Buck shot question...

[CWLONGSHOT]

Im new to Buck Shot. I have cast many round balls from Single and double cav molds. But just picked up a dedicated buck shot mold. (No spure cutter)

I clip the "balls" but a good spure is left. I am reading that I should just tumble them to
Make Round.

Im gonna get a quantity cast before I try, but figured Id ask the brain trust a d see if there is other options or if this is how it's done.

Thanks guys.

Ooh of coarse Im also powder Coating. So because I can see contamination issues Im PC ing first straight outta the mold. Time will tell what I get after the tumble. I also realize how well this works would be determinied on time in tumbler and hardness of the alloy.
CW

 

[RBHarter]

I have a Lee 18c 00B . I use cat toenail clippers to separate them clean . I put RB in appropriately sized pill bottles with safety caps and run them with brass in the tumbler at 75-80% of bottle space . Dead soft takes 2-3 hr to peen away generally visible sprue marks . No idea what PC will do for that .

 

[Intel6]

I used to use a Do-It sinker mould for making buck but have gone to the LEE OO mould because it makes more pellets per cast.

For clipping the pellets I have found getting a flush cut side nipper at a place that sells crafts works well. It has a thin clipper that gets in between the balls and lets you clip them without marring the balls them selves. I actually grind mine a bit thinner.

flush cut side nippers example

I haven't bothered with trying to get rid of the nubs. I just HiTek or PC the balls and load them up. I don't think it makes much difference but you could easily test it out.

 

[hrpenley]

I use the pochino balls (think that's what they are called) to tumble my buckshot, 1/4"-1/2" steel ball bearings - size mix even better but the small steel shot/balls don't work as well., you never get them perfect but an hour or 2 should give you pretty good results depending on how hard you make the alloy. I use a small pair of side-cuts the kind that are made to cut wires close to a computer board after you solder it in. I think you can get them at harbor freight or any other hardware store that carries electricians tools, give you a nice close cut and tumbler does the rest. don't bother using pins - dosent work well and anything you use will not really usable for anything else without extensive cleaning due to the lead. and " your mileage may very" (I like that)

 

[hrpenley]

I'll post a pic of a couple dif sizes I made, the tumbler with the larger steel balls gives them a nice shinny surface, never tried coating them they are pretty just the way they come out.....

 

[hrpenley]

If I remember right I got the lee #4, #1, and #00, also have a few dif round ball molds (load all kinds of stuff in the 12g) Pumpkin balls are awesome !!!!

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

My single and dbl cav molds leave a very very slight spure. But these have a spure cutter.
This Martys mold dosnet have spure cutter. It requires a side cutter. Im not maring the shot just leaving a larger spure BURR. (For lack of better term).
Better cutters would surely lessin that!! Thanks intel6!!

I haven't read about use of ball bearings in tumbler...

CW

 

[hrpenley]

Well I guess I am going to have to make some more now, I don't have much left....darn,, these are some of the ones I made, right is close up, you can still see the spure bump but its not that bad those are some of the worse and better ones so you can see both- dosent seem to cause any problems.


These are the ball bearings I use to tumble them and got the #00, #4, .319rb, 690rb, 600rb, and .575rb, I seem to have misplaced my #1 but been rearanging my room so may be in other room right now

 

[CZ93X62]

I don't know about harder-alloy cast buckshot, but I do recall a customer of mine that was a very enthusiastic cap & ball revolver shooter that used to glass panes with 12-15 pure-lead balls laid between them, then gave the upper pane a circular rolling motion for about 30-45 seconds to turn down the sprue cuts.

 

[hrpenley]

I don't know about harder-alloy cast buckshot, but I do recall a customer of mine that was a very enthusiastic cap & ball revolver shooter that used to glass panes with 12-15 pure-lead balls laid between them, then gave the upper pane a circular rolling motion for about 30-45 seconds to turn down the sprue cuts.

Yep, I tried to do that with steel plates, it does work but its a lot of work. Tumbler is much easier, maybe not as good but a lot less work

 

[jsizemore]

Walmart sells a flush cutter in the hobby/craft department for making jewelry. I rotary tumble just the buck. They come out shiny. Alloy is COWW + 2% Sn.

 

[hrpenley]

Walmart sells a flush cutter in the hobby/craft department for making jewelry. I rotary tumble just the buck. They come out shiny. Alloy is COWW + 2% Sn.

I tried without the steel balls first, the addition of the balls seemed to speed up the process and beat down the bumps a little better other than that same process and works like a charm.

 

[Rally]

I made a jig for cutting the buck out of the Lee molds. It's just a 2x4 with a channel cut in it and a knife with a hole punched in the nose and two L brackets that hold the knife in place. I just push the strings of 3 pcs of buck through the groove and cut each off, then the shot rolls into a container down the groove. Then I tumble them and coat them in some Ben's red I scorched. Just heat it up until molten then dip a small fryer basket into the Ben's Red, wait until it gets the same temp as the lube, then pour them onto a cookie sheet to dry. I do my slugs the same way.
I'll see if I can get a picture of my fancy cutter. LOL

The angle iron clamp with vise grips works as a stop, and can be moved for different sizes of buck, which I used last time I cut some #4 buck, but to tell the truth I'm not sure I like it. That groove in the board goes under the angle and to the front of the 2x4, and when I angle the 2x4 when mounted slightly forward, the )) buck just rolls right down the groove into a container. The #4 just seemed a little harder to find the center between the strings, but the OO was real easy. The knife is a felt knife and I heated the tip up cherry red and punched a 1/4" hole in it in my punch press for a pivot point. Redneck engineering!

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Well I tumbled some OO and #4 Saturday while momma was working... Soild 7+ hours...

All it did was turn my PC grey and messy. VERY SLIGHTLY rounded the harshest snip cuts.
This was NOT super hard cast. Ill not bother with that useless endeavor again.

CW

 

[hrpenley]

Ya, need to tumble before you powder coat, in fact you may not even want to pc after tumble, the come out looking great

 

[Mitty38]

@CWLONGSHOT
Have watched your video on casting with that oo #4 combo mold. Gosh that thing is pretty.
Was kinda wandering why powder coat Shot? Did I miss something, You know sometimes my mind wanders. LOL
Is it just for better uniformity? Reduce lead exposure at your range, and loading?An experiment to see if it does improve anything? Just because?
I kinda thought that the wad generally took care of leading enough in a shotgun, that A little run of Hoppe's once in a and a great while was all that was needed.
Or am I way off and you are making these for gas seals instead of standard or spreader type wads?? Maybe muzzle loading shotguns?
Please excuse my ignorance, as shot loading, is something I know little about. I just never was a birder or skeet shooter. So I am going onto this with a clean slate.
I AM THINKING THIS MAY BE A ROAD I WILL BE TRAVELING SOON, SO I AM WATCHING YOUR CONTENT AS WELL AS OTHERS.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Ha no worries nothing to excuse!!

I powder coat for a number of reasons you mentioned plus quick identification. But Leading is a concern as i will not be using shot cups.

CW

 

[hrpenley]

Ha no worries nothing to excuse!!

I powder coat for a number of reasons you mentioned plus quick identification. But Leading is a concern as i will not be using shot cups.

CW

That seems like a lot of work, I guess I pretty much always used a shot cup with my s-gun loads, I did make up a few with the bpgs gas seals and some with I think they call them field cups, (ballistic products is a line I use a lot of) field cup not much more than a glorified gas seal with a small cup in bottom but also exposes the barrel to the raw lead shot. didn't make a lot of them and still have most in the boxes but the few that I did shoot didn't seem to make too bad of a mess that I remember. I always like the full cups just for the very above mentioned reason, same thing with my slugs, lee and lyman I use the thin leaved cups to drop them in. There are a couple styles available from BP and Clays both that fit nicely.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I just picked a very small set of hobby snips. Hoping these cut clean and close compared to what I have.

CW

 

[fiver]

instead of a shot cup use a tyvek wrap.

and if your gonna tumble the balls round you need a smaller ball to round them off.
throw some BB's in with them next time.
or some number 1-2 steel shot.
I just toss mine in with some copper plated number-1 steel and give the bowl a poof of lock smith graphite.
an hour is enough to shine and round everything out.