Casting During Hot Weather

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what is basically a 1851 Navy with a double length cylinder and no barrel, a Pepperbox if you will. I know you must have seen them. With such a short tube and no rifling I wonder if velocity is anything. I suppose it must equal the little pocket Derringers. It also could shoot multiple balls or shot.

I'd love to test one. I saw one daring fellow swap out a birdshead grip onto one and is was most handsome.

I decided to let it cool off and clean it out. I had not done that it 20-some years!

After it cooled I wire brushed the inside of the empty pot and then started cleaning the spout. It had been running very slow lately so I knew crap was built up in it. Sure enough, there was slag and something brown looking in the pot end of the spout.

Using a propane torch I heated the spout until all the cooled lead ran out of it. But it was still plugged. I could not get a hard wire through it nor see light through it. So I heated it some more, working a small diameter drill bit into it. I pulled out some slag and other junk and after about 10 minutes of heating and working on it I got it opened up!

I made sure the pot was clean and then plugged it back in and filled it with my alloyed lead. When that was totally melted ... and the pot was not dripping like before .. I shut it down, waiting for cooler weather. I have plenty of bullets cast now for all the calibers I am loading so I don't need to cast any more during hot weather.

I should not have let the pot go so long without cleaning it.