Lyman 575602 minnie ball mold

[omgb]

Found one on the "bay" for $35 w/o handles. No problem cuz handles I got. Any way, cleaned it up, used some Rapine mold prep on it and 'BINGO" great bullets right out the door. Only a very few have holes in the center. Can't quite figure out how to prevent that 100% of the time. I run the pot hot and preheat well. Now the deal is how will these shoot out of a 1/60 musket? I'll find out Good Friday. BTW, Rapine is tango uniform right? I wish I had more of that prep.

[johnson1942]

what is the length and the diam. of the bullet?

[omgb]

The bullet is .575 and the length is a tad over an inch

[Hickok]

Sometimes if you take the core pin and polish it up real nice and smooth it helps, and the core pin has to be nice and hot when casting. Laddle pour with minies always seem to work best. Yep Rapine is kaput.

[Nobade]

I have found that to avoid holes in the center I need to pour the entire ladle into the mould, letting the excess run back into the pot. It seems that keeping the inside liquid for a while longer and maybe letting it swirl around in there helps break up any bubbles. Since I started doing that I have produced much better minie' bullets from my Ideal mould.

-Nobade

[johnson1942]

should have a 1/48 twist but it may stay stable to 150 yards or so. let us know how it does.

[fouronesix]

omgb,
Have you actually measured the twist in that rifle?-- not that it really matters anyway. I read the Forgett article when it first appeared (1974 or so). He states a 60" twist for the 58 "Hawken" he was shooting. Didn't pay much attention to the article at the time but re-read it a few years ago and discovered some really glaring embellishments (if not outright gross errors of certain facts) which could lead one to believe it was somewhat of a "stunt" hunt anyway... for ego and sales marketing I imagine. So after that, viewed it all with skepticism. Not that they didn't kill the critters mentioned, but the whole thing was forever tainted for me.

[omgb]

Please elaborate. I had some misgivings after i bought my first one in 1976. As you say, somethings just didnt ring true to my experience

[johnson1942]

put a tight lubed patch on the end of a ramrod. push it to the bottom of the bore. put a piece of masking tape at muzzle around the ramrod with a tail on it. pull carefully out so it follows the lands. when the tape turns 1/2 way around measure the distance between tape and muzzle. multiply by two and you have your twist. a 1/60 is iffy for your bullet but it sure could shoot a roundball.

[omgb]

1/72 is generally. RB only gun conicals are much faster. But some muskets are slow twist and shoot minnies well. I know how to measure the twist but wont have the gun in my hands until monday

[Good Cheer]

Fellas, one turn in six feet was the US military .58 minie shooting musket preferred twist established by extensive experimentation before the war began. Spinning them slow reduced the lateral displacement of shots at longer ranges.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Few recognize it but the "one size fits all" Lyman approach to sprue plate holes is very often a major obstacle to better casting, especially with large and/or heavy bullets, and especially with minie's. Open up that hole a little with an 82 degree countersink, lap that sprue plate bottom and leave the pinfoles behind.

BvT