Friend's bullet mold project

[Tin cup]

A feller I know went to a machinist friend with a project in mind.
They took a Lee Precision single cavity mold and milled out a cavity to produce a smooth sided English Pritchett Ball bullet.
They designed the mold with an adjustable self-centering plug style core pin, that can be moved up or down to make differing weights of bullets. The bullets he gave me weigh in around 462+ grains, with a diameter of around .572" (+ or -) the length is .948".

Now, you know I'm going to do something with these, so I took a couple of em and sized em down to .565", and formed a copy of a 3-paper Confederate style cartridge, (left cartridge) and the other one (right cartridge) is a 4-paper style British Ludlow Brothers import cartridge. A real cool set up, wish I had taken a photo of the mold!
Kevin Dally

 

[BillO]

I think I'm about to learn something else new.The bullet on the right seems to have a very deep pocket. I'm under the impression that the English paper patched rounds were solid bottomed.

 

[Tin cup]

I think I'm about to learn something else new.The bullet on the right seems to have a very deep pocket. I'm under the impression that the English paper patched rounds were solid bottomed.

No, the ones designed for the Enfield rifles all had hollow cavities, plug shaped so they could accept a wood (or clay) plug to help in expansion when the powder charge went off. The Confederate copies mostly had cone shaped cavities, and did not use a plug, and most of the time had a larger powder charge.
http://www.researchpress.co.uk/index.php/british/enfield/107-papercartridge?showall=&start=4

Kevin Dally

 

[Tin cup]

This is a cross section of a British Pritchett Ball.

Kevin Dally

 

[Patrick H]

Very interesting, Kevin. This is one of several things that I learned here today. Thanks.

 

[IrishReb1863]

Those are nice. We picked up a couple of old Pritchett ball molds. We had great success once we got the correct thickness of the paper. They shoot real well and are very accurate. The paper patch forms a good seal. I think they load faster also. Harder to make.