Making do, the Russian way.

[georgewxxx]

While stumbling around on a Russian forum looking for pictures, I came across this page on casting shotgun slugs of various sizes and types. Compared to our equipment, the moulds, ladles, and melting equipment seem quite crude, but get the job done to their satisfaction.

Even if your computer is set for translation, following the the jest of what each post is about, it a chore. The pictures shown tell a good story anyway.

http://forum.guns.ru/forum_light_message/242/607586.html

[Hamish]

Still lost in translation, but parralel diversionary evolution is freekin fas uh nay tin!

Grabbed my attention:

"Hello, can you order puleleyku a ball of fire 410 - 10.4 mm? "

[longbow]

I found another site that has somewhat more sophisticated moulds but multi piece so slow to use. They make a pellet style slug very similar to the one shown here.

Here are another couple of sites:

http://forum.guns.ru/forummessage/11/209096.html

Scroll down that first page and you will see the moulds and a few different styles of slugs.

http://www.hunter.ru/gun/articles/str_pulei.htm

http://www.dokidoki.ne.jp/home2/banboo/reload_tejyun.html

Its got to be slow disassembling the moulds each time as well and about impossible to keep them hot but they seem to cast a decent slug.

Makes one wonder how long that pellet style slug has been in use.

Interesting stuff!

Longbow

[Hamish]

What's wrong with this picture?

http://i2.guns.ru/forums/icons/forum_pictures/003811/3811954.jpg

[Chicken Thief]

Yes one have to wonder how they managed to sintre a proper chamber in that mould!
Ingenuity at it's best.

[MBTcustom]

God bless the USA.

[Artful]

What's wrong with this picture?

http://i2.guns.ru/forums/icons/forum_pictures/003811/3811954.jpg

are they doing halves and then having to finish smooth the block?

[longbow]

That's what it looks like to me.

Almost like they have a half form of the boolit with a "fin" around it then machine down to correct depth.

Not sure why they wouldn't use a form tool and bore moulds on a lathe if tooling is limited but it obviously works for them.

Also, I have to wonder why make split smooth moulds that way. Those can easily be made as a push out style mould since there are no lube grooves. Much simpler than the split style.

I also have to wonder why no sprue plate. It seems like a simple thing to add but they all use that large hole to fill for a sprue then have to clip off the sprue. I guess all the lead up top would make for good fillout but...

At least those split moulds are simpler and easier to use than the multi piece slug moulds that have to be assembled/disassembled.

Anyway, different strokes.

Longbow

[Longwood]

The blocks may be cast in two pieces, then machined down.
Has anyone tried Babble to translate it?

[429421Cowboy]

That's what it looks like to me.

Almost like they have a half form of the boolit with a "fin" around it then machine down to correct depth.

Not sure why they wouldn't use a form tool and bore moulds on a lathe if tooling is limited but it obviously works for them.

Also, I have to wonder why make split smooth moulds that way. Those can easily be made as a push out style mould since there are no lube grooves. Much simpler than the split style.

I also have to wonder why no sprue plate. It seems like a simple thing to add but they all use that large hole to fill for a sprue then have to clip off the sprue. I guess all the lead up top would make for good fillout but...

At least those split moulds are simpler and easier to use than the multi piece slug moulds that have to be assembled/disassembled.

Anyway, different strokes.

Longbow

You make several good points there, the one thing that got me was the huge hole that looks like it would leave a big chunk of sprue that has to be nipped rather than just cut, while also causing the pot to run out twice as fast... The good ol' US of A isn't a bad place to be8-)

[Chicken Thief]

The big sprue is there to get the mould up to temp every time.

And im shure that dirt poor Americans are just as inventive so dont trot on the USSR.
Oh no poor Americans are to lazy? They just wait for welfare and buy something with lots of calories.

Some Russians are way below American welfare standards and have backlands that make Alaska look like a holiday resort.
They are poor not dumb, just look at the sites!

[longbow]

Necessity is the mother of invention!

It looks as though they are making do with what they have got. All in all though the final result seems reasonable. Hard to tell whether boolits are nice and round though. For shotgun slugs it isn't quite so important.

I am thinking that these moulds appear to be cast then machined so it wouldn't surprise me to find that they are investment cast with many mould blocks being fed by one runner then cut off after. Modern investment casting can be very accurate so these moulds may not be as crude as they seem.

Cast blocks with no moving sprue plate, screws, handle slots to be milled, etc. and simply faced to exactly 1/2 cavity depth on a lathe then attached to wooden handles would be inexpensive to produce and may cast quite acceptable boolits.

It would be interesting to see one miked around its circumference.

Longbow

[turbo1889]

Websites like that are the reason I just love the Google Chrome browser. Its translation subroutines aren't perfect but it makes reading, navigating, and in some cases even posting on foreign language websites possible. The translate button is so useful. Russian to English, Chinese to English, Arabic to English, Italian to English, and so many others although I find it surprising how much I'm translating Russian pages to English with shotgun slug info.

As I understand it basically the way the Russian gun laws work almost anyone and their dog can just go buy a shotgun and for shotguns with smooth bore barrels they have easier access then we do in the USA since they don't need to fill out paper work or nothing just money over the counter. Stuff with rifling in the barrels is what the government clamps down on over there, basic idea being that if you get out of line the gov. boys just stay out a couple hundred yards where they are pretty safely beyond effective shotgun range and then shoot you with a scoped rifle :sad:

Pretty much explains why there is so much .ru forum traffic about shotgun slugs especially trying to make slug designs for smooth bore shotguns that perform well at longer ranges.

[quasi]

A Lee slug mold would be pretty useful to them, I guess they are not available there? Or perhaps even Lee stuff is too expensive for them?

[georgewxxx]

If you look around on those forums a little you'll find a buy and sell place where a number of Lee plus Lyman products show up. Also it's funny when you see them making reference to Dirty Harry(Clint Eastwood), and a lot of American Hollywood types. They do check things out on eBay too and places like Gunbroker looking for ideas.

[chambers]

Looks crude, but seems to get the job done.