Round ball molds for a .40?

[Martin S.]

Did Lyman ever make a .390 or .395 round ball mold?  I prefer the Lyman over the Lee.  I tried Larry Callahan's site but it says "Service Unavailable".  Does anyone have his contact info?

There is also the person that makes them to order in England, I think, but can't recall his name.  Does anyone have his contact info?

Also, it seems you cannot get .390 balls, only .389 (I know, minor difference) or .395.

What balls, powder, and patch thickness are you guys shooting in your .40's?

Thanks,

Martin

[45-110]

Lyman made a .395 mold, there are some on Ebay now. Ideal may have made a .390
kw

[N.Brown]

I shoot a .40 and I use a Lee mold , Never had any complaints. I also have a Larry Calahan bag mold I use to cast with in a primitve setting . Both are good . But I would't want to cast a bunch at one setting with the bag mold.

[N.Brown]

I shoot .390 with a bear greased pillow ticking patch.

[smylee grouch]

I use a .400 Lee with 18\1000 denim\bear oil in my GM & Carpenter barrels.

[Martin S.]

I shoot .390 with a bear greased pillow ticking patch.

Where did you find .390 balls or a .390 mold?

[Daryl]

Buffalo Arms sells Lyman, Lee, Saeco and their own moulds.
I used 2 Lyman moulds, a .395" that cast .398" x .398" in pure lead as well as a DC Lyman mould that cast .400x.400".
Both moulds were very accurate with the appropriate powdr charges and patches.
IIRC, Hornady makes swayed .395" balls.

[N.Brown]

I'm not sure where I got the Lee mold . Bought the bag mold from Larry. I'm sure he still makes them CLA .

[N.Brown]

There is a new Lee mold on Ebay for 30.00

[Eric Krewson]

The newer CNC Lee Molds are hard to beat, .395s were way too hard to load in my .40 with my favored pocket drill patch, they shot just fine.

I bought a new double .390 Lee mold off eBay and cast some .390s last week, much easier to load and they shoot very well.

[Martin S.]

Thanks for the Ebay tips.

Maybe my technique is wrong, but it seems like I get more balls with wrinkles from a Lee mold, which is why I prefer the Lyman steel molds.

I thought it was because the mold was not hot enough, and my thought was the aluminum was cooling too fast and not retaining heat.

Any suggestions for what I might be doing wrong?

[Daryl]

Maybe you are not casting quickly enough?
My Lee moulds cast as well as my Lyman moulds.
Sounds to me your lead is not hot enough.
I get perfect balls until I stop casting  from the first (usually) to the last. I preheat moulds on top of the electric pot as the lead is melting. Thus by the time the 20 pounds of lead is ready, the mould  no matter what it is made of, is hot enough to cast perfect balls or bullets.
Been doing this since 1972. My dear old friend Lester H. Hawkes schooled me on casting techniques that worked then as well as today.

[smylee grouch]

When I cast, I want the lead hot enuf that the puddle of lead on top of the spare cutter does not solidify for about 2 seconds or so. If the mold is held right the ball will fill out with no wrinkles.

[Martin S.]

Thanks Daryl and Smylee!

[Daryl]

Pleasure to be of assistance. One of the reasons I am here.
Been.pkaying this game for a lot of years and found early  with help from Robert's& others, how to do it.

[Eric Krewson]

When I cast the other day, I heated my mold briefly with a map gas torch, perhaps for 10 seconds. The balls had wrinkles for the first two pours but were perfect from then on.

I used a small Lee lead pot, the controls were set on 7 by the previous owner so I left them like that, turns out this was the perfect lead temperature for casting .40 balls.  I picked up the pot along with a treasure trove of other casting and B/P equipment from an estate sale.



Like you, I initially thought a Lyman steel mold had to be better than a Lee, that is until I got rooked on a trade for a .54 Lyman mold that cast a ball that was .528 on one side and .535 on the other. After I posted about this lopsided mold others chimed in about having bad Lyman molds as well. Lyman ignored my request for a replacement for this mold.

All of my Lee mold cast perfect balls except for one I bought off eBay used for $9 that had worn out alignment pins. I think I have 8 different Lee molds at the present.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I cast pure lead in a Lyman .395" round ball mould.  I have three .40 cal rifles and they all like 65 gr. 3Fg GOEX, .018" - .020" cotton denim pre-cut patches and any wet lube, ie:  water/Ballistol 10:1, water sol machining oil/water, same ratio, and I wet the patches to saturated, and gently squeeze off the excess.  Lehigh Valley and Mr. Flintlock are also two excellent patch lubes.  For hunting, I use Neatsfoot oil and/or Track's Mink Oil.  These rifle load easily with the 5/16" hickory ramrods though I use a starter to introduce the patched ball into the bore.

[Leatherbark]

Tip.......Put your lead balls from your Lee mold in a vibratory tumbler like a Lyman Turbo Tumbler with a small squirt of graphite and vibrate for 1-2 hours.  The balls come out prettier than a Speer or Hornady ball and you can barely perceive a little bump where the sprue was.  This will help eliminate the weight variance between cavities because of different sprue sizes.  Graphite is not really needed.

Bob

[Martin S.]

Tip.......Put your lead balls from your Lee mold in a vibratory tumbler like a Lyman Turbo Tumbler with a small squirt of graphite and vibrate for 1-2 hours.  The balls come out prettier than a Speer or Hornady ball and you can barely perceive a little bump where the sprue was.  This will help eliminate the weight variance between cavities because of different sprue sizes.  Graphite is not really needed.

Bob

OK, I have never used a tumbler before, so here's a dumb question.

What kind of media do you use? Are you adding graphite to the media, or using graphite by itself?

[Martin S.]

Thanks Eric, that's good information!

[Daryl]

I would suggest you put the balls in a large bottle for the tumbler deal. Put the bottle in and turn on the power. Watch the direction the jar turns and make sure
when you put the balls in the jar, that the turning is tightening the jar lid, not loosening it. This keeps the balls cleaner and not dusted with corn husk powder. I suspect
they would be dusted with lead dust, though. I have not done this, but had used my 'tumbler' to moly coat bullets in the past.
Make sure there is tumbler media to protect the bottle from breaking.(of course)

[Hungry Horse]

Man am I glad to hear you guys have so much time left on the planet that you can waste hours monkeying around weighing, rolling, and otherwise treating, round balls. I’d buy back all the hours I wasted in a New York minute. After being shot into the dirt by an old friend, using my rejected round balls, and shooting second place in an Oregon trade gun match  with round balls that couldn’t be called round balls at all, because they looked like a cross between a lead rain drop, and a prune. I say cast them in a good mold, with pure lead, and shoot em.

Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

I did a test with oblong balls some years ago.
The perfect balls (not weighed) that were .400" x .400" made s 5shot group 1/2" on centres. The oblong balls that were from the other cavity, ran .394" x .400".
Those made a group at 2" IIRC.
I then shot two offhand groups with each set of balls. The perfect balls made a group of 1 1/2" while the oblong balls made a group almost 5".
This was to test some people's statement that imperfect balls don't matter "because I'm shooting offhand".
Of course it matters.

[Maven]

Martin, You should search for Tanner Ball Moulds in the UK.  Excellent quality and service.  Just tell him the exact diameter you want and whether you'll be using pure lead or not.

[Martin S.]

Thank you.

I have bought from Tanner before, I just thought I could find a Lyman.

Reading this thread has taught me a lot.

I found a .395 Lyman on Ebay.  Thanks to 45-110 for the heads up.

I will be more willing to try Lee molds in the future, based on the comments here.

Now I just need to find time to spend a day at the range.  Too much time at work lately.