Kal mold-ordering soon

[wonderwolf]

Its hard for me to save up money while in school still and supporting a Girlfriend in graduate school. long story short I have funds to finally order a proper PP mold from RRR I do a bit of everything when it comes to shooting my sharps 45/70 with 34" barrel. I hope to shoot it out to 1000 yards at some point but right now I'm interested in just banging steel. I'm leaning towards a .442" bullet as I think that may give me the most versatility. As far as nose design goes I'm considering the 45-2.5xT-250 and 45-2.5xT-200 that he offers. I would like to see some pics of those two bullets if you have them and what you think of them. Also what diameter you went with for your order. is his 300 bullet as fat on the top as the cad drawling makes it look on the website?

I havn't settled on paper thickness yet. I have a roll of vellum I've been using with my grossly oversized Rapine molds made for smokeless. My bore is true .450" and lands are .458-9 depending. Thanks in advanced!

[powderburnerr]

it would be best to settle on your paper first , then you answer your own question about diamater
find a reliable repeatable sourse of paper and life is just easier .

[wonderwolf]

I'm not sure what the gun is going to like. it does ok with these oversized bullets but they wont chamber after just a few rounds. The paper I'm working with now is .00125", paper is cheap for the most part and I can play around with them easier than I can afford another mold .001" or .002" smaller or larger, should I go smaller than .442"? I'm thinking that is a pretty safe bet however.

The only problem I see is using .0025" thick paper on groves that are .004" deep.

[Lead pot]

There is a fine line when patching a bullet. I'm talking blk powder.

Let me give you a visual what a bullet that is wrapped to different diameters. The alloy is 1/18 T/L
A bullet like Rick has posted using his 1/40 L/T alloy you can patch that bullet .002 under bore diameter and it will look like the bullet on the far right.
Using a bullet with the "money" bullet nose that bullet will not fair well with alloy softer then 1/20 T/L because of nose set back.

http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww43/Kurtalt/44jpg.jpg

[montana_charlie]

it would be best to settle on your paper first , then you answer your own question about diamater.
The paper I'm working with now is .00125", paper is cheap for the most part and I can play around with them easier than I can afford another mold .001" or .002" smaller or larger, should I go smaller than .442?
Dean's advice is sound, but you took it the wrong way. You see searching for paper as being cheaper than buying moulds, so you want to disrgard the 'paper first' suggestion.

Look at it this way ...

A guy finds a package of paper - accidentally, or during an extended search - that works perfectly with his expensive custom mould. He uses it all up, and can't find more because it was already out of production when he found is first batch.

So, in order to get the diameter he wants, he has to buy a new mould to mate up with the paper that he CAN buy.

Turn the scenario around.
You find a source of the proper kind of paper for patching. You make sure it will always be available, or you buy enough to last your entire shooting life.
Your paper is a done deal ... forever.

Now, you wrap that paper on a cylindrical object. It can be a bullet, a bolt, or a drill bit. It doesn't matter what you wrap it on, you want to find HOW MUCH IT ADDS to a cylinder's diameter. Measuring paper thickness with a micrometer does not reliably answer that question.

Measure the cylinder when it's naked. Measure it when it's wrapped.
Wrap with dry paper and wrap with wet paper.

Now that you know what your paper does to a cylinder, buy a bullet mould that mates up with your paper.
The only reason you will ever need to buy a different mould is if you want to try a different design.

CM

[Don McDowell]

Go with the .442 xt-200 set it to throw a 1.3 inch or shorter bullet , cast it from 20-1 or wheelweights and go have a good time.
I don't remember the exact designation on this bullets mould, but it is .441, and when it was on loan to me from Mr. Mulhern I cast up quite a few and did quite a lot of shooting with it. Still have a few,,,, Anyways it did reach out to 900 yds with fair regularity in the limited test it got. It was wrapped in paper mill 9lb onionskin.The same paper that I use for all the different bullets.
http://forums.handloads.com/uploads/Ranch13/2010-01-13_163759_Kal_ppatch.jpg

[wonderwolf]

There is a fine line when patching a bullet. I'm talking blk powder.

Let me give you a visual what a bullet that is wrapped to different diameters. The alloy is 1/18 T/L
A bullet like Rick has posted using his 1/40 L/T alloy you can patch that bullet .002 under bore diameter and it will look like the bullet on the far right.
Using a bullet with the "money" bullet nose that bullet will not fair well with alloy softer then 1/20 T/L because of nose set back.



Is that bullet tapered?

[Longwood]

Who is RRR?
Can someone please post a link?

[Lead pot]

No it's a straight shank. .442 wide x 1.460 long.
Good shooter.

[wonderwolf]

There is a fine line when patching a bullet. I'm talking blk powder.

Let me give you a visual what a bullet that is wrapped to different diameters. The alloy is 1/18 T/L
A bullet like Rick has posted using his 1/40 L/T alloy you can patch that bullet .002 under bore diameter and it will look like the bullet on the far right.
Using a bullet with the "money" bullet nose that bullet will not fair well with alloy softer then 1/20 T/L because of nose set back.



Is that bullet tapered?

Also lead pot could you please send me the raw file of that image? I tried right click and save but its distorting the image pretty bad.

The lead I'll be using is Soft lead recovered from a rimfire only range.

I see where the paper first would make sense, I know the vellum I've tried does shrink some but it always turns out the same regardless if you try to stretch it tight or not.I'll ponder it some this weekend. I'll go through the paper I have on hand (saved a bunch of it from the dumpster when moving campus engineering offices one summer) and see what I come up with.

[Lead pot]

Cant do much more with that Photo it's the only one I have and it's in Photo bucket. The hard drive went to the deep blue an a lot of stuff went with it.
Here is the bullet mould it was cast with but it's a 442 diameter.
http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=160198&CAT=4161

Woops try this one http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=160201&CAT=4161

[montana_charlie]

Also lead pot could you please send me the raw file of that image? I tried right click and save but its distorting the image pretty bad.
I have that image in a .jpg file I can send to you, but you should be able to get it the same way I did.

Click on this ( http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww43/Kurtalt/44jpg.jpg ) to go to the source and copy it from there with a right-click and Save-as.

If you need to get it from me, post a 'cryptic version' of your email address.

CM

[ktw]

Who is RRR?
Can someone please post a link?

User Name here: Red River Rick
Company Name: KAL Tool & Die of Winnipeg, Manitoba

http://kal.castpics.net/Molds.html

-ktw

[Longwood]

user name here: red river rick
company name: Kal tool & die of winnipeg, manitoba

http://kal.castpics.net/molds.html

-ktw

thanks

[wonderwolf]

I have that image in a .jpg file I can send to you, but you should be able to get it the same way I did.

Click on this ( http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww43/Kurtalt/44jpg.jpg ) to go to the source and copy it from there with a right-click and Save-as.

If you need to get it from me, post a 'cryptic version' of your email address.

CM

still stretches....no biggie I'll figure something out its a good visual!

[montana_charlie]

still stretches....no biggie I'll figure something out its a good visual!
Take a screenshot of Lead pot's post.
CM

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

My brother Ed and I have bought KAL moulds from Dean aka Powder Burner at Quigley once or twice. He also sells a great electronic scale with a 25 year warranty I have been using the past four years with good results.

Rich

[wonderwolf]

I put the order on the back burner again, just replaced the motor on my lathe and that has really improved the way the lathe runs. Before I drop the money on a near $200 mold I may try to make one myself. I've been messing with making my own swage dies and now that I have upgraded to a 1/2HP motor (from my 1/4 HP) my lathe is putting out better results so I may try to make one. We'll see how it goes, may even get around to it this weeekend.

[PanaDP]

I can tell you what I did, which has worked out pretty well in my 45-2.4". I found two different papers, one a bit thicker than the other, which I can obtain reliably. I ordered a mold that, when wrapped with the thicker paper will come out to .451 or one thousandth over bore. When I wrap with the thinner paper, it comes out to .447. Both shoot well. The .451 wrap needs to be wiped between shots or the next won't chamber. The .447 wrap will still chamber without wiping and with a good grease cookie will allow several shots in a row with very modest accuracy loss. This is my mode for hunting loads.