Sharp Shooter Buck Shot Mould Questionnaire?

[Just Duke]

Anyone here ever used these Sharp Shooter Buck Shot Moulds?

[shotman]

yes and work good but need to change handles to this

[Just Duke]

yes and work good but need to change handles to this

Thanks how are they attached?

[John in WI]

I have the #1 and the F molds. Good mold, but as stated, the handles get roasting hot in short order!

They are simply held on with wood screws. My solution which worked fairly well was to unscrew them, then install spacer washers to hold the handle slabs off of the aluminum a few milimeters. They still get uncomfortably hot--I think the posted picture of the extended handles would be a better idea.

The mold does work well though.

[Just Duke]

I have the #1 and the F molds. Good mold, but as stated, the handles get roasting hot in short order!

They are simply held on with wood screws. My solution which worked fairly well was to unscrew them, then install spacer washers to hold the handle slabs off of the aluminum a few milimeters. They still get uncomfortably hot--I think the posted picture of the extended handles would be a better idea.

The mold does work well though.

That will be an easy fix for me. ;)

[John in WI]

I do like mine. One thing I noticed, even with the F-shot mold is that the sprue volume is pretty large. So it empties a 10# pot in a hurry. I've been getting in to the habit of casting a bunch of balls until I have big heap (adding ingots to the pot as I go). Then when I have a big mound I clip the balls off and quality-control the balls. I put that load in the tumbler with some graphite and start casting more balls, adding the sprues from the first batch as the pot empties.

If you don't approach the balls from the side with the cutter, there's a real chance of taking a big chunk out of one side. So there is a little bit of a learning curve. But you can throw the failures back in the pot so it's not a big problem.

At the end of the day, it would probably make more sense to just buy the shot. Of course, I'm a boolit addict, and what fun would that be!? I have a good buckshot alloy that's WW hopped up with a bit of linotype and a bit of silver bearing solder. Somewhere around 5%antimony, 3-4%tin. Seems to be hard enough to resist serious deformation (against phone books).

[Gee_Wizz01]

I have a 00 and 1, and I am very pleased with both. As stated earlier the handles do get hot, and the fix show works well, I just used some scrap oak I had laying around and made them about 10" long. I also wear my welders gauntlets when I am casting. The molds need to be very hot to work. I heat them on my hot plot plate to get them up to temp. They turn out a lot of shot in a hurry when you get the temp and the tempo down. The shot drops at the correct diameter and are very uniform.

G

[kullas]

I have the combo mold @4 buck on one side and OO on the other side. I love the mold it pours good and is just a over all good mold.

[plainsman456]

They work but they like to be HOT.

I have the #1 mold and like others had to make some longer handles,they are still worth the money.

I loaded some 12 gauge#1's for my brother and yesterday he phoned and had a doe run out on him while hunting in some real thick stuff.
He shot once and hit her in the neck,she flipped and went down.Those shot poured with WW hit hard.

[doubledown]

Thats good to know, I just ordered two of sharp shooters molds, one 000 Buck and 0000 Buck. I can't afford to buy buckshot anymore. $34 for 8 pounds! The world has gone mad!

[doubledown]

Thats good to know, I just ordered two of sharp shooters molds, one 000 Buck and 0000 Buck. I can't afford to buy buckshot anymore. $34 for 8 pounds! The world has gone mad!

[r6487]

i just received the 00 buck mold saturday. yes the handles get hot. i use a left hand glove only, then remove it when I stop to cut shot off the sprues. seems like (with production pot) all shot cavities fill better and consistently by letting lead drop as far as possible to mold. sent in $34.95 + $5.00 shipping. received mold--cutter--& $5.00 bill in package. think i'll be getting a 000 buck soon.

[Nix]

I've cast using virtually every mold they make from #4 up to #0000. As has been mentioned here several times, the handles get hot, fast. I wear a pair of $10 leather work gloves, nothing fancy, just enough to insulate me from the handles and still provide enough dexterity to do the job. A few folks have also mentioned the molds work best hot, this is absolutely true and in my experience the hotter they are the better they work.

Two quick pieces of advice: Break the operation down into two separate parts; casting should be it's own activity, don't waste time trying to cut/process the buckshot or you'll break your rhythm, just focus on casting. When casting, intentionally keep the lead flowing as you fill each cavity, don't try and separate them. Yes, it will yield larger sprues but it will save you tons of time when you go to cut the pellets off because you can just grab a sprue with ten pellets and clip them fast. If you fill each cavity individually you will end up with hundres of little sprues, each with a single pair of pellets and they are much slower to work with.

The second piece of advice I will give you is tumble the pellets once they're clipped. The flush-cutters you get with these molds do a great job but you'll always have a little flat side on your pellets. These can be sharp and get jammed up in the hull or wad when loading. If you tumble the pellets for even 30 minutes you'll round them off really nicely and they scoop/load so much easier.

[CATTLEMAN]

I have used them. I cast with leather welding gloves so the handle temperature is not a big factor for me. I had a lot of difficulty getting them to fill out. I suspect I was not running them hot enough. Even with the fill out issue, they appear to me to be the best option for casting large size shot currently and they are well made.

[The Frogge]

I have one in OO buck. Works good but doesn't have handles. I wear a leather welding glove when casting and just take a break when it gets too hot. Have a small pair of electricians end cutters to remove the sprues.

[NZSarge]

I have two of them in NZ, The #4/00 combo and the #F.

I use leather welding gloves, extended handles is the alternative.
They work fine under the Lee pot, the more I use them, the better they or I get at it. The cutters supplied with two or more are perfect and a real bonus.

I should have got the #00 and #4 on there own because of the quantity I am forming though.

[kd5exp]

I also have the #4 and 00 buckshot mould and they work pretty good. Welding gloves do help alot but I think I will make me a set of handles. What about the spur. I have been real carefull but some have alot of spur on them. Will tumbleing knock these down enough or are they that much of a problem.

[Nix]

Tumbling helps smooth the sharp edges off but you still need to clip them with flush-cutters for the best result.

[Just Duke]

I cobbled these together from Maple Dowel.

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad54/LEVERACTIONSHOOTERS/SHOTGUN%20WEDDING/GOOFYMOULDGUY.png

[Lloyd Smale]

they work but i personaly prefer the lee buck mold

[Nix]

Duke those look really nice; do you find the extra leverage helps separate the mold blocks?

[Just Duke]

Duke those look really nice; do you find the extra leverage helps separate the mold blocks?

Sorry for the delay all my materials arrived on the same day so I'm finally have something to work on.
I could snap the aluminum handles off if I squeezed hard enough. lol

[mtgrs737]

The moulds work good if you run them hot. I found that if you drop the castings from a really hot mould on to a towel the sprues will most always snap off. When they don't I just tap them with my gloved hand and they snap off nice and flush with the ball. I seldom use nippers on the sprues but I have my pot set to 750 degrees and cast fast to keep the mould temp up. I plan on making a set of handles that will wrap around the aluminum handle stubs and then finish it off with a thin rectangle of mica so that there is no exposed aluminum. I wear welders gloves now but could downsize to a lighter glove with the right handles. A good product may by nice Kansans not too far from me.

[Buckeye509]

Good info. Looking into getting some for 00 and #4, likely the Combo mold.

[Big Dog]

I have 3 of the Sharp Shooter molds; 00 Buck, #1 Buck and #4 Buck and as others have said to get 90% plus fill out yo have to run them HOT !
So I got tired of roasting my hands & went to see a friend that has a cabinet shop, told him what I wanted and the pics below tell the story

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii524/BigDogWalkin/DSCN2444_zps391a4c29.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii524/BigDogWalkin/DSCN2445_zpsd9eb092b.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii524/BigDogWalkin/DSCN2446_zps93e659c4.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii524/BigDogWalkin/DSCN2447_zps031e4456.jpg

I figured that if I was going to spend money for 3 sets of long handles, I might as well get a spare set for each mold too ........ money well spent, casting buckshot will be a breeze, cool hands wearing a pair of light muleskinner gloves, lots of dexterity & movement - winner move !!

[BAGTIC]

I have a 0000. I prefer to twist the balls off the sprue. I use WW and heat treat. They resist deformation very well.. I tumble them with a small amount of JPW. It prevents the lead from oxidizing.