i believe lead has a rather high melting temperature ..

so your mold must be made of something that can take that temperature

when a liquid is "weightless" either in zero gravity or falling it forms into a perfect sphere.

Shotgun shot is made by dripping molten lead from a height into water: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/baltimore/b29.htm

........

Larger balls for black powder rifles are split-molded, the molds don't cost very much. Making your own is rather pointless really. I dunno about airgun-sized balls. If I remember right, the .177 ones I have somewhere (bought from Beeman/made by H&N-?) do not have any molding seam on them at all. Beeman's are called "Beeman Perfect Rounds", and apparently now they only sell .177 and .25 caliber, but Beeman doesn't make their own stuff--they buy it from other companies and re-badge it. So I'd bet that some Euro company probably makes lead BB's in all airgun calibers.

~

the movie was most likely The Patriot he melts his sons TIN soldiers into a mold

Hmn... As an airsofter I can give you some advice here, dont go for lead, get a normal one and give it ONE layer of tinfoil, make as many of these as you can and boil some water in a pan, put them in and keep the pan boiling, they should close up nicely and be like metal BB's with the skin peircing thing, but nearly as light as .2 G plastics

quote:Originally posted by girlzlover7:

the movie was most likely The Patriot he melts his sons TIN soldiers into a mold

I was about to saw that. I think that were solder, or a mixture of lead and tin. I dont remember what the tool was, but it looked like some tong like think, but was shaped into a ball rather than the things you pick stuff up with.

By the way, I can buy a pack of 6000 steel bbs from wal mart for 6 dollars. I dont use steel in my guns, since it messes up the rifling, so I use lead pellets all the time.

One of my friends has a PCP pellet gun that shoots 9mm pellets about 750 fps. .50 caliber isnt much bigger than that.

The shaping tool you need is sometimes for sale on ebay, in the hunting section. This was on ebay uk, but I'm not sure if they'll have the right size.

[This message has been edited by BigAl (edited 06-07-2003).]

They do make lead .22 and .177 caliber bb's for air rifles and co2 pistols. I have a cataloug from a company called Natchez Shooting Sports based in Arizona that sells them.

[This message has been edited by KottonMouthKing (edited 06-10-2003).]

aiight all u gotta do is fine some salder

the stuff that you use when u weld stuff together u use tha it melts instantly and cools instantly too jus ge a mol melt the shit in i nd your one. P.S whre bbr gloves when playin with thi sht caus itsed it can rubbintoyour skin

quote:Originally posted by ObakeYatsu:

i kinda doubt this technique because if i am correct it would not form a perfect sphere. if it isnt almost perfect, it will screw up the inside of the barrel, which would be bad. i would imagine the drop method would result in slightly tear drop shaped things. oh well, i might be wrong, but dripping molten metal seems like a really innacurate way of doing things.



Sorry but as soon as any liquid has left the object it has fallen form it doesn't stay in the shape of a tear drop anymore. Once it is falling, depending on what size it is it changes into different shapes, the most common being a burger shape. I'd say that the drip would have to be a specific weight to form into a ball, too big and it splits into more drops, to small and it forms a burger shape..



[This message has been edited by killswitch (edited 06-22-2003).]

It just so happens i have done something simmiler for use in making fishing jigs. this is what i did and it works.

You need

A small container to make your mold in, id say around 2-3 inch square.

Car body filler (used to repare the sides of cars)

a bead the exact size that you want.

Wax

sand paper

step 1

Wax the inside of your container, and wax the bead. Pour in some carfiller (with hardener) and press the bead in about half way. Put this in the freezer.

step 2

Get the mold and pop it out of the container (thats what the wax is for) and pop out the bead. Sandpaper the surface so it is flat. wax the bead again and wax the flat surface. put the bead back in.

step 3

wax the container and fill it with body filler again. Now push the mold+bead into the top. Put this into the freezer.

step 4

break the mold in half and pull out the bead, this is your basic mold. clamp the 2 halfs togther and carefuly drill a small hole (about the width of a straw) between the 2 pieces and into the cavity in the center (do it between the halfs so if it gets cloged you can open it and clean the blockage). pull the drill back out most of the way and swivle it around in circles to form a cone shape on the outside to act as a funnel.

step 5

with a small clamp ( i use the claw off jumper leeds) pour molten lead into the funnel, until it overflows. Hold this for a few seconds to a min...im not sure how long that much will take to cool to hard. take the clam off so the mold breaks into 2. drop the lead into the water (as long as its solid and moderatly cool molten lead and water IS EXTREAMLY DANGEROURS. Cut the tag off the ball and smooth the surface. remelt the tags and use them in other molds. you can use this mold over and over.

carbody filler i use (aussie brand Karfill ) is able to width stand the heat of molten lead..

make sure that musket doesnt blow up useing homemade rounds.

good post^^^^

the movie is the patriot