Revolver- Cast Or Swaged Balls?

[curator]

While Hornady balls are quite consistant in weight (compared to other brands) they do vary slightly in diameter/roundness from my measurements. They are the best of the commercial lot however.

Personally I prefer the ones I cast myself. I am careful about alloy and temperature. I weigh and sort them afterwards, eliminating any that are outside my parameters.

I load all cast round balls sprue up because this is the only way to be sure it is centered. A slight imperfection, void, or spongy area (that could be expected where the sprue solidified) exactly centered on the ball's axis has no effect on accuracy. Move that light spot off-center a couple of degrees and start counting the fliers!

 

[TFoley]

I shoot cast balls (as pure lead as I can get) out of my '58 Rem and ROA. swaged (I bought some Hornadys) don't do any better.

Agreed - but one other point only marginally touched on by one poster is the high cost of swaged balls compared with home-cast.

Here in UK a box of 100 Hornady swaged .457" balls costs almost $21.

For that cost [the electricity used to melt the lead] I can cast about 10,000 balls.

Never paid for lead in my life - almost a quarter ton of it came out of our old house many years ago when it was converted to copper water plumbing, so it's a no-brainer for me.

tac