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Offline prospector86

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making cannonballs
« on: April 08, 2010, 01:52:14 PM »
Well, I'm trying to make some cannonballs, got a  few pounds of led, the pot, everything else. I'm haveing trouble keeping the mold hot enough to make the balls. I've made sinker's and what not before so I have a  good grasp of melting and all that. I was woundering how you guys keep your mold hot enough to exept the led? Any help would be great.
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Offline dan610324

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Re: making cannonballs
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2010, 02:02:38 PM »
dip it in the pot
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Offline Double D

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Re: making cannonballs
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2010, 02:34:10 PM »
How big a mould do you have?

I don't cast anything larger that one inch in lead, anthing bigger than I do in zinc.

If you are doing lead bigger than one inch you will need to get the mould hot and keep it hot.  I would keep the mould next to the pot, in the heat.  Best if you are heating the pot over flame and you can also get the mold in the flame.

Be careful if you shoot large lead balls.  Reduce you load substantially.  The heavier mass of the larger lead balls raise pressures and increase the battering from recoil on your equipment. 

We have been seeing the effects of this changing from golf balls to steel balls in the Golf ball guns.  See my O.F. Day post posted earlyier to day.

 
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Offline prospector86

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Re: making cannonballs
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2010, 03:57:17 PM »
Well I got a new problem, made up a couple of rounds and their too big, I bought the mold from dixie gunsworth, the 1.5 inch size thinking that it was the right one, but I was wrong. I was wondering what size of mold I need to make the right rounds. I have a 1/2 scale 6 pounder product number cb0605. Thanks agian.
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Offline Double D

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Re: making cannonballs
« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2010, 04:15:53 PM »
Measure you bore diameter, don't rely on the commercial description. 

To determine the correct ball size you need to compute the correct windage. Windage rule of thumb is 1/40 of bore diameter.

In your example using the advertised bore diameter of 1.5 inches you need a ball of  1.463 diameter.

1.5 divided by 40 = 0.0375 windage.   1/40 equals 0.0375.  0.0375 time 39 equals  1.4625.
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Offline Zulu

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Re: making cannonballs
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2010, 04:37:04 PM »
When I cast 2.95" lead balls, I had to sacrifice the first 3 or 4 to get the mould hot enough.  After that, the mould was hot enough to cast good balls.
Zulu
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Offline armorer77

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Re: making cannonballs
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2010, 08:15:40 PM »
I have set the mold next to the pot on the burner or used a seperate hot plate to bring the mold up to heat , about 500 degrees will get a good cast . A pyrometer is helpful . Armorer77
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