10 gauge ball mold

[Jeff Mayhew]

Finally had a chance to put some lead in the ball mold from Track of the Wolf. See pictures below.

Although it probably makes some shootable lumps of lead, I'm not happy with the roundness of the balls or the performance of the mold, and don't recommend it if you expect a consistent ball. After trimming off the sprue, the balls average out to about 1.4 ounces each, which is a bit lighter than I would expect. These were cast from pure lead.

The diameter of the final balls varies from ~0.742" to ~0.746" when measured to either side of the mold "seam", but the seam itself expands the diameter out to 0.776" or so. See second photo. The advertised 0.76" diameter is therefore a creative average. They roll down the barrel of the sawed-off coach gun just fine, but won't enter the muzzle of the full-choked gun with 30" barrels (which is what I would have expected in any case).

The other problem is the absence of a "reservoir" funnel at the entrance to the mold (see bottom picture). As the lead cools it shrinks considerably, and the cone-shaped funnel at the lip of most molds is there to offer up spare melt to keep the mold full. I had to "top off" the mold as the lead cooled, several times, to avoid holes in the top of the ball. The funnel on a normal mold is formed into a moving steel plate that also serves to neatly shear off the sprue; in this case you have to do a bit of carving with a knife.

I'll try shooting one in the coach gun, but not with a full load of BP; even though it's shy of 1.6 oz, a 1.4 oz load seems to be on the heavy end.

Caveat emptor, and shoot safely.

http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd417/spikeismyname/balls1.jpg

http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd417/spikeismyname/balls2.jpg

http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd417/spikeismyname/balls3.jpg

[Rick Losey]

one option - an old muzzleloaders trick - is to roll cast balls between two plates of tempered glass. that smooths the surfacce and bring them closer to being true round balls.

[charlie cleveland]

looks like youve started well...i too was a little disappointed a first few trys at making the ball s...the best trick ive learned is to keep the mould real hot the balls come out much rounder and better looking...as for the sprew mine has this too.. i just cut it off with wire cutters and file down with large file..takes a few secounds but leaves ball looking nice....your pumpkin loads will get better as you try them but every once in awhile a clunker will come out...i would not be affaid to fire the lead balls at the given wight of powder in a black powder or a smokeless load in a 1 1/4 ounce ball...hope your gun has good accuracy with them...mainest thing its gonna be a great challenge hunting with a load youve made yourself and when we do get to take that deer with this load its all gonna be worth it...good shooting ... charlie

[CraigThompson]

Hmmmm I may have to give this some consideration for my old hammerless W.C.Scott damascus 10 gauge !

Popped a deer with it using 00 Buck in 2010 !

Shooting one with this punkin ball may be what I need to do this coming season of 2012 !

[CraigThompson]

As long as I can keep both barrels in a paper plate at 35 yards I should be just fine for what I wanna do with it !

[CraigThompson]

Since I wanna change as little in my 10 gauge load as possible I am wondering if this .760" ball is going to fit inside a Remington SP-10 wad ?

Or would I be better off getting the next smaller mold from Track of the Wolf thats supposed to be about .710" ?