A kinda marathon Minie' casting session

[Buckshot]

..........My previous good supply of slugs for my 58 cal rifles had finally been shot away to the extent that all I had left were Lee REAL's. While my rifles like them and they do well with them, I like options. :-) So, today and yesterday I went through 186 lbs of pure lead! Yesterday I used 2 Lee 505gr Minie' moulds and today I used a Lee 478gr Improved Minie' and their Target Minie'.

If I load the Lee 20 lb pot about 3/4 full it will run 850*. Half full it will go over 950*. Using two 58 cal moulds at a time, you can just flat drain the pot and then it's a pain and waste of time to refill, come to temp (alloy and moulds) then begin casting again. So before beginning I'd spend some time casting up a bunch of 1 lb and 1/2 lb ingots to drop back in while casting. I'd found out that from a 3/4 full pot a half pound ingot wouldn't really affect the temp. A 1 lb ingot would drop it about 25*.

With about a half full pot a 1 lb ingot (pre-heated) would drop the temp only about 10*. Any time I had a handfull of sprues they'd go back in. It was a constant battle keeping the pot level up! Only takes 15 of the slugs to suck out a pound of lead. Yesterday I started at 0900 and finished at 1500 including lunch and back streatching breaks. Today I started at 10:30 and also finished up at about 1500.

After checking each and every slug's hollowbase for obvious and suspected voids I've ended up with 168lbs of 4 kinds of Minie'. All I have to do now is a couple Lyman, 2 Raphine, and a NEI Minie' mould to go. However my back is about give out so I'll have to lay off and do some other stuff for a couple days. I'll tell ya what, they sure do look purdy!

Also, if you're running a Lee mould, and all 4 so far have been Lee's and they've been run hot, and they've been run as fast as I could move comfortably between breaks and pot filling, you really REALLY need to invest in some of Bullshop's Bull Plate Lube. I'll tell ya this stuff is pure magic and no friggin' kidding!!!!

...............Buckshot

[Underclocked]

Buckshot, yer nUtZ!! ;) But that was one heck of a casting session!

[jtaylor1960]

Buckshot,while your on the subject, do you have any favorite Minnies? I have a friend with a 58 Mississippi two band replica and I am going to cast him some bullets. I have a Lyman 57730.

[JeffinNZ]

Good skills Buckshot. I do one big run of .40cal round ball once a year and that suits me fine.

Casting is like cooking. I hate the process but love the end result.

[Buckshot]

Buckshot,while your on the subject, do you have any favorite Minnies? I have a friend with a 58 Mississippi two band replica and I am going to cast him some bullets. I have a Lyman 57730.

...............I thought the Mississippi was a .54, no?. I like the Lyman 575611. A 530gr with rather heavy skirts. Good for 200 yard gong bashing. If the twist will handle it, with that mould you can drop the base pin down to make 628gr 58 cal Minie' bullets! My 2 Band Enfield with a 48" twist will stabilize it.

Actually, the Lee 505gr is a fine Minie' and they cast a lot faster.

http://www.fototime.com/C75E453AEFB1E35/standard.jpg

...............Buckshot

[floodgate]

Buckshot:

The Mississippi was originally a .54, but many - if not most - originals were rebored to the three-groove "Springfield" rifle-musket .58 Minie' specs prior to and early in the Civil War. They were also often modified (to the detriment of the upper band) to take either a saber or angular bayonet. I had one that was found under an old house in Virginia in the 1950's; at 100 yrs. of age it still shot well (using the original Ideal #575213-OS), once I replaced a broken bridle screw in the lock.

floodgate

Edit:

I lied! (Or my memory played me false.) My Mississippi did have the front band cut back and a lug added for a sabre bayonet, but it was still in the original .54, with the six narrow, rounded grooves tapered in depth from deep at the breech to shallow at the muzzle. I used Ideal #533476 in it, with reasonably good results.

floodgate

[testhop]

..........My previous good supply of slugs for my 58 cal rifles had finally been shot away to the extent that all I had left were Lee REAL's. While my rifles like them and they do well with them, I like options. :-) So, today and yesterday I went through 186 lbs of pure lead! Yesterday I used 2 Lee 505gr Minie' moulds and today I used a Lee 478gr Improved Minie' and their Target Minie'.

If I load the Lee 20 lb pot about 3/4 full it will run 850*. Half full it will go over 950*. Using two 58 cal moulds at a time, you can just flat drain the pot and then it's a pain and waste of time to refill, come to temp (alloy and moulds) then begin casting again. So before beginning I'd spend some time casting up a bunch of 1 lb and 1/2 lb ingots to drop back in while casting. I'd found out that from a 3/4 full pot a half pound ingot wouldn't really affect the temp. A 1 lb ingot would drop it about 25*.

With about a half full pot a 1 lb ingot (pre-heated) would drop the temp only about 10*. Any time I had a handfull of sprues they'd go back in. It was a constant battle keeping the pot level up! Only takes 15 of the slugs to suck out a pound of lead. Yesterday I started at 0900 and finished at 1500 including lunch and back streatching breaks. Today I started at 10:30 and also finished up at about 1500.

After checking each and every slug's hollowbase for obvious and suspected voids I've ended up with 168lbs of 4 kinds of Minie'. All I have to do now is a couple Lyman, 2 Raphine, and a NEI Minie' mould to go. However my back is about give out so I'll have to lay off and do some other stuff for a couple days. I'll tell ya what, they sure do look purdy!

Also, if you're running a Lee mould, and all 4 so far have been Lee's and they've been run hot, and they've been run as fast as I could move comfortably between breaks and pot filling, you really REALLY need to invest in some of Bullshop's Bull Plate Lube. I'll tell ya this stuff is pure magic and no friggin' kidding!!!!

...............Buckshot

BUCKSHOT
MAYBE I COULD ONCECAST THAT LONG BUT NOMORE 4 TO 6 HR. IS ALL THE FUN I CAN STAND ANYMORE (GETING OLD DOES THAT TO YOU ) IT IS A SHAME THE YOUTH IS WASTED ON THE KIDS
AND IF IKNEW I WAS GOING TO LIVE SO LONG I WOULD HAVE TOOK BETTER CARE
OF MYSELF

TOM (TESTHOP)

[Freightman]

I have a Lyman 575213 HB mould and you are right it has to be very hot to fill out the skirts, which are kinda thin on this mould. I almost got to hot Tuesday when I was doing my BP boolits, not a dry stich on and talk about old I AM!

[scrapcan]

Now you will have some marathon trips to the loading bench and marathon trips to the range. You will have the weight lifting portion out of the way and if you throw the excercise of running (really slow ambling, but hey we can call it what you want) to the target to change it out

You have just created the best triathlon that one can imagine. Follow that with a burrito and a beer and holly cow, you will have more contestants than you want to shake a stick at.

Good going and wish I was as productive.

[mooman76]

I usually have my marathons in the winter but sometimes summer too, when needed. I haven't needed on for awhile but was thinking of on for BP. I used to use WW for BP because thats all I had but a couple years ago I aquired about 400# of soft lead and I have been melting my old BP bullets down when I make regular bullets and can use to make some new BP's. Happy shootin!

[Underclocked]

40 pounds would be a marathon for me, but then I'm not nearly as cereal as some of you guys. ;)

[Rattus58]

...............I thought the Mississippi was a .54, no?. I like the Lyman 575611. A 530gr with rather heavy skirts. Good for 200 yard gong bashing. If the twist will handle it, with that mould you can drop the base pin down to make 628gr 58 cal Minie' bullets! My 2 Band Enfield with a 48" twist will stabilize it.

Actually, the Lee 505gr is a fine Minie' and they cast a lot faster.

http://www.fototime.com/C75E453AEFB1E35/standard.jpg

...............Buckshot

Without me having to get out of my chair and looking at my mold, how do you drop the base pin down.. you mean cut the pin?

Aloha.... Tom :cool:

[georgeld]

Buck: That's great man!

My coffee cans are still full for bp's.

Am in bad need of .45 & .38 SWC's now though. Just primed 2600 .38's the other day and bet there's not 1200 boolits left. Really need to get out in the shop and cast about a week til the 2 gallon buckets are filled back up. Then I can really do some loading this winter when it's nasty outside and I'm not out calling in fur.

Nice looking slugs too.