Time for a new Mold
 

I've had my .490" double cavity Lee ball mold for many many years, so many I can't even remember. How many balls it has produced is in an even funnier thing to try to figure out.

The new molds are much nicer with the blocks being machines nicer and the mating pieces that align the blocks, now looking like real point bullets so they slide into the mold block nicely and center up.

$27 bucks, what the heck. All I shoot is 50cal round ball now, so I figured these new guns need a new mold so everything is fresh.

Also ordered a Lyman ingot mold so I can start melting down a ton of lead that Floyd gave to me on our last hog hunt. The old 4lb Lee pot still does the job and quickly. That over the camp fire crap sucks rear end and leaves your knuckles damn near raw.

I may join you in only shooting roundballs - again this next hunting season. It's all I used in Michigan's Deer and Muzzleloading season in 2016.

What I really-really want to do this spring, is put Williams Fiber Optic sights on my 32" 1:66 barrel. I just don't have the testicles to deliver my Traditions Shenandoah to a local gunsmith for the needed drill-work.

My factory primitive sights are really terrible and my 65 year-old bifocal eyes can't take another season trying to focus on those early 1900s sights anymore.

I know the brassy ML will look like Crappola with Williams Fiber-Optics, but I can take all the oncoming ribbing and laughter ..........like a man is supposed to.:poke:

Why not just put them on yourself with epoxy?

NO! Do it right or don't do it at all.

Drill and tap it yourself pretty easy to tap a 6-48 or 8-40 they Williams makes a jig for that too. They also make a solder sweat type of sight.

That's thinking inside the box. Why is epoxy not "right"? Why be limited by traditional fashion and bound by an old practice that existed because an alternative that is available today was not available fifty years ago?

A comparison? :D

Epoxy will probably work nit sure if it would take a bump and not fall off ? Are you thinking like a two part epoxy ?

exactly, epoxy is like saying, hey use that duct tape to fix the leak in that radiator hose!

Open your mind youngster.

Here's a strength test I conducted before using Devcon two-part epoxy to attach the ram rod pipes to the barrel of the Swamp Dragon.

I epoxied a piece of aluminum tubing to a chunk of steel.



After letting it cure for 48 hours, I tried to pull it apart, and could not. Out of curiosity, I rigged it up so I could stand on a scale as I pulled, with a rod through the tube and a C-clamp on the metal block secured to the deck. I don't recall how many pounds I was able to pull, but it was a lot. The parts did not separate.





Here's where I used the epoxy on the Swamp Dragon Build.

just not something I will depend on. Especially if the rifle falls over.

Goex...

Before you plunk down your $$ on Williams sights, take a look at what Marbles has to offer. Williams sights are machined aluminum and although they are a nice sights, they're still more susceptible to damage than steel. Marbles sights are steel. Their front sights are offered in a wide range of heights and widths, red or green FO inserts, and brass or ivory beads as well. They also offer some nice looking adjustable rear sights in a number of configurations, all made of steel.

A friend of mine put a Williams front sight on a TC rifle some years ago and eventually took it off because a minor "bump" while hunting pretty much put it out of commission. He replaced it with an RMC sight.

BPS

Yea... I like my LEE molds. For the money they can't be beat. I wish they still made their .570 RB mold... shoulda bought one while they still did. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20 eh?

BPS

I just ordered a .562 mold today. Found it on sale at USA Midway for $15.00. figured with the right patch that would be a good ball.

I thought about that as well but I think it would take a pretty thick patch to get a good purchase on the ball. Anyone ever question LEE as to why they stopped making the .570 mold?

BPS

I read the title to this thread again and I got to thinking: What's the matter with you Jon? Isn't the penicillin working for you anymore?

:D :D im immune to penicillin.

I was on the phone with a person at LEE molds years back and I asked him that very question. He claimed they never made the .570 only the .575. Not having facts before me, I said I thought I remembered a .570 and he said you must be thinking of a Lyman mold. So maybe I just imagined they made a .570 mold.

I also think that is why all the .562 are in the bargain bin. There just is no market for them. But for $15.00 I figured what the heck.

man that mold has such tiny holes that I had to run the lead hot, along with the mold. I walked away for a few minutes to let the ingot melt and the mold had cooled down enough that the lead gummed up and the balls were wrinkled. I think they make them tiny for their bottom pour lead pots. Either way, once I learned that, I got a couple hundred made and even had a friend helping me.

No... I don't think you imagined anything Dave, I'm almost certain they made a .570 mold at one time. Seems as though I was going to purchase one but changed my mind because I only owned one .58 rifle at the time and it's not my "go to" gun being an inline. Lyman molds are very good molds but I don't want to throw down $75 just for a single cavity set of blocks.

I'm sure LEE has marketing reps like any other company that's been around as long as they have. You would think one of them would have brought it to their attention that the .570 is much more widely used than a .562, or .575

BPS