454 mold

[mike116]

Ok y’all I believe I have everything to start casting.
I have a LP stove and cast iron pot for making ingots and I have a Lee electric for casting balls.
I have the new 0.454 ball mold and a ladle.
I reckon I need to order some soft lead as I only have wheel weights and large fish weights of unknown lead
Any guesses on how many 0.454 “ balls I can get out of a pound off soft lead?

Write this down for future reference...     
7000 grain in a pound.   Divide 7000 by the weight of the projectile (140.5 for .44 roundball) gives appx 49 roundball per pound of lead.

[G Dog]

The mid 19th Century U.S. Army wanted to be able to run 50 +/- projectiles from a pound of lead.  So, we now shoot the "Army caliber" of .44/.45.

437.5 gr. per OZ. is another useful number to memorize.

And the speed of light.   

[Hawg]

Here ya go, I found you a chart.

[Zulch]

Hawg. Thanks for that chart my friend 

[AR. Hillbilly]

Thank you Mike, Dog and Hawg. Very good information and answers a future question.

[StrawHat]

Back when I needed to produce a lot of bullets quickly, I would use two or three 2 cavity molds. If they were not all the same, I made sure they were visually different to make sorting easier. For example, three 2 cavity molds produced a lot of 148 grain dewc bullets in a short time. If I wanted variety, a 45 caliber rib mold, a 45-250 SWC and a 32-100 SWC. It was no fun trying to sort 44-240 SWC, 45-250 SWC or 44 rb and 45 rb.

I also used two 20 pound bottom pour melters.

That was before I discovered 6 cavity molds. I am not sure which produces a faster pile of bullets. The

Kevin

[DragoonRick]

Today I cast 100 on the Lee roundball mold .454 diameter.   I have an old Lee bottom pour pot given to me by a brother-in-law when he bought a new one.   I think it’s 5 or 10 lb.  the more you do for yourself the better.

[Zulch]

You go Rick  I need to cast some too. i have all I need except time. My favorite excuse, lack of time. 

[DragoonRick]

I have a 451 and a 454  Lee round ball mold.  Which do you think serves the 44 cap and ball revolvers better ?

[ShotgunDave]

I have a 451 and a 454  Lee round ball mold.  Which do you think serves the 44 cap and ball revolvers better ?

I would say the .454 is probably your best bet Rick.

[Hawg]

Definitely .454. A .451 might work ok in a Pietta but with the .454 you get a little more bearing surface for the rifling. .451's in a Uberti might move under recoil.

[G Dog]

I have several Piettas dating from 1996 to 2017 and they all do much better with .454 / .380 over the smaller .451 / .375 size ball.  Big difference.

[DragoonRick]

It has been over a year since I cast bullets. I have three 5 gal buckets of lead.  One of soft lead for black powder. Two of wheel weights for center fire rifle and pistol.  I had a one gal paint bucket filled with soft lead for casting yesterday. It’s about a fifth of my soft lead. I weighed it at 30 lbs.  that one bucket will make around 1500 round balls of.454 diameter. I’ve had all this lead for 15 to 20 years. I’m not going to run out. 

[Zulch]

Awesome Rick, I've only got about 15lbs and need to get casting before the summer gets here.

[Necessaryevil]

I have a 451 and a 454  Lee round ball mold.  Which do you think serves the 44 cap and ball revolvers better ?

Minimum .454 for sure.

I have a .457 round ball mould for the Ruger ROA, I don't bother any more with my .454 ball mould that I have for the Uberti 1858.

I just cast .457's now and use them in both.

They work just fine.