Need help on what is needed to cast .58 cal Minnie balls

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DavidB2

New member
I want to start making my own .58 cal Minnie balls. Can someone give me the basics? I shoot an 1861 reproduction Armisport Springfield. I have been buying both .577 and .575 cal from Track of the Wolf. I just purchased a Euroarms Enfield Musketoon. Haven't shot it yet.

-My my understanding is that I need a lead pot caster. They have those at my nearby Cabelas. Where do you get lead ingots? Specific website like midway USA? I understand I also need casting flux?

-What tools and bullet molds are need for .58 cal? What lube sizing tools and dies are needed?

By the way, I am active duty Air Force stationed in SD, so I am not near any places where N-SSA events take place. I just target shoot for fun. I want to get into skirmishing when I get stationed back east or retire in East TN. Thanks for all the information you can provide.
 
I'd go to the N-SSA website and ask what moulds, lubes people use there.

I use a Parker Hale .577 three piece mould. The third piece is inserted into the mold and creates the cavity for the minie ball. Afterward I lube with SPG.
 
I use a Lyman traditional style minie that drops from the mold at .577. The small bottom pour pots are nothing but trouble. The bigger pots are a lot better but still get drippy. Bottom pour is faster but ladling is less troublesome. I never flux. If you do get a bottom pour pot never ever put dirty lead in it. I make my own lube out of beeswax and olive oil and pan lube the minies. you can dip lube them but it makes for messier loading and is wasteful of lube. I dip lube bullets for my paper cutter Sharps.
 
You will want the lead to be dead soft (as pure as you can find). You want the lead to be very hot so your mold quickly gets real hot from casting. Since you have to contend with the base plug your casting will be slower than usual so expect to get a lot of culls and poorly filled out minies before the mold halves & plug get to casting temperature.. I end up remelting at least 1/3 of what I cast. Look at the bottom (tip?) of the cavity for voids and weigh your minies if you expect any semblance of accuracy.
 
-My my understanding is that I need a lead pot caster. They have those at my nearby Cabelas. Where do you get lead ingots? Specific website like midway USA? I understand I also need casting flux?

-What tools and bullet molds are need for .58 cal? What lube sizing tools and dies are needed?
Click to expand...

Casting bullets is pretty easy.

You will need a lead pot. I use a Lee 4-20 bottom-pour pot:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/645810/lee-pro-4-20-lb-furnace-110-volt

As was noted, bottom pour pots tend to drip. You'll want a little tray under the pot to catch the drips (it will slowly build a little lead stalagmite if you let it) and dump the sprues.

But I find bottom pour to be much faster to operate and less prone to drips and splashes than using a ladle, but I have not done much ladling. The problem with bottom pour pots and hollow-base-cavity bullets like Minie balls is that if you try to pour the lead directly down the sprue hole into the mold you are almost always guaranteed to get a void or pocket at the top of the hollow base cavity core pin. Sometimes you can alleviate this problem by cocking the mold sideways as you start the pour, or even letting the stream of molten lead impact first on the sprue plate and then let it "slosh" down the hole into the mold.

But for some molds, there is no way to avoid voids other than using a ladle. When ladle-pouring, you start the pour with the mold sideways, and then you slowly tip the mold and ladle upright together as the lead flows into the mold. In this way a void is avoided (hah).

I don't find that flux does much of anything so I don't bother fluxing anymore. I melt down pure lead and then give the pot a stir, scraping the sides of the pot, and any junk in the melt floats to the top and I skim it off. There is no benefit in continually skimming the pot; a lead oxide layer will form on the top of the melt and if you skim it off you are merely exposing fresh lead to oxidize and be ruined.

There are a variety of bullet molds available for .58 caliber. Lee makes cheap molds that include handles for about $25:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/46...l-bullet-mold-575-500m-575-diameter-500-grain

However, the Lee mold is entirely aluminum and the aluminum core pin tends to gall against the aluminum mold halves in fairly short order.

Higher quality iron molds, or aluminum molds with iron core pins will give you less hassle, but cost 3-4 times as much.

For target shooting with 1:72 or thereabouts muskets, many people like shooting the RCBS-Hodgdon bullet:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/49...n-north-south-skirmish-578-diameter-414-grain

I have had great success with this bullet in my Richmond Carbine with Hoyt barrel and my P1853 with Whitacre barrel. I have won many medals with it and off a bench at 50 yards with 44-46 grains of 3F it will blow a ragged hole in the paper.

However I have recently begun experimenting with the Moose Wilkinson:

http://moosemoulds.wix.com/mm2013#!wilkinson/c1msz

And it will be my new competition round:

http://imgur.com/a/q5DyO

Most competitors size their bullets to about .001"-002" undersize of their bores. Bore sizes vary and you cannot count on what is stamped on the barrel. You either have to measure with plug gauges or size bullets until you find the size that just fits and the next size up does not. With luck, you can shoot "as cast", without having to size, but sizing guarantees uniform sizes without regard to lead/mold temperature (which can affect drop-size) and perfect roundness.

You can buy push-through sizers rather cheaply that work with existing reloading stands or you can fix it in a vice and push bullets through with a dowel.

Then you dip-lube the bullets in lube melted on a hot plate.

Or you can lube and size in one go using a Lyman Lubrisizer:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/65...let-sizer-and-lubricator-with-heater-110-volt

With suitable sizing dies available from S&S Firearms:

http://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SA450

I make my lube using 50/50 Crisco/Beeswax. Many people will extol the virtues of this lube or that lube. And while any change in a shooting configuration will affect accuracy, I don't think lube matters as much as a quality gun barrel and the powder charge and bullet size and weight.

Steve
 
I use a cast iron propane "hot plate", a Lyman 10 pound cast iron pot, Lyman bottom pour dipper and a Lyman 575-213 mold. Been using that mold since about 1962. You'll need soft lead - look at scrap yards and see if they have any "lead sheathing" from cables or lead sheets used for roofing work, etc. It needs to be soft for the base to expand when fired. I usually flux my pot with a small piece of beeswax, skim off the dross and pour. Your mold will want to be heated up - I set mine next to the flame while the lead is melting. If not hot, when you pour it will freeze off and you'll get an incomplete cavity fill. Usually after a couple of pours you'll start dumping good, full Minies.

Minie ball to bore fit is important. Too small a Minie and too large of a bore will get you "key holing". Shooting two different bore sizes - i.e. your Enfield and Springfield - each may like a different bullet size. You could either get a mold for each one or go with a mold for the largest size you need and size the rest down for the other rifle. i.e. if you Enfield likes .576 but your Springfield likes .574 - size down to your smaller bore. I believe Lodgewood has sizers that fit in a single stage loading press that you can use to size with. My particular mold drops them at .575 and they fit well in my 1855 reproduction Springfield. My old Remington Zouave has had thousands of rounds through it and the bore was large to begin with so that one "key holes". I need to send it to Whitacre to get it relined at which time I'll have them do it to accept what my mold drops.

I agree with some of the others on the bottom pour lead melting pots. Personally, I don't care for them. I've been ladle pouring for well over 50 years and cast all of my bullets - BP and cartridge in that manner. It all depends on how you want to set up your casting.

Good luck and dive in - it isn't rocket science and you'll have a ton of fun doing it - plus it will save you some $$ over time. For molds - look at places like MidwayUSA, etc. to see what they cost new. Lyman/Ideal 575-213 mold blocks come up for sale all the time on Fleabay. Just make sure that the mold includes the "base pin" which forms the hollow base. The dimensions of the base pins will vary as over the years, Ideal/Lyman used a number of different dimensions on them so they will not usually interchange. The 575-213 mold blocks will require a "Large" size set of Lyman/Ideal handles.
 
If you buy a set of Lyman blocks you can modify Lee handles to fit at a third of the cost of Lyman handles.
 
Hello fellow brother in BLUE!!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but dont Lee 6 cavity mold handles fit the Lyman blocks? And I use a Lee 10lb bottom pour pot. I actually like the thing, it rarely drips and if it does you just grab a flat screw stick and turn the seat screw back and forth a few times and it quits. Like Hawg said clean lead only in a bottom pour pot. I process all my scrap yard lead in a cast iron dutch oven I got from cracker barrel after a meal of Cajun catfish and hash brown casserole [emoji2]. Then, I Flux the crap out of it with sawdust. Then I pour it into corn cob ingots. Again a cast iron corn cob corn bread pan from cracker barrel. The corn cob ingots fit will in my 10lb Pot. I have a ladle too and use it sometime for low quantity casting. But when I'm pumping out roundball the bottom pour it is.
 
I have a Lyman mold somewhere around here with Lee handles and I'm thinking I had to grind them down a little but I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time.
 
For your own sake and that of your family, please do your casting in a very well ventilated area, preferably outside the house. If you must be indoors, use an area with a fan to the outside. Handle lead and bullets with gloves you can discard and avoid breathing the fumes from the melting pot.

"Lead poisoning" is often thought of as a joke referring to being shot, but it is all too real and WILL kill you. I lost a good friend too young because he did his casting in a corner of his basement with no air circulation. They say 90 is the new 60, but he never even reached 60 before smoking and lead poisoning got him, and the pain in his last months was agonizing.

Jim
 
Lead doesn't give off fumes until it reaches the boiling point. Handling it and then eating or sticking your fingers in your mouth without washing your hands first is what's bad for you.
 
You want soft lead, I suggest Ebay. My last bunch came from a guy salvaging the keel of his sailboat, butter soft and cheap. As far as lead fumes it isn't an issue, if the lead is hot enough to boil and produce fumes, it's far too hot to bullet cast with. I use an electric Lee bottom pour pot, they are cheap and do a decent job of keeping the lead at a consistant temp. Have fun!
 
Good thread on lead vapors here:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?121103-Lead-Fumes-let-s-settle-this

Like most liquids, you don't have to boil it to have vapors from it. Water, for example, will evaporate even if not boiling.

Still, the amount of lead in the air through vaporization at casting temperatures is negligible. As was noted the biggest risk for lead poisoning is by ingestion or from inhaling lead dust.

I've been casting lead for about 6 years now. I have gotten my lead levels checked as part of my blood work for the last 3. I've never had any issues.

I cast in my garage in front of a window with a box fan set up in it to draw air away from me and out the window.

Steve
 
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