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Weighing Hornady round balls

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Joined
Oct 21, 2004
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Shady Spring, WV
For what its worth I just last night finished weighing 3 boxes of Hornady .490 balls. When I was done. I had separate boxes that had some that weighed

176.0 to 176.9
177.0 to 177.9
178.0 to 178.9

and a half a box that weighed

174.8 to 175.8 and 180 to 180.2

Now this tells me that Hornady must have several machines swaging these things with swaging dies that that are worn out to different degrees.

So I separated them to slightly less than a grain deviation. Actually each box was closer to the lower end of each number e.g. 176.1 to 176.4 for example.

So when you have a good group and for some reason one of your shots is way out in left field and you were sure of the sight picture it was probably one of those that weighed 5 grains less than the other 4 in your group.

I think I'll melt all the ones down in the 174 175 and 180 range.

Rant over

Bob
 
I've also found a lot of variation in Hornady and Speer swaged balls. I don't understand why they vary so much when Hornady swaged buckshot is so uniform, must be a different process.
 
I have not seen 5 grain difference, but have seen about 2.5 difference, that is still a big number when your trying for accuracy
 
According to a gentleman I met a few years back who claimed to have worked for Hornady, balls are swaged on machines with pre-cut lengths of lead wire. Each size of ball has an optimum size "core" which is cut so absolutely no waste is created. If the core is slightly more than what will fill the ball-forming die, and small amount of lead is "squirted" out the relief port and wasted. Waste reduces profit. Cores are cut slightly less than what will fill the ball die. This results in balls that are ever-so-slightly out of round and may have small voids. This is why serious target shooters cast their own and weigh their balls to eliminate fliers. With a home-cast ball you can center the sprue and be sure that any imperfection or void will be directly under it. A small void will not affect accuracy if the bullet spins around it but will not fly true if off-center. If shooting swaged balls for score, weigh them all and shoot only the heaviest one-third. Use the others for barrel warmers or plinking.
 
Hey Bob don't melt those last ones down just bring them to the blanket shoot in Feb. so the rest of us has a chance to out shoot you! :rotf: Dan.
 
Thats a good idea. Box up the high and low weight balls. Put them on the blanket and cause my fellow shooters to have a bad day next time out. Too bad Travis doesnt have a 50.

On a serious note. I weighed a box of .395 Hornady balls and they were noticably rounder and only varied 1/2 - 3/4 grains apart. The .490's were noticably more deformed looking compared to the .395's.

Bob
 
CoyoteJoe said:
I've also found a lot of variation in Hornady and Speer swaged balls. I don't understand why they vary so much when Hornady swaged buckshot is so uniform, must be a different process.

Exactly my findings.
I quit weighing the buckshot for the .36.
 
I had a box of 530 they ranged up to 5 grains difference. I cast what I shoot and even going between 2 lee molds of the same caliber I don't generally more than a grain or 2 difference. Some of this I account to variations in the lead I use. Some is cable sheething, some roof jacks, culled projectiles, and mostly x ray sheething. I guess I just like to cast.
 
Bob I wouldn't call it a "rant". It's good information, and I agree probably a minor flaw in their process. I use them a lot and I do seem to get very good groups, but if I sorted them, perhaps I'd get better still? Thanks for the heads up.

LD
 
That kinda stuff is what finally pushed me into casting my own.
Your spread between 3 boxes isn't bad, 10yrs ago they where much worse, I've found a 15grn spread one time in 300 ball,!!.

About that same time I was at a freinds house shooting and a discussion on a then current forum we where both members of was about purchased round ball quality.
The eye opener Grump showed me was how far out of round they where.
Sitting at his kitchen table he said "Watch this", and rolled one in my direction across the table.
That Hornady ball wobbled, curved and changed direction as it traveled across that flat surface !!

The Speer I was using at the time was better as far as weight spread and roundness, but with the inconsistant'ness` of all factory swaged stuff as well as the cost, was enough to push me into casting.
I wish I would have started casting sooner,,,
 
curator said:
According to a gentleman I met a few years back who claimed to have worked for Hornady, balls are swaged on machines with pre-cut lengths of lead wire. Each size of ball has an optimum size "core" which is cut so absolutely no waste is created. If the core is slightly more than what will fill the ball-forming die, and small amount of lead is "squirted" out the relief port and wasted. Waste reduces profit. Cores are cut slightly less than what will fill the ball die. This results in balls that are ever-so-slightly out of round and may have small voids.
Well that sounds reasonable but wouldn't that be true of every bullet Hornady makes? Hornady bullets for centerfires, both jacketed and swaged lead, are very consistent and accurate, as are their buckshot, and their tiny little .17 Rimfire bullets are outstanding. I also would be surprised if any excess lead is "wasted", I would think it would be caught and sent back to be reformed into new lead wire. But of course I'm just guessing and speculating.
 
I expect they make a lot more money on centerfire bullets, those customers are much more demanding, and the equipment/output is managed accordingly.
 
Well heck! I weighed a full box of .490'a a short while ago and 94 were within .3 grains with one heavy and 5 lighter. I had decided not to do this in the future. I guess I will rethink this! Geo. T.
 
I toured the Hornady factory several years ago. They cast the lead into round ingots roughly 4-6" diameter and maybe 10" long. Different mixes of alloys for different types of bullets. These ingots go into a very heavy press which then extrudes wire of whatever diameter is needed for the particular caliber. The wire is then fed into the bullet presses, cut and swaged into the jackets for centerfire bullets. I also saw them making some swaged all lead pistol bullets such as for 38 special wadcutters. In all of the presses there was quite a bit of waste lead that came out of the machines after the bullets were completed. I do not know if they reused the scrap or sent it back to their metal supplier. Either way, I don't believe they would skimp on the quality of their product just to save a little money when there is quite a bit of scrap from all of their other bullet production.
Dale
 
CoyoteJoe said:
I've also found a lot of variation in Hornady and Speer swaged balls. I don't understand why they vary so much when Hornady swaged buckshot is so uniform, must be a different process.
My experience is quite different, but I always buy whatever ammo and/or component that I shoot (c'fire or other, if not reloaded that is ...) from the SAME LOT of manufacture.

Lookie below ... I get only ~3.5 grain variation for lots of Hornady 45-cal or Buffalo Bullet 50-cal roundballs. But then again, I measure and sort my 22LR match ammo rim thickness to the 0.001" too ...

Hornady-440RB-Weights_zpsb39b09d9.jpg


BB490RB-Weights_zps0ea4752d.jpg
 
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