New Bullet Mould,.......Think it will Work? ***NEW INFO***

[SGT John Chapman]

I bought the above mould the other night off E-Bay it's a Lyman small single cavity mould blocks lathe bored for a .512" diameter bullet weighing 310 grains. My question is do you think this would work in a Armi Sport/ Taylor's Spencer Cal 56-50.
Neither of which is in my hands yet I'm just wondering......and hoping this mould will cast .002"-.003" over like most others.........

Thanks,....

[Fox Creek Kid]

I'd need to see a bigger photo and also the shading prevents me from seeing the true size of the lube groove. 

[Two Flints]

Hi Fox Creek Kid,

Hope this larger view helps   Any larger and it loses clarity.  As one of SSS's resident experts on loading, can you answer the SGT's questions?



Two Flints

[SGT John Chapman]

I should have it whithin the week,.....I'll have measurements then,......

[French Jack]

Looks a lot like the 300 gr. sold by Buffalo Arms.  It should work reasonably well.  The only caveat may be the overall length-- then again could be no problem at all.  Looks like one made up for use in the Smith Carbine. 

[Arizona Trooper]

If memory serves, that bullet was originally designed by some N-SSA shooters for Smith carbines. It ought to work fine in a Spencer as long as the groove dia. is small enough.

[Fox Creek Kid]

I'd have to see a better photo of the lube groove.  Per my experiences, with real BP you need a lot of lube for sustained fire. Then again that's with my gun. For example, French Jack uses the Lyman (515139?) bullet with the three tiny grooves and he loves it. In my gun it wasn't worth a damn. The bore fouled quickly and cases were hard to extract. The best bullets I've found are IMO the Rapine 350-T and the Dakota Widowmaker bullet.

[SGT John Chapman]

Two casting come with it the bullet measures right on the edge of .514" across, the lube groove measures .464" across so it's .05" deep and .087" tall, the bearing surface is .347" tall,............I don't know what alloy he used for these so the pot is warming,........

[Hoot-3rd Ga]

I think that the bullet you have shown is too short for the relatively fast twist in the Armisport Spencers. I am shooting a .515" Lyman 3 groove hard lead cast bullet that weighs 350 grains and wouldn't shoot well until I had the barrel relined to a much slower twist. I have just purchased a Armisport Spencer rifle. The rifling in it looks a lot different than what was in my carbine originally. I think a bullet with a longer bearing surface is what's needed........which means something in the 450 gr. wt. range. You can check the rifling formulas to get the bullet size  vs. twist that will be most accurate.   Hoot

[SGT John Chapman]

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,21889.0.html

The link above is to the Rifle I got from Red Leg,.....It is relined by Larry Ramano to 1/48" twist and a .512" bore with real deep rifling.   

[SGT John Chapman]

The mould shown above casts a .512" slug, 310gns............I just slugged the bore of the relined Spencer I have,  it shows to have .500" lands,  .509" grooves and will give me a bearing surface real close to .365" long with this bullet.....

[Jimbo]

As for the Lyman bullet 515139 it does work will but the key is the bullet lube. With the smaller grease grooves you
need to use a soft mix. I have been using a lube made of 50% bees wax and 50% Crisco. I pan lube my bulets
making up only what I'm going to use. I am waiting on a widowmaker mold now and hope to have some
results to share here in the next month or so. I also have seen that a lot folks are using hard lead in these
Spencers, I come from the old school of pure lead in the shallow cut rifling and so far with my Spencer Carbine
the results are good 3 in groups at 50 yds. I used some Lyman #2 and could not get a group under 7 inchs.
Something to think about.

[Two Flints]

Jimbo,

Thanks for your post and comments and look forward to your range report after you use the DW mould.

Two Flints

[red leg]

Sgt--When you wear that Romano barrel out i still have two new ones on hand .Good shooting.--- Red Leg

[French Jack]

I have to agree with Jimbo-- my experiences with the Lyman 515139 is that it needs a soft lube and soft alloy.  I use no harder than a 1-30, (tin-lead) and a lube very much like Jimbo's.  I have tried SPG, and the other commercial lubes with poor results.  My loads have worked well in both my carbine and in a friend's rifle. 

Perhaps the charge has some effect as well, as I load a 34 gr. charge, FFG Wano.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Red Leg, are those carbine or rifle length Romano barrels you have now? I like Larry and have a Sharps carbine with him as I type being rebarrelled. 

[Hoot-3rd Ga]

SGT: If you bought a Romano relined 56-50 Armisport Spencer from Red Leg, it should shoot the 310gr or more common Lyman 350 gr bullet just fine. Use hard lead to get the best results. I get good results from tire weights. I don't think the bearing surface is as important as the overall length of the bullet. Fast rifling stabilizes long bullets and slower rifling works with shorter bullets. I also fill the case with black powder but not so much that a seated bullet crushes the powder. Hoot

[Herbert]

i agree 100% with Hoot on bullet lenth and hardness,i also lick to pan lube as it creates a small greese cooki behind bullet wich i think helps lube barell onother 50% although a wade and soft lube has to be yoused

[red leg]

Fox Creek Kid---I have  two Remono  and two Hoyt relined barrels for Spencer Carbines,in new unfired condition . If you are interested $85 each plus shipping . Also have several Taylor carbine barrels new and unfired for $ 50 plus shipping . Red Leg

[Fox Creek Kid]

Red Leg, are these carbine barrels length specific or can they be made into a 22" as well as 20" barrel?