Sharp Shooter Buckshot Molds

[DDJ]

Has anyone tried Sharp Shooter buck shot molds.

Looks like these molds are made by small business.  Their molds are better priced $39.99 plus $5.05 shipping (multiple molds can be shipped for $5.05.  The other thing I see is that they offer a combo mold to cast either #4 or 00 in one mold.

http://buckshotmold.com/

Thanks.

[SnoHam13]

very happy with my 00 mold
ya got to get it very hot to get it to fill out[suggest wearing insulated welding gloves]
I upgraded my mold with a shoulder bolt because my hing pin kept dropping out due to heat expansion
the halves are matched perfectly and cast 20 real nice shot at a time
the spew can be trimmed with ''flush cut'' wire cutters or tumbled in a case cleaner

hope this helps

SnoHam13

[DDJ]

Thanks Snowham

I now have mine on order and will post results when I get to use it.  I always handle my molds with welding gloves.

DDJ

[Mortblanc]

Got two sets.  There are problems with this design.

Let me preface this by saying that I have about 50 sets of mold blocks from Lyman, Saco, RCBS and Lee.  I have been casting bullets since 1968 and have used everything from a big cast iron spoon on the campfire to commercial gear.  I cast everything from F shot up to .75 caliber balls for the Brown Bess.  I know how to cast a bullet.

The sprue is excessive.  No reason it should be engineered  for the sprue to use 1000 grains of lead.

There are no bleed channels in the mold so they do not properly fill.  You never get a full pour from all the cavities because the air can not escape the mold as you pour.  Dufus on the You-tube seems to accept this but I can not stand half the cavities not filling when I know they could work.

The blocks heat up super fast, and not in a good way.  I was forced to lay down the blocks after 4 cast runs because even with the huge and uncomfortable wooden block handles I was getting burned when I emptied the blocks.

Now if you are thinking "They are only $45 and everything else is expensive!" think again!  The Lee blocks are only $45 if you already own the interchangeable handles, and they throw good shot consistently.

I have purchased sinker molds at the flea market that threw better shot than the Sharpshooter!

If you absolutely positively have to have one of these molds then stick to the 000 and 00 size and you will get about 3/4 of your shot per throw.  Stay away from anything less than 00 with these blocks. 

[SnoHam13]

Got two sets.  There are problems with this design.

Let me preface this by saying that I have about 50 sets of mold blocks from Lyman, Saco, RCBS and Lee.  I have been casting bullets since 1968 and have used everything from a big cast iron spoon on the campfire to commercial gear.  I cast everything from F shot up to .75 caliber balls for the Brown Bess.  I know how to cast a bullet.

The sprue is excessive.  No reason it should be engineered  for the sprue to use 1000 grains of lead.

There are no bleed channels in the mold so they do not properly fill.  You never get a full pour from all the cavities because the air can not escape the mold as you pour.  Dufus on the You-tube seems to accept this but I can not stand half the cavities not filling when I know they could work.

The blocks heat up super fast, and not in a good way.  I was forced to lay down the blocks after 4 cast runs because even with the huge and uncomfortable wooden block handles I was getting burned when I emptied the blocks.

Now if you are thinking "They are only $45 and everything else is expensive!" think again!  The Lee blocks are only $45 if you already own the interchangeable handles, and they throw good shot consistently.

I have purchased sinker molds at the flea market that threw better shot than the Sharpshooter!

If you absolutely positively have to have one of these molds then stick to the 000 and 00 size and you will get about 3/4 of your shot per throw.  Stay away from anything less than 00 with these blocks.

guess your not happy with yours
what size do you have
and would you be interested in selling them
and how much

SnoHam13

[Mortblanc]

I gave the #4 to a more patient friend and replaced it with a Lee and I am keeping the #F because even if it only fills half the cavities it is still the only thing I have found that casts a round ball for squib loads in the .223.

[SnoHam13]

just checking,I am looking for more of them in different sizes

thank you

SnoHam13

[SnoHam13]

here is a current thread on cast boolets about the sharp shooter mold
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?227554-Broken-sharpshooter-mold
their sending the person a new mold
now that's service

SnoHam13

[skiesunlimited]

Hello
If you are having a problem with Sharpshooter molds you can contact us at skiesunlimited@att.net
We guarantee our molds. If we cant figure out a solution together it will be your choice to be sent another mold or issued a refund.
When we designed the sharpshooter mold our first concern was to make the pellet as round as possible with as small sprue/gate as we could reasonably get by with. Our molds have small sprues to preserve roundness of a small pellet. We wanted the pellets cast to be as close to what you get from commercial buckshot as possible.
The reason the sprue holds "1000 grains of lead" is because of the funneling effect needed to fill the cavity through a small sprue. Lee buckshot molds do not need this because of the large sprue on the top pellet; but because of the large sprue the cutter takes off about 1/5 of that top pellet. This leaves a very large flat spot on the pellet that we believe is unacceptable.
Sharpshooter molds are vented by the tool used to surface them. Hold the mold up to a light and look through the parting line, you should see pinholes of light. If you do not see light we will ship you another mold.
We typically use wheel weights and get 90%+ fill on our test molds. Are you fluxing your lead? Users skipping this step is the primary problem we see for poor performance. The small sprue on our molds makes it prone to clogging, this can be overcome by fluxing your lead with wax to clean it up.
Fluxing your lead is a good idea always and is a necessary step with our molds.
Try fluxing your lead and turn up the heat a little, while the mold heats up you must direct the lead stream directly into the sprue to get even a partial fill. The mold should progressively fill until four or five pours, after that it should be up to temp and fill easily no matter how you pour the lead.
There is a slight learning curve with our molds but they will give you the highest quality pellet. Guaranteed.
Thanks

[Knecht]

I must say that I'm very happy with my two Sharpshooters molds, though I haven't cast too much with them yet - two days after I got them, my Lee melter broke and I haven't replaced it yet. I've cast some more shot with a handheld laddle, but it's really uncomfortable for making large amounts of shot that way. Can't wait to fix the melter and cast a nice supply of shot.

[SnoHam13]

I must say that I'm very happy with my two Sharpshooters molds, though I haven't cast too much with them yet - two days after I got them, my Lee melter broke and I haven't replaced it yet. I've cast some more shot with a handheld laddle, but it's really uncomfortable for making large amounts of shot that way. Can't wait to fix the melter and cast a nice supply of shot.

what part's are you looking for on the lee
I have a few extra laying around for parts
they are the original''drip O matics'' 

SnoHam13

[Knecht]

I gave it to my BIL who is skilled in electrical stuff to find out what's wrong. I got the melter from one of my american friends and I had to use an adapter for local electricity (220V). Not sure if it was the adapter or something in the melter that broke. More likely it was the adapter, was quite cheap and perhaps was never ment to handle such powerful device.
I can get a replacement heating spiral, specified for local electricity, which is what I'm likely to end up buying. But maybe the adapter can be modified to handle it, I'll wait and see yet.

[DDJ]

After what ha been a crazy spring and a "hidden" mold, I got to try out my sharp shooter buckshot mold over the weekend.  I have had little sucess with getting fill.  It took 20 shots or so to get the 00 to get to 60% and the #4 side is still running rather poor.  About the time I started to get consistent I ran out of lead ready to melt.  Having to cut the sprew off after the casting has cooled ate up a lot of lead.  It works but it takes some heating up and breaking in, with luck it will be faster next time. 

[SnoHam13]

After what ha been a crazy spring and a "hidden" mold, I got to try out my sharp shooter buckshot mold over the weekend.  I have had little sucess with getting fill.  It took 20 shots or so to get the 00 to get to 60% and the #4 side is still running rather poor.  About the time I started to get consistent I ran out of lead ready to melt.  Having to cut the sprew off after the casting has cooled ate up a lot of lead.  It works but it takes some heating up and breaking in, with luck it will be faster next time.

make your first pour and let it set for a few minutes
repeat a few times till the mold gets up to temp
the first runs just feed back into the melting pot as the mold is setting with lead in it from the second run and so on till it starts filling out
ya gota get it real hot

SnoHam13

[Knecht]

I've cast #1, #00 and #4 for my SxS caplock and yes, after the mold heats up a bit, it works fine. What I think could ake it more comfortable would be shortening the handle tangs couple cm back, so their ends would be all under the wood, not reaching to the end where they burn your hand after a while.
Also found out the casting is much more effective with a simple ladle, rather than pouring from the melter's valve.
Nail clipping pliers are great for cutting the sprew.

[frankd4]

I stopped casting oo Buck I buy steel ball bearings since they go in the shot cup they will not damage the bore lots more bang for the buck less work.

[armymars]

I place my large gain molds on a hot plate while my lead is melting. Perhaps a larger bled hole would help.