Most "correct" Minie ball mold

[Dutchman Dick]

Who makes a mold (off-the-shelf, not custom) for an historically correct .58 Minie ball? I know Lyman has their 575213-OS, which a lot of people seem to like for shooting but at 460 grains is actually too light to be "correct", last I knew. Lee makes a mold for an "old style" Minie that is supposed to be the proper 500 grains, but someone told me on another forum that it wasn't correct because it was "too long". So who DOES make a mold that will cast a ball as close as possible to the "correct" one???

[August77]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

I believe Rapine makes one. I will have to dig out his catalog to be certain.

[1st Maine Trooper]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

You will not find a mould available that will produce historically correct Federal bullet. They were swaged not cast. As such they all had pointed noses. The Lyman, Lee, Rapine etc moulds are a nose cast bullet with the lead casting sprue being cut off at the nose of the bullet resulting a flattened tip. Sometime ago, I remember someone was working a Garnder bullet mold as well but this too was a nose poured design complete with it flat tip.

Dave Myrick

[August77]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

From what I understand, swaging is real expensive to get set up for the do-it-yourselfer, at least compared to casting. I assume any tool and die maker could produce something that would work but I don't know of anywhere you could go and purchase a set of dies to swage correct Minie balls. My curiosity has taken over and a google search for pre-made dies (for swaging, not casting) eventually came up with this:

http://www.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/Ya...=1212077254/10

Maybe someone on that forum can help you get into making correct Minie's.

[Dutchman Dick]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

You will not find a mould available that will produce historically correct Federal bullet. They were swaged not cast. As such they all had pointed noses. The Lyman, Lee, Rapine etc moulds are a nose cast bullet with the lead casting sprue being cut off at the nose of the bullet resulting a flattened tip. Sometime ago, I remember someone was working a Garnder bullet mold as well but this too was a nose poured design complete with it flat tip.

Dave Myrick

I'm really surprised that, unlike the British, the U.S. gov't did not make allowances for the possibility that soldiers might have to cast their own bullets in the field, as those in past generations and other wars had to do.

Anyway, what I'm looking for is to get "a close as possible" with what is available. So far, it looks like the Lee "old style" Minie is the winner, at least in terms of being the correct 500 grains weight and at least CLOSE to the correct style, ignoring the flat point from nose pouring.

[JimKindred]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

I'm really surprised that, unlike the British, the U.S. gov't did not make allowances for the possibility that soldiers might have to cast their own bullets in the field, as those in past generations and other wars had to do.

Please provide a historic reference that shows British soldiers of the mid 19th century were issued the means to "cast their own bullets in the field".

Unlike other forums, the AC prefers statements such as this to be backed up with a reference.

[Jimmayo]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

Here is a Lyman .575 OS bullet sandwiched between two CS nose cast.

[Minieball577]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

Nice picture Jim.

I sold a Federal Arsenal 4 cavity gang mold to Paul Johnson two years back at the Mansfield Civil War show in Ohio. It is shown at the top of the image attached. It was obviously intended for casting projectiles, and was of the Harper's Ferry/Burton design. He will be including it in his next book.

[Pritchett Ball]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

My question to you is: what is your purpose with the bullet?
1. Are you wanting to live-fire the bullet
2. use just as an example to show folk the real thing
3. all the above?

I use the Rapine Old Style, because it drops at .581", and then I can size it down to .577" if the bore on the replica is a bit tight. The Lee & Lyman molds drop bullets at .575" which can be small for some rifles to shoot accurately.

The Lee 500gr bullet is too ling, not configured correctly to be accurate. I only use my lee bullet mold to make live Enfield rounds, and to do that, I have to size them down to .565"...they still have the grooves, no wood plug, and are not supper accurate, just gives you the chance to load like they were designed!

Email me at Kdallyrm@aol.com

I bet I cam help.

Kevin Dally

[Dutchman Dick]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

Please provide a historic reference that shows British soldiers of the mid 19th century were issued the means to "cast their own bullets in the field".

Unlike other forums, the AC prefers statements such as this to be backed up with a reference.

OK, here's a link to the page:
http://www.researchpress.co.uk/firea...artridge04.htm

[Dutchman Dick]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

Here is a Lyman .575 OS bullet sandwiched between two CS nose cast.

Any idea what the weights are on those CS nose-cast balls?

[Jimmayo]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

No idea on the weight but the one on the right appears to be a wee bit stouter than the repro. The taper toward the point starts a little closer to the point.

[Dutchman Dick]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

No idea on the weight but the one on the right appears to be a wee bit stouter than the repro. The taper toward the point starts a little closer to the point.

I wonder if that's why the Lymans are under weight...?

[Dutchman Dick]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

Found a used 505 grain, .580 diameter mold that was made by Challenger in the 70's or 80's. www.thegunworks.com had 3 of them, going from.575 to .585 in .005 increments. I got the .580 because .575 balls are WAY undersized for my gun (they pretty much just drop down under their own weight), and I can always resize them once I have my .575 sizer reamed out a little. I should have it some time next week, so we'll see...

[Ammodramus]

Re: Most "correct" Minie ball mold

Not trying to revive an old thread, but hope to make it more complete.

Lyman molds are good quality but do vary as to the actual size projectile that they cast. Seldom is the projectile undersize, but there is a fair chance that the projectile may cast .001 to .003 oversize.

With my Lyman 575213-OS, I was fortunate, in that it cast about .577" (+/- .001") depending on mold temperature and provides better accuracy and cleaner shooting than the same projectile would if it cast .575"

However, I wanted the most authentic minie mold that I could find (and afford). I was troubled by the light 460 grain weight that the Lyman 575213-OS is supposed to cast. I almost did not buy the mold for this reason. However, either Lyman has their weights wrong, or the plug is a bit short or something, because my average cast Minie with this mold weighs 496.5 grains (weight on well cast bullets runs from 494 to 500 grains, consistantly, and over thousands of cast bullets).

I am curious if others have had similar experiences with the 575213-OS mold. As I said I very nearly did not buy this mold because I wanted a 500 grain Minie. I felt that I was forced to chose between an authentic Minie design and a modern Minie with an authentic weight.

In my case, with weights running right at 500 grains, I do consider the Lyman 575213-OS to be the most authentic Minie mold commercially available (or did I just get lucky?)


Best Regards,

Christopher Tucker