Custom Roundball Molds

[6pt-sika]

Who besides NEI makes custom diameter roundball molds ?

I am again contemplating a roundball mold for the 10 gauge and the 16 gauge .

[longbow]

Well, I was going to direct you to Jeff tanner in the UK but his website does not seem to be working:

www.jt-bullet-moulds.co.uk/

Not sure if he has moved it or shut down.

You might try a little more in depth searching. I don't have one but several people have posted good reviews.

Are you looking for full bore round ball for the 10 ga.? 0.735" in a shotcup should work... or at least you could check petal thickness as 0.735" round ball moulds are standard.

0.662" should fit the 16 ga. but is full bore diameter so would not go through a choke.

Lyman makes both sizes and mine cast about 0.001" to 0.0015" over and are within about the same of being perfectly spherical. If only their boolit moulds were made that way!

Longbow

[Buttonbuck]

I saw he has a facebook link...I love the 590 he made for me. very classy mould.

[6pt-sika]

I saw he has a facebook link...I love the 590 he made for me. very classy mould.

I don't do FB but thanks for the info !

[6pt-sika]

Are you looking for full bore round ball for the 10 ga.? 0.735" in a shotcup should work... or at least you could check petal thickness as 0.735" round ball moulds are standard.

0.662" should fit the 16 ga. but is full bore diameter so would not go through a choke.



I am thinking when I get home the end of Feb I'll measure the chokes in both guns and then the petal thickness of both wads and go from there .

I want a roundball that will fit inside the SP 10 and 16 wads and not split the end of the barrels in the chokes .

[6pt-sika]

After pushing a Remington SP-10 wad into the choke at the end of the barrels , I measured the inside with my Brown & Sharpe dial calipers and got the following readings in the W&C Scott . Right barrel measured .710-.715 the left barrel was .690-.700 .

Am I wrong in thinking I shouldn't use a ball greater then .700-.705 ?

Haven't tried it yet in the 16 gauge !

I think I'll try with the 10 gauge first and if I can get it to work well enough to satisfy myself then later I can go to the 16 gauge guns .

[longbow]

Well, I can't answer from direct experience or first hand knowledge but general consensus is that the ball/wad combination shouldn't be more than about 0.003" over the tightest constriction. Having said that. I would be willing to bet that if the ball is a few thou smaller than the choke, the petals will simply shear.

I have had tight fitting slug loads that squished petals to almost nothing with no sign of high pressure.

Another option is to use a donut wad or inverted gas seal (cup) to center the ball so no petals around it ~ cut them off or cut them to the middle of the ball.

With a nice old W&C Scott & Son 10 ga. I would be reluctant to go any larger than the tightest choke with a ball and likely at least 0.010" to 0.020" under if in a shotcup. That's just me.

I have one that dates to the early 1880's but is in need of some TLC and I am not sure it is restorable to "collector" condition or even if so if I want to or can afford to spend the money. If it is only going to be a shooter then I may cut it down as a side by slug gun with cylinder bores.

Longbow

[BAGTIC]

Another approach is to trim the shot cup back so it does not extend beyond the equator of the ball.

[longbow]

I've tried that one too but for me it did not produce very good results. It may be the wads I used but I trimmed back to just below the middle of the ball (petal thickness) when the ball was sitting on had card wads.

So far I get best results with bore size ball (cylinder bore) or an undersize ball in shotcup.

Having said that, others have reported success in trimming petals so it is worth a try and maybe I just did it wrong.

Longbow