for as low as $1.30 sometimes, if you are OK with waiting for shipments from overseas. (Taiwan, HK, China, India, ...)

No, side cutters will not work well. Flush cutters are what to buy.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Yes, I know the difference, I've been soldering for over 50 years... Do the search though, and you'll see that these ARE flush cutters. Granted, they're not Xuron or other premium branded flush cutters, but they're perfectly serviceable. Chinese workers use a LOT of flush cutters, and they also sell those here as it lowers the price of the cutters (principle of economy of scale.) Chinese folks have some ODD names for things we call by different names, and the search I suggest takes that into account.

[megasupermagnum]

I wouldn't be buying anything from China right now, and maybe not for a couple months yet.

[Faret]

I wouldn't be buying anything from China right now, and maybe not for a couple months yet.

Or a year! LOL

[doghunter]

I use dog toenail clippers. Then vibrate in a tumbler for a few hours.

[NavyGuns45]

Question: if using a Lee 18-pellet mold, do you even need to cut the balls apart or if you plan to tumble them anyway, will the tumbling separate them and blunt the nib?

[6pt-sika]

I use dog toenail clippers. Then vibrate in a tumbler for a few hours.

When you tumble do you leave media in with the buckshot or tumble just the buckshot ? Only sizes I cast are 0000 and 00000 , for those I’ve been rolling them between two blocks of flat metal .

[W.R.Buchanan]

Instead of using the 18 cav moulds why not use round ball moulds which make 6 at a time and don't require any added attention after being cut off.

Lee makes those too.

I got one of he little HF tumblers to do mine and they work pretty well if you let them run for a full day.

I had a .311 2 cav mould and even it is faster than dealing with sprues. .311 is "0.5" or in between 0 and 1. Close enough for me. 9 stack perfectly in a trap wad.

My .02

Randy

[megasupermagnum]

Instead of using the 18 cav moulds why not use round ball moulds which make 6 at a time and don't require any added attention after being cut off.

Lee makes those too.

I got one of he little HF tumblers to do mine and they work pretty well if you let them run for a full day.

I had a .311 2 cav mould and even it is faster than dealing with sprues. .311 is "0.5" or in between 0 and 1. Close enough for me. 9 stack perfectly in a trap wad.

My .02

Randy

It may not be fun, but I can clip 18 buckshot apart way faster than someone can cast/cut, cast/cut, cast/cut 9 times.

[RoyEllis]

It may not be fun, but I can clip 18 buckshot apart way faster than someone can cast/cut, cast/cut, cast/cut 9 times.

I guess you failed to read Randy's 1st sentence fully.....he said "use round ball moulds which make 6 at a time" before making your comment which fails to accurately address his.....

[megasupermagnum]

I was replying to this sentence. "I had a .311 2 cav mould and even it is faster than dealing with sprues. .311 is "0.5" or in between 0 and 1. Close enough for me. 9 stack perfectly in a trap wad."

To each his own. I've got a .380 2 cavity mold for 0000 buck, and it is not as fast. That's all.

[6pt-sika]

To each his own. I've got a .380 2 cavity mold for 0000 buck, and it is not as fast. That's all.

I’ve been using junky el cheapo Lee 2 cavity molds for 0000 (.380”) and 00000 (.395”) . I could order six cavity ones from Track of the Wolf but I cast enough already with the two cavity jobs to last me a good long while .

[Ed_Shot]

Nine LEE .319 balls ( 435 gr. total) stack perfectly 3x3 in a CB1118-12 wad in a Win AA hull.

[6pt-sika]

Bear in mind my buckshot loads are generally loaded to be lower pressure not for my shoulders sake but just to be a bit more comfortable shooting them in damascus and twist barrels . About the only size I load for a 12 gauge 2 3/4” at present is single 0 nine pellets with buffer . I’d say maybe about 1100 FPS and it patterns very well from full choke barrels or atleast the six or seven I’ve tried it in so far . But again I normally pattern buckshot at 25 yards and leave it at that .