Sprue orientation

[Salty]

Does anyone who loads round balls with a visible sprue orient it forward, backward or at all?
Does it affect the POI?

 

[Ames]

Load it forward. Sprue facing out of the barrel.

 

[Tom Compton]

Up

 

[Horse]

I remove it after casting. Don't know if it matters at all but its what I do

 

[Urban Coyote]

Up

 

[necchi]

As said, it should be place forward so you can "see" that it's in the same position each time.

Does it affect the POI?

There will be those that say it doesn't,
And they're right,, if your shooting at a pop can.
But it does matter if your shooting at an X in the 10 ring.

 

[64Springer]

I remove it after casting. Don't know if it matters at all but its what I do

Same here.

That little nub catches the wind like a little sail.

Accuracy will suffer.

 

[Frontier's]

It's easier to center something that you can actually see

 

[satwel]

Forward

 

[French Colonial]

Somebody please direct everyone to the Bevel Brothers article answering the sprue up or down question.

Asked and answered many times.

 

[sheriff john]

There's some technique to remove the sprue by rolling between metal plates, but don't recall where/what decade I read about it. Vote for "up".

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Somebody please direct everyone to the Bevel Brothers article answering the sprue up or down question.

Asked and answered many times.

Them bevel heads don't know nothin

 

[Sparkytfl]

My short starter seems to smooth it out pretty well when it's loaded sprue-forward. Lyman molds leave pretty big ones too.

 

[Salty]

Same here.

That little nub catches the wind like a little sail.

Accuracy will suffer.

But if the Sprue catches the wind during it travel, wouldn’t it be better to load it Sprue down/back? Like a flat base of a mini ball. Thereby not catching the wind.

 

[FishDFly]

Somebody please direct everyone to the Bevel Brothers article answering the sprue up or down question.

Asked and answered many times.

Makes too much sense to read it.

 

[EC121]

By the time the ball obturates, the rear-facing sprue is gone. Also by the time you pound the upward-facing sprue in the muzzle you have defaced the "nose" of the ball. Lee molds just leave a small flat spot that shouldn't matter.

 

[Salty]

Makes too much sense to read it.

I’m pretty new to this forum and don’t appreciate the condescension.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

If you load it down it will always look fine because you can't see it.

 

[DixieTexian]

But if the Sprue catches the wind during it travel, wouldn’t it be better to load it Sprue down/back? Like a flat base of a mini ball. Thereby not catching the wind.

The rear surface of an object flying through the wind matters more than the front surface when it comes to turbulence and aerodynamics.

 

[Jaeger]

I’m pretty new to this forum and don’t appreciate the condescension.

Pay no attention to the people who are impatient with repeated discussions of muzzleloading information. There will always be a lot of the same questions and discussions on any kind of forum, because there are always people coming onto the forum as well as people leaving. Remember: there is no personality test to become a member of the Traditional Muzzleloading Forum!