ball-etts

[eph289]

Anyone know if there are ball-etts for a 40 cal and where one might buy some or a mould.I'd like to try some in my underhammer.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

never seen 'em in smaller than .45. you might try a .40 cal pistol mold and use soft lead for a slug.

 

[gmww]

Here is a little trick I did in making some ballets for my .45 without buying a mold. I took some .54 RB and pushed them through a .45 sizer. You can add texture on the sides by rolling them between a metal file and a piece of wood. It increased the width enough to fit snugly in the bore.

 

[mckutzy]

what is this sizer u mentioned using? can u post a pic?

 

[gmww]

From this page you can choose the size you want. I found that the Alox helped a lot. The price is certainly right.

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1213301157.5642=/html/catalog/lubesize.html

 

[rickjf]

What a great idea. What would you start with? What sizer for .50 cal? .58 plus the .457 sizer

 

[gmww]

What a great idea. What would you start with? What sizer for .50 cal? .58 plus the .457 sizer

I'd measure your bore and then figure out what sizer to purchase. I was thinking .58 roundball to size down to the 50 also. I've only done the .45 so far.

 

[rkite]

How well do these work in a slow twist barrel? I assume you still patch them?

 

[gmww]

Its going to be different from one barrel to the next. Just like most conicals that work in some but not in others. In my slow twist barrel it was the same as the RB. This would be a good hunting load if you wanted a small conical for a slow twist that had a little more bullet weight than the RB.

I tried various combinations of loading this. If I put it in with smooth sides a wrap of plumber tape worked pretty slick. I also sandwiched the conicals between two metal files and was able to get a nice cross hatch pattern which raised the sides to increase the thickness. I rolled the conical between the files to get this pattern.

If I had a wider sizer I think this would work well and you could go with a wonder wad under the ball-etts. It's been several years since I've done this. I might have to re-do my experiments to see what I can come up with. I've got an old .45 RB twist barrel that's being worked on. When I get it back I'll do some more testing.