Gentlemen,
Started casting 58 caliber Minnie balls today for F-I-Ls newly acquired Enfield Rifle/musket repro. Bought it yesterday and bought a Lee mold because it's an hour drive to the ONLY place to buy 58cal ANYTHING.
Anyway, this is my first attempt at Minnie balls, I cast RBs for myself using a Lee mold. This Minnie mold has a pin to form the hollow base, and is a nose pour (single cavity of course). FWIW, the sprue cutter design is different than on any Lee mold I have used before, very short and has a flange (for lack of a better description) to hit with the sprue cutter.
This mold is a pain to get good boolits with. My first attempt ran about 40% rejection rate!! I finally got it down to about 25%, but that's still a lot to me. I cleaned/degreased the mold before I started, I'm using pure (as far as I know) lead, I smoked the mold and am running it fairly hot. Most of my rejects are rinkled or improperly filled out bases. Sometimes the mold doesn't close far enough and I get "fins". I've not had any problems with Lee RB or REAL molds before. Is there a trick to getting good Minnies? Do I just need to be patient and refine my technique? I'll get a good boolit, and then the next one out of the mold is a reject, that's why I think it's technique. Is there something to do with the base plug?
BTW, these 500gr boolits take a DRINK from the lead pot LOL!! Espescially when you're used to casting 158gr boolits (358156) LOL!!!
All input appreciated.
SSB