Rifleman1776
New member
I just went to both the Lee and Lyman web sites and learned something very interesting regarding round ball sizes for muzzle loading rifles.
I was looking at 50 call ball molds. The one in particular I looked at is the .495 mold. Hold on, now get this, not a typo, the Lee mold casts a .492 ball.
I called Lyman and posed the question to them about their mold size for a 50 cal. Their answer is it is a .495.
I can't imagine why Lee would be so different. This could explain why folks sometimes get different results at the range with otherwise identical guns, patch, etc.
This little revelation was only for the 50 cal. ball. I haven't checked out the other sizes Lee makes like .440, .445 etc. Those could prove shockers.
I was looking at 50 call ball molds. The one in particular I looked at is the .495 mold. Hold on, now get this, not a typo, the Lee mold casts a .492 ball.
I called Lyman and posed the question to them about their mold size for a 50 cal. Their answer is it is a .495.
I can't imagine why Lee would be so different. This could explain why folks sometimes get different results at the range with otherwise identical guns, patch, etc.
This little revelation was only for the 50 cal. ball. I haven't checked out the other sizes Lee makes like .440, .445 etc. Those could prove shockers.