How much my balls weigh?

[LME]

I just read a post about balls and the weight variation. I was curious so I weighed some of my balls that were for a .54 hawkin that shoots extremely well with both brands I weighed. I weighted five."Buffalo bullets" and five ,"Hornady" I weighted them on an ,"Ohaus scale" as I wanted as accurate of an answer as I could possibly get. The Buffalo 330 balls weighed 226 grains, 224 1/2 grains 225 3/4 grains, 226 grains, and 225 1/2 grains! The Hornady 330 balls weighed 226 grains, 226 grains, 223 grains, 223 1/2 grains and 226 grains.
I have shot these type of balls for many years and the accuracy with both was excellent. To say I was surprised at the variation in weigh is an understatement? I am real particular when it comes to my rifles capability but wonder now how much a little weight difference actually makes down range on a target? It seems that it is a minute amount if any? I am interested in what others have found concering weight variation?

 

[Sparkitoff]

I was advised to sort the balls by weight, culling anything 1.5 grains out of spec from the heaviest ball. I shot a group with the ones I picked according to this. Then I shot a group with the "culls". The group size was essentially the same. I then figured I would purposely mix the heaviest and lightest for a group. There was a 1" variation from the other groups at 100-yards. Not only the size of the group but the orientation. For some reason the "like" balls grouped in kind of a square but the mixed weights grouped more like pointy triangles. At 50- yards I really couldn't tell the difference. At 100-yards, there was a little difference but for me, it wasn't enough to worry about. It's not likely to cost me a deer but I guess it could be a lower score in a match. Next I tried different brands, Hornady and Speer. Separate the groups are comparable. Mixed, the groups looked exactly the same. This is interesting because the average weight of the balls is slightly different. Anyway, with either Hornady or Speer balls the accuracy is consistent and within my toleration regardless of picking and choosing balls or just shooting them all together.

 

[mooman76]

That's basically only a .01 variation on weight. Most people don't shoot well enough to even notice. I would only be concerned a little bit if I was a bench shooter.

 

[excess650]

Back around 1980 I bought one of those "hair straightener" moulds from DGW that had no sprue cutter. I cast with it and cut sprues with side cutters, so they didn't look as good as the Hornady balls that I bought. At the range, much to my surprise, my homecast shot better groups at 50 yards . Later I found that the Hornady and Speer balls were swaged and had more weight and diameter variation than expected. I've cast my own almost exclusively.

 

[Grimord]

I weigh all the balls that I cast. 45 caliber and up, I throw back in the pot any balls that vary more than 1.0 grain + or -. For my smaller calibers of 32 & 36, I throw back any that vary more than +/- .5 grains. I find variations in weight on the smaller calibers to have a bigger affect on accuracy. I weighed some Hornady balls of 54 caliber and found as much as 3 grains difference from the mean weight. Shooting the lighter balls I had a 3" difference in the point of impact on my target at 75 yards, and the heavier balls had a 2" difference from the point of impact of the average weight balls. All shooting was from the bench with sand bags packed around the gun. Five shot groups were made. It may not seem like a big difference, but it could lower your scores at a match, and I figure if i am going to cast my own balls, I may as well make them as consistent as possible. We all know that consistency is the key to good shooting with our muzzle loaders.

 

[tenngun]

I Ensor the my ball when cool enough to handle. Frosty, wavy or visible air spot go back into the pot. Shinny no air pockets goes in my bag. I’ve never weighed one

 

[user 48679]

Specific Gravity differs in a given specimen of molten alloy, as the lighter metals may tend to organize themselves above the heavier...depending on how one casts, stirs, dips, and so on - why RB's will weigh differently even if having no air voids.

(Even swaged commercial balls can have voids)

One advantage to using pure lead is that there would be less separation by mass in the cast ball than in an alloy casting.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Back around 1980 I bought one of those "hair straightener" moulds from DGW that had no sprue cutter. I cast with it and cut sprues with side cutters, so they didn't look as good as the Hornady balls that I bought. At the range, much to my surprise, my homecast shot better groups at 50 yards . Later I found that the Hornady and Speer balls were swaged and had more weight and diameter variation than expected. I've cast my own almost exclusively.

I have used one of Dixie's "hair curler" molds for over forty five years and it still throws good balls. I hold mine up to the spout of my Lee pot for about thirty seconds after filling to keep the sprue hot.And have very few culled balls. Usually about five out of a run of two hundred.I stoped weighing my cast balls years ago since I rarely had more than 1 grain variance.My side cutters have a .222 radius (for a .444 dia ball) ground into them.I reworked the side cutters over fifty years ago when I was a tool grinder at North American Rockwell.Our tool room on the night shift did a lot of" government" gunsmithing

 

[rafterob]

Those that are competing and real concerned about controlling as much as they can with their loads will weigh and cull their balls. If that is not your thing then don't worry and have have fun. Or as the song goes... Don't worry, be happy!

 

[rafterob]

I just had to research the OP's question. Apparently 10-15 grams is the average weight.

 

[Eterry]

If your hunting or doing woods walks then I think a visual inspection will suffice.

Chunk or bench rest matches you need every bit of accuracy you can squeeze from your equipment. So weighing is definitely recommended.

I recall an article in G&A years ago where the writer weighed 22 LR ammo and segregated it by weight. He had some cheapo stuff shooting groups like match Eley. So it has its advantages.

 

[LME]

I weigh all the balls that I cast. 45 caliber and up, I throw back in the pot any balls that vary more than 1.0 grain + or -. For my smaller calibers of 32 & 36, I throw back any that vary more than +/- .5 grains. I find variations in weight on the smaller calibers to have a bigger affect on accuracy. I weighed some Hornady balls of 54 caliber and found as much as 3 grains difference from the mean weight. Shooting the lighter balls I had a 3" difference in the point of impact on my target at 75 yards, and the heavier balls had a 2" difference from the point of impact of the average weight balls. All shooting was from the bench with sand bags packed around the gun. Five shot groups were made. It may not seem like a big difference, but it could bye a different amount to lower your scores at a match, and I figure if i am going to cast my own balls, I may as well make them as consistent as possible. We all know that consistency is the key to good shooting with our muzzle loaders.

I think you are on to something that deserves taking a harder look at? Small balls and larger balls are affected by different weights to be equal when shot at the target? I have been at this for more years than I care to remember and never thought of factory balls being of different weight until recently, dumb me! When I shot in competition with modern weapons I weighted and miked every component of a bullet to obtain every ounce of accuracy possible, why not apply the same logic to my black power loads? I know black powder is less sensitive compared to a modern rifle round but it may help? I can't believe I was so stupid as to not think of this before now?

 

[LME]

If your hunting or doing woods walks then I think a visual inspection will suffice.

Chunk or bench rest matches you need every bit of accuracy you can squeeze from your equipment. So weighing is definitely recommended.

I recall an article in G&A years ago where the writer weighed 22 LR ammo and segregated it by weight. He had some cheapo stuff shooting groups like match Eley. So it has its advantages.

The article is correct! I use to weigh every bullet some friends of mine even had a sizer to check diameter. I wasn't quite that hard on myself as my main interest was center fire . I did shoot the best cartridges I could get. The cheapest being Wolf, Match Extra. When a person buys a rim fire rifle like my Anschutz it deserves the best ammunition you can get.My black powder guns are to hunt with and they have served me well.They are not as sensitive!

 

[Ian Straus]

I have been weighing my cast round balls and Minies recently, and I always find more than2 grains variation in a batch. I do cull those that are more than 2 or 3 grains off the averager weight, because those have got to have voids.
As an example, here is the weight distribution of Minies I cast and weighed a couple of days ago:
Weight

 

[mooman76]

They don't necessarily have a void. All it takes is not closing the mould as tight, like a hairs difference to change the weight.

 

[necchi]

I think you are on to something that deserves taking a harder look at? Small balls and larger balls are affected by different weights to be equal when shot at the target? I have been at this for more years than I care to remember and never thought of factory balls being of different weight until recently, dumb me! When I shot in competition with modern weapons I weighted and miked every component of a bullet to obtain every ounce of accuracy possible, why not apply the same logic to my black power loads? I know black powder is less sensitive compared to a modern rifle round but it may help? I can't believe I was so stupid as to not think of this before now?

Grimord wrote the best response so far, and your right to check.
Many of us hand load CF also. It's all in the details.
A bunch of us cast our own too,,
With Hunting and "popcan" accuracy with these BP's it doesn't much matter,
Smooth bore, don't much matter,
A lite ball can indicate an internal void, a "bubble", and that would be fine if you could Xray the thing and see that this void was in the exact center of the ball, but if that void is just under the skin on one side,, and you fix to "spin" that ball with rotational force, , , etc,,
Powder charge you can mess with a bit 2-3grns +/-, (a tossed charge), 5grns is pushing it (5grn increments are for load development for these things)
But like Grimord, mine are all +/-.5grn
Do ya want the 8 the 9? The 10 ring? Or the X? It's details

 

[Kansas Jake]

It makes sense to have a smaller variation in grain weight for a smaller ball and allowing more for a larger ball. Half a grain is a larger percentage of weight in a 36 by a long ways compared to a half grain in a 54.

 

[eggwelder]

I just had to research the OP's question. Apparently 10-15 grams is the average weight.

When i used to weigh the balls for my .50, the average heavy weight in grams was 11.47gm.
I just found some in a box that i had packed away and they are all within 1 or 2 milligrams of each other. Says so on the container i put them in after i weighed them.
I am not a good enough shot to bother weighing anymore.
The scale i used is just on a shelf now. My pot smoking little brother saw it one day and looked at me in disbelief. He said “ how long have you been selling weed?”….lol. Apparently it is the same style used by a lot of “suppliers”.

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

I wonder if Timothy Martin in 1777, when he shot British General Fraser off his horse from a tree at a distance of 300 yards, was worried how much his balls weighed? Semper Fi.

 

[necchi]

I wonder if Timothy Martin in 1777, when he shot British General Fraser off his horse from a tree at a distance of 300 yards, was worried how much his balls weighed? Semper Fi.

I'd be willing to bet he didn't buy a box of swaged ball off the shelf,
I wonder if the knife he carried had an exotic leg bone handle?