I found a gang mold that casts .380 roundball/buckshot for 36 cal C&B shooters

hellgate · February 04, 2012, 01:19:03 PM

I just discovered that www.buckshotmold.com/ has a variety of buckshot molds available for casters. They have a 0000 Buck mold that casts 10 (TEN!!) .380 diameter buckshot per casting (and 20 shot per cast in smaller sizes). Now, this isn't a precision mold like you would get from Lyman, RCBS, Shiloh, LEE, BigLube, etc. but the nominal diameter is .380 inch (I'm guessing + or - .003" variation). The casting cavities are machined not molded into the aluminum molds and wooden handles are integral. It is not the cheapo sinker mold you see at the sporting goods store. The mold costs $34.95+$5 shipping. They even have combination sizes like my mold that casts #4 and 00 buck. My thought is the 0000 Buck mold should cast round balls that ought to work just fine in the various 36 cal Colt & Remington replicas at the short ranges we use in CAS. For precision shooting there may be too much variation in ball size for real good accuracy in target work. For most CAS shoots where the targets are 7-10 yards or for plinking they should perform well enough. If I were ever to go to EOT or Winter Range I'd use factory swaged balls (or sorted & graded hand cast from a LEE or Lyman quality mold) but for monthlies these oughta be just fine. I do not work for Sharpshooter USA that makes the mold. I am not getting compensated for this "plug".

I just bought their combo buckshot mold and it works beautifully once it is heated up. I leave a full length sprue attached before nipping off the shot. That warms the mold faster and leaves bigger chunks of lead that are easier to put back into the melt while casting. You'll need a flush cutting nipper to remove the sprues (@Harbor Freight for about $2.50 or $5 shipped with the mold). I just wanted to let the pards I shoot with know that there is an economic and suitable mold out there for volume casting to help save a few bucks on ammo for those 36s. Their #0 buck mold (.320" dia) might even work for the 31 cals. If you have already tried this mold and it didn't work for revolver shooting, please let the me/us know. All I can say is their buckshot in shotshells patterns just as good as factory loads but are a whole lot cheaper to make yourself.

Hoof Hearted · February 11, 2012, 07:05:02 PM

Well Hellgate you done made me do it!
I ordered three moulds from them and they arrived in about an hour! OK maybe it was two days but it was blazing fast. PayPal one evening and the package in the mail box the next day.......

I LIKE EM!

They are a bit different to use and if you cast dangerously like I do w/o gloves they'll get ya. But after a swab of Rapine Mould Prep and a good warm up I made a hunnerd .380 round balls pretty dern quick (took longer to snip the sprues). I think 4 of 'em in a 3" 410 shell might be the cats meow in a SBS Saiga shotgun!!!!!!!

hellgate · February 11, 2012, 10:57:45 PM

I think they are great gadgets. I wear gloves when casting with mine. I gut burnt a time or two and figgered someone's tryin' ta speak ta me by inflicitng pain. No probs with the glove(s) on. Now I can't remember if I wore one or two gloves but the "OW!OW!OW!" suddenly quit happening.

Hoof Hearted · February 11, 2012, 11:05:01 PM

It's like drinking too hot a coffee..........

I think I am going to mod a stop on the moulds so they don't open so far and I might even fix the handles so the backside can't burn my mitts..........

But for the price, hey ya know, not bad

Quote from: hellgate on February 11, 2012, 10:57:45 PM
I think they are great gadgets. I wear gloves when casting with mine. I gut burnt a time or two and figgered someone's tryin' ta speak ta me by inflicitng pain. No probs with the glove(s) on. Now I can't remember if I wore one or two gloves but the "OW!OW!OW!" suddenly quit happening.

will52100 · February 14, 2012, 09:51:55 AM

There nice, and I've got one in 0 buckshot for shot shells, but never liked the sprue, hopefully DD will get his round ball moulds going soon.

hellgate · February 14, 2012, 10:28:55 AM

Will,
Get the little $2.50 flush cut sprue cutters from Harbor Freight. Just a flat spot is left. Also I tumble the shot for a while and that rounds them out even more.

Stu Kettle · February 14, 2012, 02:17:45 PM

Quote from: hellgate on February 14, 2012, 10:28:55 AM
Will,
Get the little $2.50 flush cut sprue cutters from Harbor Freight. Just a flat spot is left. Also I tumble the shot for a while and that rounds them out even more.

Do you put any kind of media in the tumbler with them?

hellgate · February 14, 2012, 02:33:09 PM

I haven't but don't see why not. I didn't want my media to get coated in lead even though primer compound is also lead. I try to avoid breathing or stirring up dust from the media when I separate it from brass. My purpose in tumbling was to both round out minor imperfections and more easily show major imperfections like wrinkles to sort out and remelt. If you tumble too long you'll miss some of the grade "B" pellets. It turns the pellets from shiny to dull grey but pits and wrinkles will still be shiny making them easy to spot for culling. I tumbled mine for about 1/2 hour. They were cast of pistol bullet alloy but not super hard.

Same for bigger balls like the .454s from my Lyman 4 cavity mold. They come out looking like factory swaged except for the area around the sprue.