Want to make mold to make musketballs.

[letsmeltlead2693]

My first actual post relevant to boolit casting. How do you make a mold to make musket balls? Also could I use wheel weight or lead for musket balls as I have a lot of WW lead and hard lead? I want to make a mold that is homemade and is cheap. Please help.

[Norbrat]

Lee sells round ball moulds in various diameters for no more than $26, including handles.

For that kind of money, I couldn't see the sense in trying to make my own, unless it was an odd size Lee didn't offer.

And if you plan to shoot them out of a black powder rifle with a path, you would need to use lead as soft as possible; ie, virtually pure.

[plmitch]

Unless you have the right materials, tools, know-how and the time just buy a good used one on here. There is always a few for sale on here in the $10-20.00 shipped range. Good to see you want to cast boolits. Good luck.

[longbow]

Since you don't mention your level of machine shop/gunsmithing experience or what tools/skills you have I'll guess not much from the questions.

You certainly don't need a CNC mill or even a shop full of power tool to make a round ball mould. The old time gunsmiths made a lot of gear with pretty simple hand tools but they also served long apprenticeships to learn the tricks of the trade.

If you are handy with your hands and know how to work with steel to make a cherry or D bit you should be able to make a serviceable mould from aluminum or brass.

There are different ways to make a mould depending on the type of mould you want to make. Most commercial moulds are made from square/rectangular bar stock as split halves milled to fit commercial handles and have niceties like a sprue cutter. These types of moulds are fairly difficult to make with simple tools... or more correctly are difficult to make accurately with simple tools.

Some of the old style moulds were hinged tongs similar in style to fishing jig head moulds you see in your local sporting good store.

There are a number of internet sites on mould making and what is available as commercial moulds.

Most commercial moulds are of the split block style to fit scissor like handles:

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Products.aspx?CAT=3754

but there are some tong types available as well ~ Track of the Wolf has some and so does Dixie:

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/1195/1
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/advanced_search_result.php?s=1&keywords=mould

Another style:

http://www.jt-bullet-moulds.co.uk/moulds.htm

And another:

http://shaysrebellion.stcc.edu/shaysapp/artifact.do?shortName=bullet_mold

All in all, unless you have pretty good metal working skills and some tools Norbrat summed it up well ~ it is hard to better than a Lee mould for the cost, unless you simply want to do it yourself or you need a size not readily available.

As for hard lead balls, they should be fine in a smoothbore, patched or naked and some use them with good success in rifles as well but patch/ball fit might be a little different with a hard ball as the lead won't give as much.

FWIW

Longbow

[nanuk]

I read an article where the guy made round ball moulds using hardened ball bearings of the size he needed.

took two pieces of mild steel, drilled out most of the material, then placed the balls in, and squeezed them down using a shop press. Drilled alignment holes for pins with the balls in to center them.

worked ok for him.

I'd not waste time, with RB moulds so reasonably priced...

[Boerrancher]

Heck you can buy a Lee RB mold and have it shipped right to your door for $20 or less, You will spend more than that in fuel running around trying to find everything you need to make a mold unless you already have access to a full blown machine shop and material. For my RBs I use an alloy of 50% WW and 50% pure. My 32 cal especially shoots better with the alloy than the pure. I am guessing it is because I am not deforming the balls when I load them like is possible with pure lead in a 32cal RB, as they are very delicate.

Best wishes,

Joe

[John Taylor]

I made a few round ball molds over the years, I think the last one was for a 1.5" ball. Started by turning a disk the size of the ball and installing a shaft off one side to make a spade cutter. With a block of aluminum in the lathe I bored a half moon cut in it with the spade cutter. Machined a small lip a little larger then the hole as an alinement fixture. Took another piece of aluminum and cut a relief for the lip of the first block and then cut another half moon cavity, measuring the depth from the relief cut. This left a ball shaped hole when the two pieces were together. With both pieces together and clamped the outside was squared up and one side with the mating surface was machined away until the ball cavity was exposed, this is the side for the spru cutter. Installed a set of home made handles and had a ball mold. I know, I should have taken pictures.

[2571]

If you have a ball already you might be a ableto fashion a mould from plaster of paris toreproduce our sample. Major PIA. There are internet instructions for doing it with plaster but I've always had the impresson they were for MINIMAL production.

[letsmeltlead2693]

I don't shoot but I was planning on make the musket balls for my dad as I melted most of his musket balls a while back. He hasn't shot that gun but it won't hurt to have extra ammo for that. I might consider buying a mold soon and save myself the hassle.

[2571]

What caliber are you gonna cast for him?

[troy_mclure]

If its an actual musket(no rifling) then your alloy doesn't matter because there is nothing to engrave the ball.

[torpedoman]

just buy one and use pure lead if you can works a lot better

[mooman76]

Harder lead will work if that's what you have. I've used WWs and they work fine.

[StrawHat]

When you say "musketball" are you referring to round balls or Minie balls? It will make a difference in how you make the mold but for the prices out there, your time might be better spent by purchasing a mold. Or if your Dad is not a volume shooter, places like the Log Cabin (Lodi, Ohio) and others sell round balls and minie boolits.

[44man]

When you say "musketball" are you referring to round balls or Minie balls? It will make a difference in how you make the mold but for the prices out there, your time might be better spent by purchasing a mold. Or if your Dad is not a volume shooter, places like the Log Cabin (Lodi, Ohio) and others sell round balls and minie boolits.
Is the Log Cabin still there? I used to go there all the time when I lived in Ohio, bought all my parts there. Wes Kindig and his son Dan ran the place.
I would get a card when a kiln was opened so I could pick out planks of maple, etc. $30 would get me super wood for 3 or 4 rifles. Then they stopped selling to the public.
Kindig wanted me to build rifles for them but the price was not right.
This is what I used to do. I made all my own brass and silver parts.

[44man]

I am too old now for a steady hand but I still make all of my own molds from scrap on a Smithy lathe, mill, drill.
It would not be easy to make a perfectly round cherry. I buy RB molds.

[StrawHat]

Is the Log Cabin still there? I used to go there all the time when I lived in Ohio, bought all my parts there. Wes Kindig and his son Dan ran the place.
I would get a card when a kiln was opened so I could pick out planks of maple, etc. $30 would get me super wood for 3 or 4 rifles. Then they stopped selling to the public.
Kindig wanted me to build rifles for them but the price was not right.
This is what I used to do. I made all my own brass and silver parts.

Still there and going strong! Wes passed away but Dan and Rick are still there. They have expanded the place three times and it now has a "museum" attached to it. They teach classes on firearms and other things. They're not getting any younger but than again, neither am I. I like the work you have in the photos. Are you still in Ohio? (Just reread the post, never mind!)

By the way, wood prices have gone up a bit!

[longbow]

Making a spade bit like John describes is a fairly easy way to make a round ball mould. I have done the same... but you really need a lathe to do it accurately.

I am sure you could make a spade bit using basic hand tools and maybe a drill press but without a lathe or drill press or at least some jigs to machine the mould I doubt you would get a very consistent cavity or a "round" round ball out of it.