Rehabilitation of the Frankengun ASM 1858 revolver continues. . .
I scored an in-box 1970's vintage 2-hole Lyman .454 round ball mold off fleabay and got to work with some alloy from scrounged shotgun slugs. Easiest mold break-in EVER - - no adjusting heat, no adding tin, and no rejects after the third pour through about 11 pounds of metal. Where have these grooveless spheres been all my life?
By nature of the projectile being round, there is of course the little bit of "tail" from the sprue cut, and I'm wondering how to handle that on loading. Do I:
1. Try to seat it directly forward where the loading ram will tend to mangle things a little anyway?
2. Try to seat it directly rearward so it's in the slipstream in flight?
3. Seat it sideways so the loading process swages it off with the rest of the ring, and let the act of firing finish the job? Seems to me like this is the best approach.
What say the venerated elders?