The casting of bullets requires time and patience. You cannot take an old iron spoon and hold it over the fire and as soon as the metal liquifies, or can be poured, spill it into a cold mould, and get good results; for instead of a full bullet, you will simply get a shriveled and wrinkled lump of lead. The first requirement is a small kettle. The Ideal melting pot is made for this purpose and will hold about ten pounds of metal; such a body will hold the heat at a more even temperature, which is desirable. There should be a regular steady fire to keep it at the proper temper, not red-hot one minute and so cold the next that it will not flow. When ready to run the bullets, raise the dipper nearly full from the melting pot, hold the same over the pot and con nect the mould to the nozzle; then turn the dipper, with the mould connected, slowly to a vertical position, as in the drawing, and the weight of metal in the r above the mould will drive out the air and fill out the mould perfectly, assuring good, full, smooth bullets without the spilling of a particle of metal The surface of the metal should be kept clear and the dipper clean. Keep the dipper in the hot metal whet) nut pouring, for it must be kept as hot as the metal, which otherwise will he chilled, and stop up the nozzle. The metal should be hot enough to flow freely-, but never red-hot, as a red-heat oxidizes the lead rapidly, forming- much dross, which hardens and deteriorates the metal. Sometimes a bullet, when cast, will show the grooves clean and sharply fortm.s-1 on oue side, while on the other side they will not: or if it be an Ex press or hollow pointed bullet, the end of it may show a full sharp impression on one side of the core-peg and not on the other, causing the hole to appear eccentric. This does not imply that one-half of the mould is imperfectly cut, or that the core-peg is not held in the center, as these imperfect appearances may be changed from one side of the bullet to the other by simply. tipping, the mould from left to right, and pouring it right or left handed. The side of the mould, or the side of the core-peg, that is presented to the entering flood of metal, will receive a full impression, while the opposite side may not. The face of the mould may De fitted too closely, and the trouble may he caused by air being imprisoned when pouring the metal too quickly. To avoid this, turn the mould and dipper slowly, coming to the position in the illustration only when the mould is full, and hold the dipper connected to the mould for an instant, so that the shrinking bullet in the mould may draw the metal from the dipper; for, if separated too quickly, there may be a shrink hole at the base. Those the Cylindrical mould may find an indentation caused by im prisoned air on the side of the point where the former punch connects; pour ing the metal slowly as stated above, will overcome this. Do not be afraid to put a little oil on the joint of a mould and on the face of it also, it is a good plan to do this while hot before putting it away after using. A little oil in the mould may cause a few bullets to be imperfect by sputtering, but it will soon get over that and he the better for it. Sometimes the metal mav solder to the inside of the pouring hole on the bullet mould cut-off. or on the nozzle of the dipper. An occasional touch of the nozzle to a piece of tallow or bees wax will obviate this. Never strike the mould with a hammer or other me tallic substance for it will pean or stretch the side that is hit, and make the bullet out of round. Use a billet of wood to strike the cut-off, or to eject the bullet. If bullet does not drop readily from the mould, open the mould wide, holding it with the bullet downward, and lightly tap on the lower bottom in side face of the half in which the bullet remains. This will be found much better than striking it on the outside, as it drives the mould a Way from the bullet, while striking it on the outside drives it against the bullet, and some times will make it stick more firmly. Never attempt to pry bullets out of a mould. It is impossible to use any metal across the inner sharp edge of a mould without injuring it, the slightest indentation on the edge of a mould x% ill cause a bullet to stick, and the only way to get out any indentation is to have it recheiried; the cherry should be the last and only instrument of metal that is used in the mould. Round bullets are more apt to stick in the mould than otlicrs on account of being lighter in weight and of being held by almost a coniph te half circle in the 131(1111(1. Hot bullets should not be dropped on a pine board, for they will absorb the rosin, neither should they be allowed to drup on other hard substances, for it will dent them Bullets to be patched with paper are smooth, without grooves. They arc from three to six thousandths of an Mr. smaller than the standard size. The diameter is increased to the size desired by having a thin paper patch rolled around them, covering about two-thirds of the bullet from the base up. This paper is of fine, strong texture, similar to bank-note paper. It is specially prepared for this purpose, and is made in different thicknesses, which are known to the manufacturers of ammunition as extra-thin, thin, medium, and thick. The extra-thin is about one and one-half tttousandths in thickness and there is an increase of about one-half thousandth in each succeeding size; thus shooters wishing to in crease or decrease the diameter of their bullets can do so by selecting the proper thickness of paper. There is a difference of opinion relative to the advantage or superiority of patched bullets over grooved, yet for hunting or military purposes the grooved ball is generally preferred, as such ammunition can be carried and exposed to wet weather without injury, while a part of the patch being exposed is liable to get wet and injured so as to impair its ac curacy. Still, for fine target-shooting, the patched bullet properly handled is, without doubt; preferable.
How to Roll on Patch. Lay the patch on a smooth board or table with the point of angles toward and from you; have point of ang,le toward you to the right; let the whole of the angle project over the edge of the board or table (this will leave the point of patch free, not stuck down to the table): then place the bullet squarely upon the patch (base to the left), letting as much of the paper project beyond the base as you desire. (See drawing.) The
angle projecting toward you can then be lapped up over the bullet, as shown. When in that position, place the forefinger upon the point of patch and bullet, and with a forward push roll the bullet up on the patch. You will soon per ceive whether you are rolling it on true; if not, roll back, readjust the bullet, and try again. A little practice will soon enable you to acquire the art so that you will do it correctly every time. This is the method of patching bullets at the ammunition factories. This work is done by girls, who become ex pert. some of them patching over twelve thousand per day. The regular fac tory patched bullets have a cavity at the base. When patch is rolled on, the paper should project about two-thirds of the diameter of the ball and the projecting paper is twisted over the base and pressed into the cavity. With the flat base bullet (without cavity) allow the patch to project only one-third of the diameter of the ball and turn the edge of paper over inward, and press the base of ball, when so patched, flat upon a table.
The proper lubrication of bullets is very important. If a rifle barrel be comes leaded inside, it is useless as far as accuracy goes: yet many shooters are very thoughtless about the lubrication of the bullets when preparing their ammunition; anything is good and this is the cause of much trouble.
A barrel to do good work must be kept free from lead. All the grooves of a bullet should be packed full of a good fresh lubricant before being, seated in the shells or in the breech of the barrel. Scantily lubricated or dry bullets will certainly lead the barrel. There are many recipes for lubrication; almost every shooter has one of his own. The following mixtures will, however, be found good: Beeswax and common cylinder oil, three parts wax. to two of oil. Also beef tallow with enough vaseline to soften it as desired, or pure vaseline with enough paraffine to harden it as required. Japan wax with sperm' oil enough to soften it is also excellent. Never use fats or oils that have been salted or that have acids mixed with them, for they will rust or pit the barrel. In cold weather. the mixture should be softer than in warm, but never so hard as to crack and drop off while Cartridg_,es when loaded should be kept in a cool, dry place, never in the sun or in a hot place, for, if the lubricant melts it may get to the powder, aml if so it will certainly destroy it. Verdig,rris or green corrosion near the mouth of shell indicates that ammunition is not fresh. Bullets that have been lubricated a long time are not as good as those freshly done, for the mixture may become hardened and lose some of its lubricating qualities. If in this condition, it will be best to remove the old lubrication by placing the bullets in hot water, which will soon melt it off, and then you can do them over freshly. Ammunition that has been made a long- time, shipped about the country and stored in hot places, is frequently found to be worthless, simply on account of the lubrica tion melting and getting to the powder. Newly made ammunition is best, whether purchased or made by yourself. If the latter, you certainly know what powder is in it and how old it is. To lubricate your bullets, dip them into the melted lubricant, covering, all of the g-rooves, and set them on a board to cool. \\Then cool, remove the surplus grease by forcing the bullets up through a tube a trifle above the size of the bullets. Originally, all metallic anummilion was lubricated on the outside. All bullets werc seated in the shell on the powder, or up to a shoulder, without lubrication, and that part of the bullet that projected beyond the muzzle of the shell was dipped into hot . lubrication, and, when cold, pacl:ed into boxes ready for use. Such was the only ammunition made for years. It, of course, is very much more uncleanly than the later production, which have bullets with grooves filled with lubrica tion, and the indicts seated in the shell deep enough to cover the grooves and 9 lubrication, preventing the adherence of dirt and grit.
i lit the (lays (,f old, before arms were rifled, missiles were round and shot from a barrel that was smooth bore like a shotgun; the gauge or caliber was numbered according to the quantity of a perfect sphere of lead there Ivas con tained in a pound. Thus, 5o gauge rifle was bored for a ball that took fifty of them to weigh a pound, 20 ga. twenty to the pound, 16, 14, 12, TO, etc.
The adjoining table reduces the standard shotgun or smooth bore gauge decimally to thousandths of an inch, also to millimeters.
Diameter in decimals Gauge Diameter in of the inch. or bore. millimeters.
.836 8 21.8 .775 io 20.0 .729 12 18.6 .693 14 17.8 .662 16 16.8 .615 20 I 5.6 .571 25 14.4-537 3o 13.6 .526 32 13.2.488 40 12.4 .453 50 11.4 In comparison to caliber of rifled arms, it will be observed there is a marked difference; in this table, as the size of the gaug,e increases, the numerals designating the diameter of it decreases. Thus, the size of the hole in the barrel of a 25 gauge smooth bore is .571. while for 5o gauge smooth bore, it is only .453. For a rifle barrel of exactly .25 calibre, the bore should be .25o; for a .5o caliber it would be 1-2 inch or .5oo. The caliber or gauge of the modern rifled arm, if correct, is designated decimally by hundredths. Thus, .32 caliber should be 32-too, .4o caliber. 4o-ioo, etc., though few of them are really what they are called.
The approximate weight of these are as follows: ro ga. 63o grs., 12 ga. 540 grs., 14. ga. 465 grs., 16 ga. 3yo grs., 20 ga. 3oo grs.
While we do not recommend round ball for choked bore shotguns, they. are used by some shooters successfully; for to ga. choked bore use 12 ga. ball. for 12 ga. choked bore use the 14 ga. ball, and so on.