Tumbling round ball to smooth sprue cut

[Buckskinquin]

Does anyone use a rock tumbler with steel balls to smooth sprue cut on round ball? If so what size and how many steel vs. cast ball, and time required.

 

[Flintlock]

Not unless your competing for thousands of dollars. There have been sprues since day one. It's part of muzzleloading.

 

[2 shots]

?? if steel balls are going to flatten the sprue, what are they going to do to the rest of the softer ball?? i think they would look liked " chewed" pain balls

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

I have tumbled round balls alone in a Lyman vibrating tumbler. No noticeable improvement in any way. Made a mess of the tumbler, though!

ADK Bigfoot

 

[cynthialee]

I was taught the idea behind tumbling your round balls was to dimple them like a golf ball for the flight characteristics. Like ADK Bigfoot, I haven't noticed any difference in their performance

the sprue is not much a concern really

 

[david w]

I was taught the idea behind tumbling your round balls was to dimple them like a golf ball for the flight charact

Be careful that you don't slice or hook!

 

[bubba.50]

I don't shoot roundballs much but, in my limited experience, that sharp smack against the concave face of the short starter pretty well takes care of it.

 

[david w]

I don't shoot roundballs much but, in my limited experience, that sharp smack against the concave face of the short starter pretty well takes care of it.

I shoot all round balls. Yes, the short starter gets rid of the sprue.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Does anyone use a rock tumbler with steel balls to smooth sprue cut on round ball? If so what size and how many steel vs. cast ball, and time required.

I do not use a rock tumbler to answer your question. You do not need to think outside the box on this one. Just remember sprue up or down when loading and you are good to go.
Larry

 

[bore_butter]

put the sprue on the back side, it should reduce drag by not letting the air flow around the ball from snapping back together at the same spot. or not.

 

[andy52]

If you're buying your round balls rather than casting them just spend a little extra and get the swaged balls instead.

 

[david w]

put the sprue on the back side, it should reduce drag by not letting the air flow around the ball from snapping back together at the same spot. or not.

Attempting to center a sprue on the back side is difficult. if the sprue is off set to one side, it will affect accuracy. The tried and true way is sprue forward. A short starter will flatten out the sprue most, if not all the time.

 

[david w]

If you're buying your round balls rather than casting them just spend a little extra and get the swaged balls instead.

I totally agree. Swaged balls are the best. When I shoot my .36 caliber, I use Hornady 000 buckshot. I don't fiddle with cast bullets here. There are many fox squirrel that would testify, if they could talk. I've also had excellent results from Hornady swaged .50 out of my Hawkens. My .62 is an exception. No swaged balls are available. Careful casting, and weighing each individual ball still provides closely grouped holes at 50 yards. There are a few deer that would testify also.

 

[andy52]

I totally agree. Swaged balls are the best. When I shoot my .36 caliber, I use Hornady 000 buckshot. I don't fiddle with cast bullets here. There are many fox squirrel that would testify, if they could talk. I've also had excellent results from Hornady swaged .50 out of my Hawkens. My .62 is an exception. No swaged balls are available. Careful casting, and weighing each individual ball still provides closely grouped holes at 50 yards. There are a few deer that would testify also.

I do like the Hornady swaged balls, I do cast my own and for general shooting and hunting they work fine but when I shoot competition I only use the swaged.

 

[david w]

I do like the Hornady swaged balls, I do cast my own and for general shooting and hunting they work fine but when I shoot competition I only use the swaged.

I would have liked to enter competition when I was younger, but everything was always too long a drive. I used to be a fair shot, and I would like to see what I could have done against others. Alvin York, I'm not, I know that.

 

[dave951]

Unless you're shooting competition, it matters not. Better to be consistent in how you do things. Btw, weighing will produce results. Pitch the heavy and light ones back into the pot.

 

[Buckskinquin]

I totally agree. Swaged balls are the best. When I shoot my .36 caliber, I use Hornady 000 buckshot. I don't fiddle with cast bullets here. There are many fox squirrel that would testify, if they could talk. I've also had excellent results from Hornady swaged .50 out of my Hawkens. My .62 is an exception. No swaged balls are available. Careful casting, and weighing each individual ball still provides closely grouped holes at 50 yards. There are a few deer that would testify also.

That’s what I’m attempting to do, swage the ball. I’ve shot BP over 20 years and heard all the previous advice responding to my question. Guess I’ll buy a few different sizes and experiment.

 

[david w]

Unless you're shooting competition, it matters not. Better to be consistent in how you do things. Btw, weighing will produce results. Pitch the heavy and light ones back into the pot.

I always keep the heavy one's and toss everything else back. If anything is lighter than the heaviest, there's a possibility it has an air pocket. I've had the best luck with the Lee moulds. Lyman steel moulds took too long to heat up and regulate, but they could produce quality, many times superior balls. Just too many rejects!

 

[ohio ramrod]

Years ago I "rolled" all of my round balls to smooth out the sprue Now I don't bother as I found that it made very little difference on accuracy plus the fact that my .445 mold leaves a different sprue cut that my .440 mold. It is easy to tell which size ball I have by looking at the sprue. Which prevents me mixing up my pistol balls and rifle balls.

 

[andy52]

I would have liked to enter competition when I was younger, but everything was always too long a drive. I used to be a fair shot, and I would like to see what I could have done against others. Alvin York, I'm not, I know that.

I won't say that I'm an Alvin York but I'm pretty close having grown up in much the same environment as he and have been shooting from the time I was a child. Even now as I grow older, I still can see the sights clearly and stay on target.