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Hand cast vs. swaged round balls
- Thread starter Semper_Smokey
- Start date
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Dutch Schoultz advocates making a mixture of Water Soluble Oil (WSO) and water to soak the patch material. The material is dried flat and the dried patching material is used when you load and cut at the muzzle so the patch is centered around the ball.
I have a small bottle of WSO and water that I use to slightly moisten my patch material just before loading. I like the fact that the damp patch will easily push the fouling down the barrel and provide a slight amount of lubrication to the bore.
Dutch also recommends that you cast your ball and weigh the ball for consistency. Try to keep the weight within 1 grain of the theoretical weight of the ball.
I have a small bottle of WSO and water that I use to slightly moisten my patch material just before loading. I like the fact that the damp patch will easily push the fouling down the barrel and provide a slight amount of lubrication to the bore.
Dutch also recommends that you cast your ball and weigh the ball for consistency. Try to keep the weight within 1 grain of the theoretical weight of the ball.
jager43478
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Great stuff - thanks all. Figured I'd pick up 0.490 and 0.495 balls with some 0.018 and 0.015 pathes, respectively, to play around with til I found I load I like, then I might see if the wife would tolerate casting in the garage
Yet another question - lube for the patches? Anything I should know about oil vs. something like Wonderlube?
What do you need to know with respect to lubrication of the patches?
Considering virtually every patch lube formula from spit to highly exotic mixtures work for somebody, not much other than once you find a lubricant that provides the accuracy you seek, stick with it. Very slick lubricants in a shallow groove rifle seem to be less accurate than less slick. Very wet patches can contaminate the powder. An oil based lube should be used instead of a water based lube when hunting. Water (spit) dries out and can promote rust if left in the barrel for extended periods of time
Considering virtually every patch lube formula from spit to highly exotic mixtures work for somebody, not much other than once you find a lubricant that provides the accuracy you seek, stick with it. Very slick lubricants in a shallow groove rifle seem to be less accurate than less slick. Very wet patches can contaminate the powder. An oil based lube should be used instead of a water based lube when hunting. Water (spit) dries out and can promote rust if left in the barrel for extended periods of time
erhunter: I forgot to add ---- casting your own RB is also a h*ll of a lot cheaper, especially if you can find pure lead for pennies a pound. Try plumbing supply shops, or automobile salvage yards, or junkyards. As for patch lube, the best I ever used was YCA#103 but it's no longer available. I make my own with beeswax and Crisco, half and half.
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Usually any void in a ball or bullet will be right under the sprue and pretty well centered. If it has any effect at all it will usually be in elevation. It is interesting to weigh a set of balls and test fire the consistent with the inconsistent. Generally there is no detectable change at the ranges muzzle loading ball guns are shot at unless the weight variance is in diameter, that will usually be a game changer more so than a small void under the sprue.
user 43911
45 Cal.
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Not sure what size you are looking for but try this place.
https://opticsandammo.com/product/hornady-451-lead-balls100-mfg-6060/
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Thank you, Sir, for thinking about me but -
a. I'm not the guy looking for them and
b. I live in the UK.
c. I cast my own using good honest church roof lead. Legally acquired, I might add, after the local church had its lead stolen for the third time in five years by 'travelling persons', they made the change to a lead look-alike that is worthless, except for looking and performing like lead, that is. I got given all the removed stuff to share around the gun club.
ab44
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I just got a good S/A Starr 44 cal, original and working well. I want to try her but we are not sure of ball size. Some say .457. the 454 balls fall in cylinder and roll out and go half way,1/3 way, sitting on muzzle with no force. Can you good old boys help. I shoot my Remingtons regular with 454's. Will they work with a patch wrap on them? Could I use a slug with a paper cartridge and again what size? I measured cylinder it is .457-459 etc the muzzle is around 456-455
You may also want to try some .010 patches...Great stuff - thanks all. Figured I'd pick up 0.490 and 0.495 balls with some 0.018 and 0.015 pathes, respectively, to play around with til I found I load I like, then I might see if the wife would tolerate casting in the garage
Yet another question - lube for the patches? Anything I should know about oil vs. something like Wonderlube?
fishmanbeene
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Anyone use wheel weights to cast RB?
I do, I can't shoot them at the same time as soft lead because they are 2 to 3 grains lighter, but they actually cast nicer then soft lead for me. With my lead tester, which is kind of a Rube Goldberg Contraption that I Made, I half to use my own scale, wheel weights are the hardest lead that I've ever tested. I do have some line o type lead, but I don't use it in my muzzleloading. They really shoot quite nice.
I like using the swaged, soft lead round balls in my cap & ball revolvers. I cannot find enough pure lead to to cast those balls as wheel weight round balls are harder to seat. So I buy swaged round balls on sale whenever possible for C&B revolvers.
For smaller caliber patched round ball loads in rifles and pistols (.44 caliber), I found it just as cost effective to buy the round balls. When I talk about being cost effective, I include my time in that equation.
Last fall, Midway USA, had a sale on .440" Hornady round balls. They charged sales tax but the shipping was free that day. I ordered 4,000 round balls. Total cost was $416.42 or a hair over 10.4 cents per ball.
And, YES, I will shoot all of those round balls. There were sales on at the LGS and other online stores that I took advantage of.
I realize that I could save money in material by casting my own. However, that takes too much time for my schedule. Now all I have to worry about is shooting and cleaning my guns
Last fall, I cast close to 500 rounds of .60 caliber round balls for my Howdah pistol and 20 gauge shotgun. That was with hard wheel weight lead. Those rounds are being shot out of a smooth bore and the hole they make is big enough that whatever animal it hits, there is going to be a big one. Considering the cost of store-bought cast .60 caliber round balls, the casting option in this case, made more economic sense.
Playing golf is more expensive than the shooting game, even if I don't cast.
For smaller caliber patched round ball loads in rifles and pistols (.44 caliber), I found it just as cost effective to buy the round balls. When I talk about being cost effective, I include my time in that equation.
Last fall, Midway USA, had a sale on .440" Hornady round balls. They charged sales tax but the shipping was free that day. I ordered 4,000 round balls. Total cost was $416.42 or a hair over 10.4 cents per ball.
And, YES, I will shoot all of those round balls. There were sales on at the LGS and other online stores that I took advantage of.
I realize that I could save money in material by casting my own. However, that takes too much time for my schedule. Now all I have to worry about is shooting and cleaning my guns
Last fall, I cast close to 500 rounds of .60 caliber round balls for my Howdah pistol and 20 gauge shotgun. That was with hard wheel weight lead. Those rounds are being shot out of a smooth bore and the hole they make is big enough that whatever animal it hits, there is going to be a big one. Considering the cost of store-bought cast .60 caliber round balls, the casting option in this case, made more economic sense.
Playing golf is more expensive than the shooting game, even if I don't cast.
