I might add to this if I may - getting ANY moisture in a pot of molten lead WILL cause an immediate and uncontrollable explosion of molten lead - it stills and keeps on burning until it's cool.

I've water-dropped bullets by the hundreds, if not thousands without incident. The bucket was behind me and had a towel draped across the top with a slit in the towel that allowed the bullet to drop into the water. Any spashes were caught by the towel & with me inbetween the bucket and the pot, no water could hit it. Lead explosions are quite incredible to see - you don't want ot see one - been there. All I did was to dropping some WW that were cold from outside - not wet, but frozen still. WHUMP! and the pot was almost empty - I was very lucky, but the linolium floor had to be recovered after I rolled up the 15 or so pounds of lead stuck to it. It sprayed on the walls, my jacket, trousers and shoes- a few small burns is all I got- just lucky that day. I'd pour a bullet, turn around and open the mould close to the bucket and drop the bullet in. Using straight WW metal, no tin added, they'd come out at Brinel 28 to 32 if the temp was help high with heavy frosting completely around the bullet. That is the way I cast WW metal and always get perfect bullets. Completely frosted. Linotype runs around 20 to 22 on the Brinel scale. The bullet are still soft when you take them out of the water, so be gentle and dry them, let them sit for 12 to 24 hours and they become hard.

Veral Smith wrote the book on heat treating cast bullets - "Jacketed Performace From Cast Bullets" Check out ww.castbulletassoc.org He has a link there, somewhere and is a member of that association.

I did not know that Forsyth's little book was back in print. That's wonderful new to know everyone can not read it & learn. I had to read it 3 times to understand some of it as the language and terminology used is old English. It is a wonderful read with a great deal of information in it. Some of the conclusions and other stuff, well, it's an 1850's era hunter's & English gun maker's grasp on ballistics - plain wrong, BUT - most is greatly worthwhile. Some of the tech stuff is amazing - we are impressed at their grasp on a lot of ballistics that is not known by the majority today. It is most unfortunate if a shooter of muzzleloaders or early ctg. guns (bore rifles) doesn't read it. this book is the reason I had a 14 bore single made for hunting in BC, (couldn't afford a doublegun)

As to the first sentence I've quoted from 9.3 x57's post - concerning having a ball loaded in one tube - Forsyth also says this and I quote from page 77 - "even when shooting small game with a shot gun, I never load more than one barrel with shot, and always have a rifle at my elbow; for my spaniels have roused a panther when I expected to see them flush a partridge. I have found myself face to face with wild elephants when looking for jungle-fowl; and I have almost trodden on the tail of a tiger, when stalking a spotted buck."

Yes - it's a delightful read as well as providing much information of game and game shooting, it also provides quotes of other hunters & doctors (gun shot wounds) of the period, including Baker & W. Greener. He deals with concials (various shapes and sizes vs. balls, merits and demerits of both - yes - it's manditory reading.