Post by twomoons on Aug 1, 2008 12:04:05 GMT -5
Just some notes and a comparison on casting with the old equipment...
I have several of the old Ideal tools and recently picked up a couple of the old one piece Ideal moulds. I still use these tools for reloading and casting and will offer some ideas for consideration. I have been reloading 30-30, 38-55 and 45 Colt on all old original equipment in a cabin on a wood stove by light of a kerosene lamp. To add to the expirence I only eat mouldy bacon and hardtack
??#1 Quality of the equipment: My Ideal 454 190 one piece mould casts bullets that measure 454x456 and they weigh 254 grains when cast of 1-20 tin and lead alloy. The Mould has no vent lines buut casts a near perfect bullet with no flash. The all in one tools cast bullets with about the same specs. The 30-30 drops at 309 and the 38-55 at 377 and they are as round as any modern mould. The 30-30 sizer is 309 and the 38-55 is 376.
#2 Casting: The actual mould section is much smaller than what we use today and therefore heats up quickly. You can start droppng good bulllets from the mould with as few as 4 bullets cast. The down side to this is that you need to cast pretty slow to keep from overhheating the mould, or you need to like frosty bulllets.
#3 Combination tool moulds: These cast suprisingly good bullets and if you follow the old instructions and wear buckskin gloves you can cast about 50-60 bulllets before the steel handles get too hot to hold. This is not the handicap that it seems to be when taken in context. In 1890 very few folks shot 50 rounds of ammo in a month so one nights output kept you set for a long time. The big downfall of the combination tools is the built in bullet sizer. It takes a LOT of care to use this and not deform the bullets. The seperaate sizer that was made in this time period is a much better tool and willl size a bullet as well as a 310 tool or a Lee sizer.
#4 Wood Stove casting: Folks this is a winter sport! By the time you get a pot and ring up to tempreture on a wood stove you are really cooking. The oven on the old Buck stove read 450 degrees whan the lead was ready. Casting in the cabin is about unbearable when it is over 75 degrees out. You literally drop sweat into the lead pot!
All in all the reloader in 1890 was able to reload just as good ammo as we can today, albeit a lot slower. Cast one night and pan lube, cut out and size the bullets the next night and on the third night load up 50 rounds or so to see you through the month.
