Due to encouragement by the much missed John Livingston, I decided to have a try at casting. Others were using cast bullets for Cowboy Lever Action Silhouette (CLA) so why not try something new for my Marlin 30-30 Cowboy. I started with a single cavity Ideal/Lyman mould from eBay, a 31141. I had read that the new Lymans tended to drop a skinny bullet and I had already learned a .309 would not cut it. Needless to say I found a old die and a .311 sizer makes bullets that out shoot copper jacketed factory loads.
Since I had such success with a .30 cal bullet why would anything be different with a .44? I trolled for a while on eBay looking for an old 429215. Hard to find and when they did silly $$$ won the mould. I got a two cavity mould of Lyman era. And, I later learned it has seen some cycles!
When it arrived it had two bullets in the cavities and no rust. Some form of lube which smelled familiar. Marvel Mystery oil is what it was! First session at a buddies shop yield mostly junk! The mould would not close all the way and we were not able to get the bullets to "fill out". Hummm.
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| Bullets from a 2 cavity Lyman 429215 |
I took the pot home and waited for another day. Last night I first cleaned the mould with mineral spirits as suggested to get all that old oil out of there. Soap and water with a tooth brush. Dry on wood stove. Lead and water DO NOT MIX! Then onto the handles. I saw that the outside hole had a burr and decided to take a very very fine file and ensure the face is flat. This, coupled with knocking the pin in just enough to the blocks would not move when held together. POOF! The two halfs now mate perfectly and it drops nice bullets.
I struggled with temp management a bit and found the mould got too hot at the base but good temp on the nose. Click picture for close up. I will have a wet rag setup next session. Can you believe that gas checks are $.03 each plus S&H? I am optimistic I might be able to skip the gas check given the low pressures being used.
