Cayugad, I am with you on that, I use the cooker for steamers and Lobsters here in the NE. and for the annual harvest party fish fry for 50 to 70 people.

I agree with everything that Cayugan said except for one thing-

Dropping pure lead into water isn't going to harden the balls, in order for lead to respond to hardening by water is for it to contain a few % Antimony which will be drawn o the surface of the ball and harden a fairly thin layer of lead at the surface over a couple days time. Just be REAL careful with water around molten lead, it doesn't take much to get a lead explosion.

-Don't feed cold lead into a already molten pot- the lead may have a bit of dampness to it and could explode. let the pot cool, then add more lead.

-wax for fluxing is good stuff, but be prepared for it to flare up even before you light it.
-I've Tried Marvelux for fluxing, it works well, but I had a lead explosion from it- a little bit left on a spoon for about 10 minutes absorbed enough moisture from the air that when I tried to flux the pot again, the lead instantly exploded wqhen I dropped the flux into the pot- I wasn't burned at all, was wearing a wide brimmed hat, pants, boots, long sleeves, goggles, and welding gloves- make sure you wear similar gear.

-I really like a bottom pour pot- I got a Lee Production pot IV for about $45 that I use for casting. If you want to ladle it, don't go cheapon a ladle- get at least a RCBS or Lyman, my Lyman works well, but the Lee ladle is a joke and is completely worthless except for scraping out dross.

Don't overheat your lead- pure lead melts at around 600 degrees, but vaporizes at about 1100. You should only need ~750 degrees to fill a simple RB mould.

Thanks again for the reply's,

I got one more question, 490 mold or a 495 mold ?

Is there a difference in accuracy between the two ?

The balls I shoot now are 495 and do good.

Most rifles like a .490 ball with a .015-.018 lubed patch. I have heard that Lyman rifles prefer the .495. That is a reason I strongly suggest getting some from someone first and trying them out. Buy a box of the .490 ball and shoot them. See how your rifle does. Believe me, get some first and try them.

Otherwise, I have a .535 LEE double mold that was only used once. Guy at the store 20 odd years ago told me this was the ball mold for me. So I wanted to get into casting. Casted up a couple hundred ball and found that I needed a tree or a hammer to load the rifle. I tried a thinner patch and it would blow the patch out and the accuracy still suffered. I was shooting a T/C Renegade at the time. The fellow in the store shot a Lyman Great Plains rifle in .54 caliber.

I have found a use for the .535's. They make great wrist rocket ammo. You can knock a squirrel for a loop with these things...

My CVA's, Traditions, and Thompson Centers all like the .490 ball size. Since your shooting a .495 now with good accuracy, then I would get a .495 mold. Why fix it if it ain't broke..... Hope this helped...

Yeah, why fix it if it ain't broke the 495 does good but then again I've never shot the 490, so yes I'd better try them first because it never hurts to do better...