Casting round balls

I am new to muzzle loaders, but have cast for my 45/70. Size wasn’t too important, because I would always put them through a sizer. Different temperatures would cast different weights, but I would sort them according to weight.
Any advice for casting round balls?
Thanks

Pretty much the same procedure for casting round balls. Size of the ball will be determined by your gun and how you use it( ie target shooting or hunting). Tight ball/thin patch for targets, looser ball and thicker patch for hunting is the general rule. I weigh the balls I cast and re-melt balls that fall outside of my preferred range. Many think this is a wasted step, but i have found a benefit when target shooting to use balls that are the same weight.
I hope you enjoy muzzleloading. I think you will find it relaxing and addictive.

Size isn't as important as with a slug, as you can adjust the fit with the patch. Unless of course the ball is at it's largest limit, and will only load with a very thin patch. For sure, target loads and hunting loads two different animals, heavier loads seem to like a heavier patch, with exceptions to every rule of course, and your results may vary. !!!

As a hunter I don't weigh and sort the balls, as I pretty much only seek the best "hunting accuracy", so I wouldn't see a significant difference if I did. Or don't think I would. Maybe "some day" I'll check that out.

Gimrod, what difference do you see in group size, at 100 yards, between sorted balls, and un-sorted?

If your temperature control is pretty good, it won't make much difference. I find cast to be more consistent than commercial swaged balls. One of the Corbin brothers has said on their website that swaging consistent round balls is more difficult than typical bullets.

Rat said:

Size isn't as important as with a slug, as you can adjust the fit with the patch. Unless of course the ball is at it's largest limit, and will only load with a very thin patch. For sure, target loads and hunting loads two different animals, heavier loads seem to like a heavier patch, with exceptions to every rule of course, and your results may vary. !!!

As a hunter I don't weigh and sort the balls, as I pretty much only seek the best "hunting accuracy", so I wouldn't see a significant difference if I did. Or don't think I would. Maybe "some day" I'll check that out.

Gimrod, what difference do you see in group size, at 100 yards, between sorted balls, and un-sorted?

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I have found that the light balls (3 grains or more from the average) tend to shoot about 3.5" high and about the same to the right, and this is at 50 yards. I do not shoot much at 100 yards cause my self imposed limit is 75 yards on game as that is about as far as I can see the sights on a deer. I have found that the heavier balls (once again 3 or more grains above the average) tend to shoot about 4 inches low and 3 inches right. I now weigh my cast balls to within +/- .5 grains for balls of 45 caliber or less, and +/- 1.0 grain for 50 caliber balls and larger. I really is not that much of a deal. I use an electronic scale, take the average of 20 balls, set the tare for that average wt. and check each ball (after they are cooled of course) Those that don't make the cut get put back in the pot.

Is it best not to water cool round balls to keep them soft? I always drop my slugs into water from the mould. That way I don’t have any problems with them deforming while still hot.

I drop my cast balls on an old wadded up cotton towel, and once they are cool enough to handle, I place them on a aluminum plate and roll them between two aluminum plates to iron out the sprues. That way I don't have to fuss with trying to keep the sprues up when loading.

If using pure lead, water dropping will not affect them. You need alloys in the lead to get them harder when water dropping.

I just drop mine from the mold on a wadded up old t shirt. Just make sure the cloth isn’t polyester or other synthetic or a blend. That stuff melts! Cotton or wool is fine. BTW, don’t wear synthetics when casting either.

I try to use pure lead for round balls, but am not always sure of the purity so the cloth doesn’t add surface hardness.

I casted 10,000 balls a year when shooting competition in the 80's and 90's

.500 balls each weighed shot the heavies at the NMLRA territorials for NH, MA, ME and NY Plus the Fort TY spring , summer and Fall shoots {the big ones to me]

Practice was the 1st Congress of New England local club shoots in MA, NH,VT, ME, NY. Every week end for 2-3 days each. Those were the days they did Shine!!!!!!!!

I used an electronic scale from an auction way before the affordable ones as it was faster than a beam scale. Electronics have become so cheap hey are they way to go.

However I shot Buff/light bench for serious competition. Xs were what counted for sure.

For the small squirrel matches and such I used Hornady swaged in my 40 GM flintier and won many medals with it. Offhand and bench or sticks.

This was before diabetes and my when eyes were 20/15.

Now I like smooth bores and X rings are deer sized x-rings.

Don't get old is my best suggestion.

I bought an as new Lyman .490 marked 2 cavity mold at a flea market complete with handles for $20. I don't have a 50 caliber but have a friend who does. He cast up a mess of balls and found out that one cavity is .485 and the other is .490. At 50 yards they all shoot into the same nice group regardless of which size he uses. I thought it was kind of interesting.

GregLaRoche said:

Is it best not to water cool round balls to keep them soft? I always drop my slugs into water from the mould. That way I don’t have any problems with them deforming while still hot.

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Pure lead will not harden no matter what you do. I also drop in water since my bench space is small and rolling hot balls is a bother.
To make perfect balls or bullets use a ladle, I like the Lyman. Put the ladle tight to the sprue plate so there is no leak, tip up and hold it there until the ball takes all the lead it needs from the molten metal in the ladle. If you watch in the ladle you will see lead go down and stop for a second, then it goes down more as the ball shrinks. This is the tip off point.
I took an electric box and cut for a mold to fit. I put a BBQ thermometer in the top hinged cover. I soak the mold as lead melts at 500 degrees. Pure lead in the pot needs about 800 degrees. The first ball or bullet will be perfect and I run a full 20# pot without a reject.
I somehow got some pure with zinc in it, cable sheathing or what? Melt at 600 ONLY. Skim all from the surface and do not flux first. The junk looks like oatmeal, toss it. I hate rain gutter bullets!
Then after your balls are dry, put in a container and spray some Barricade on them and they will stay nice forever.

I cast and drop mine in an ingot mold when cooled I put them into a ball mill, mine is a double so it can tumble about 200 at a time.
after they roll for about 2 hours they are perfectly round with no trace of the sprue or defects. if you like them shiny you can add some dish soap and water and they come out looking just like swaged balls.

Greg,
Pay attention to what 45man said. He knows. Doesn't matter whether lead cools gradually or if ye drop it in water. Pure lead is pure lead is pure .... and so on. If ye know a reloader that has a hardness tester, borrow it and test both. You'll see for yourself. Me, I drop my cast round ball on an old folded towel. That way I don't have to worry about keeping a pan o' water and a pot of melted lead both in arm's reach. Dropping a lead ball into water does no direct harm, but if ye happen to splash some o' that water into the molten lead it can ruin yr whole afternoon! That can produce a small explosion ... the water droplets vaporize and become superheated steam almost instantaneously. Sometimes that causes tiny droplets of molten lead to spray around. Advice? Don't do that! T'ain't safe! That stuff sticks and just keeps on burning whatever it sticks to until it cools off. If that happens to be yr hand or arm, that'll seem like about a week. Leaves a mark, too.
Tanglefoot

I cast my round balls from a Lyman mold. I've found that removing the sprue doesn't help accuracy in my smoothbore, and neither does dimpling or roughing. In fact, both methods hurt accuracy in my smoothbore.

So in casting, I gently drop them on a folded cotton towel and allow them to cool a bit. Then transfer them to a steel bucket to carry into the reloading room.

Get a rhythm going and it moves pretty quick.

Khufu said:

I cast and drop mine in an ingot mold when cooled I put them into a ball mill, mine is a double so it can tumble about 200 at a time.
after they roll for about 2 hours they are perfectly round with no trace of the sprue or defects. if you like them shiny you can add some dish soap and water and they come out looking just like swaged balls.

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Try a dab of NuFinish/Mineral Spirits mix and see how slick they can really be!

Khufu what type of ball mill do you have i like the idea of removing the sprue. I am casting mostly 32 cal and they have a large sprue for their size. Do others feel like the smaller calibers are more difficult to cast consistently. I am casting with two different TC original molds and both average about 30 percent rejects.

I roll my cast balls between two heavy marble tiles to get the sprues ironed out. Takes about 2 minutes, and i do about 30 balls at a time. The smaller balls are somewhat more difficult to cast, but once you get a rhythm going your rejects will go down to about 5%.

Hornady does a great job!

The difference between casting pure lead and an alloy like you would use for 45/70 in that you have no tin to help you fill things out. You want to cast HOT. If you don't have a lead thermometer, get one. You want to cast around 800 degrees and you want the mold to be hot before you start casting. I have an el cheapo hot plate I set the molds on to preheat before I cast.

The nice thing about pure is that it does not vary as to size/weight anywhere near as much as different bullet alloys do. So you should have a more consistent size and weight than you get with a bullet alloy for cartridge guns. Dropping in water will have no effect other than to cool them faster. I just use an old towel.

FWIW, conicals are cast the same way.