Field Report: Solid Brass PRB in .58cal

[roundball]

10/31/12

HISTORY
Testing this summer as a possible lead ball alternative, I found solid brass .5625" x 201grn balls to be extremely accurate.
The once fired (1X) balls in the photo were recovered after passing through 2 feet of rubber mulch in a cardboard trap box I made and don’t have a mark on them, no changes in dimensions, patches are perfect...so I decided to use the 1X balls for field testing on deer.

LOAD DETAILS
38" x .58cal Rice barrel / Early Virginia
Goex 4F prime
100grns Goex 2F main
.62cal Duro-Felt OP wad, lubed with NL1000
.028" Cotton Duck patch, lubed with NL1000
.5625" Solid Brass Ball from 'Online Metals'
Weight = 201 grains

PERFORMANCE DETAILS
Hunting this afternoon, a Spike and a Doe stepped out of an overgrown clear-cut area about 55-60yds in front of my ladder...came across the tractor path and into the oak ridge.
I leveled the sights on her heart / chest and just as I was starting to touch the trigger she stopped and put her head down for a mushroom or acorn at about 50yds.
I tweaked the sights up to the neck vertebrae / shoulder blade junction and touched it off...she dropped like a sack of potatoes and never moved.
At the straight on angle the ball would have to traverse the length of her body to exit and I saw no exit.

FILE PHOTOS (did not photograph the afternoon's dead Doe)

 

[lonehunter]

:hatsoff:

 

[Jason Lewis]

nice work round ball, please post pictures of the recovered ball if you find it.

 

[BrownBear]

Proven to my satisfaction. Thanks for all your work and reporting on this. It's a good service to anyone faced with nontox. :hatsoff:

 

[George T.]

I just put this on my list of you have heard it all now things. I have never thought about using any other ball than lead! No to get into which deer is more dead but I have killed several deer with 40's and 50's and the ball expanded in all cases. It seems that the 58 ball is big enough. The ability to reclaim the balls is interesting to me. Do you know what sizes they are available in? Thank's for a very interesting post! Geo. T.

 

[Matt85]

you mean to say after all the testing of the brass balls... you didnt take a picture of the final results? :slap:

i was expecting a series of pictures with an autopsy.

at any rate, how deep did the ball penetrate?

-matt

 

[hardtimes]

Very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to give it a try. I am curious as to how deep it penetrated as well.

 

[Rat Trapper]

you mean to say after all the testing of the brass balls... you didnt take a picture of the final results? :slap:

i was expecting a series of pictures with an autopsy.

at any rate, how deep did the ball penetrate?

-matt

Got to have picture of the gut pile for proof of kill!

 

[roundball]

Do you know what sizes they are available in? Thank's for a very interesting post! Geo. T.

Knowing that Brass is lighter than Lead and since I happened to have a .58 cal, that's what I searched for...to get one that would fit the .58cal so it would have decent weight. And in searching a number of companies who make precision balls from various metals, I found that "Online Metals" happened made a solid brass ball in a size & weight that I figured would be a good test on deer for the .58cal.

In this case, a .562" x 201grns ball would be sort of between a .50 and .54cal in weight, but have the larger frontal area of a .58cal. The slightly smaller diameter than a .570" lead I normally use would also let me use a thicker than normal patch because not knowing what/if any, manufacturing tolerances there might be, I didn't want to risk getting one jammed in the bore while seating one down. But it turns out they're made to extremely fine and consistent tolerances.

The ability to recover and reuse them was an interesting side benefit...need to use scattered aim points so the balls don't collide with one another inside the trap or they'll get flat spots like a spru...and while that in itself wouldn't be a problem, the fattening of the body somewhere would change its diameter / dimension so that it might bind if tying to reload such a ball. (and a ball puller wouldn't screw into such a hard ball)

Anyway, it was an interesting successful little project...here's the company that happened to have the ones I used in my .58cal...they cost .64cents each.
If anyone finds other dimensions in any company that are a bit more undersize than we'd normally use in a lead ball for other calibers, post it up.
http://www.onlinemetals.com/

 

[roundball]

Got to have picture of the gut pile for proof of kill!

:grin: you'll need to take a metal detector out behind the little house that needy family lives in...LOL

 

[GreyWhiskers]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: Refresh my memory. Is that .58 cal barrel rifled or smooth? GW

 

[roundball]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: Refresh my memory. Is that .58 cal barrel rifled or smooth? GW

Rice 38" round bottom groove rifled barrel...

 

[cynthialee]

:hatsoff:

I have been waiting for this post. I knew it was comeing eventually.
:grin:

The brass roundball works as well as you figured it would.

I am pretty sure that a ball can be ussed of any composition that is capable of maintaining its integretity durring a shot. Provided of course it has enough weight to do the job.

 

[roundball]

:hatsoff:
I have been waiting for this post. I knew it was comeing eventually.
:grin:
The brass roundball works as well as you figured it would.
I am pretty sure that a ball can be ussed of any composition that is capable of maintaining its integretity durring a shot. Provided of course it has enough weight to do the job.

Yes, research, testing, and hands on field experience trumps everything else...if my deer hunting was suddenly limited to these brass balls I wouldn't lose a moments sleep over it

 

[PaulN/KS]

Good shooting and a great field report. :thumbsup:
Thanks for your efforts and the information roundball. :hatsoff:

 

[Sean Gadhar]

So you put a ton into this and I now have hope for a California hog hunt again :bow:

But I want to ask Why Brass & not Copper? I think copper is denser, density of copper = 8930 kg/m^3 & density of brass = 8700 kg/m^3

 

[roundball]

Didn't put a ton into it at all...about $25 for a couple packs of brass balls.
After years of year round shooting at the range just for the sake of shooting, I find it nice to do something new & different for a change of pace now and then...and even learn something in the process.

With the ever increasing amount of talk about lead free hunting areas I thought it would be interesting to see what was available other than "ITX"...found these brass balls of the exact size I was interested in for my .58cal, tested them at the range, ran a live field test on deer, shared the results with the shooting fraternity.

I have zero plans to ever go to California again, and you can run the next tests using copper..
:wink:

 

[Britsmoothy]

It was a very interesting exercise and thankyou r-ball :hatsoff:

B.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I have zero plans to ever go to California again, and you can run the next tests using copper..
:wink:

See I shoulda keeped my big trap shut. Really I was just asking. Testing out a load nobody I
know has tried. I'd run right out & test um but I havn't got the balls :rotf:

 

[Sean Gadhar]

So the only copper I found so far is chicom hence Metric. .490" = 12.446 mm "I think" So for a 50 cal would you go with 12.0mm (0.472441") or if they have 1/2 mm sizes 12.5mm (0.492126")? I am thinking the 12.5mm if I can get it, but with a harder then lead substitute should I stay smaller round & thicker patch (thoughts of a small ball getting out of the patch and pinging off the sides of the barrel ).