I admit, I’ve had the thought to comment a bit more here and there, but if it were me, I’d be casting it 1:20 simply because that’s what’s in my main pot and the majority of my stash for my preference. I don’t know if changing the alloy will make it shoot much different, but I hope it does.
A comment I had thought to add earlier was that if you have only tried pure lead in the Brooks mold and found it finicky, I’d guess it would cast easier with a tin alloy. If you have good temperature control in the pot, bump the heat up of the melt and preheat the mold? Are you using a bottom pour pot. I think Brooks molds seem easy to get to cast well, but of course I don’t know yours.
Thanks, Craig. With the Lancaster oval bore, it’s best to have a variety of alloys at hand. Generally softer lead is better. This 1894 BPE rifle’s bores are different than the other Lancaster BPE guns I have looked at. They are straight and not tapered. Having already experimented with other alloys and diameters, I’m ready for this rifle to shoot to its best ability. Because Lancasters usually shot whatever was standard for caliber, I’m using the original Eley bullet at hand as my guide for what to cast next. Because it’s a 12:1 alloy, that’s what I’ll be mixing up and casting.
I have trouble with the Brooks mold for two reasons. First, it has more moving parts than a typical bottom pour mold. Second, my hands suffer from an autoimmune disease called rheumatoid disease. It gets worse each year. Hands that once quickly tied size 20 dry flies one after another now struggle to hold a coffee mug without dropping it. So the fewer moving parts in any given procedure, the better for me.
