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ww in a fowler

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hanshi

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I've asked about this elsewhere but no one actually said they had done it. I'm having a fowler built and wonder if ww & similar lead alloys can be used for ball? I prefer to save my meager lead supply for my rifles but have a fair supply of ww and reclaimed lead bullets. I cast up some ball in my Lee .600 mold and the balls measured .606 which is about what I expected.

The consensus was that alloy should work fine. Has anyone here used ww, etc. in smoothbores?
 
I don't use WW but I often get lead of questionable purity which I use for my smooth bore with good results. So I would assume ww would work as well.
 
I have not personally used WWs in my fowler, Yet. However, there was a fine article about WWs in Muzzle Blasts, last year, and in addition to being larger in diameter, the balls also weigh less, than balls cast from pure lead. As long as you can make an adjustment in the Patching thickness used in your fowler, and the ball and patch combination load find, and the patches indicate a good seal, there should be no problem using WWs as lead balls in your fowler.

You may want to weigh and sort the balls, since you are going into new territory, just to see what variation you get from one casting session to the next, one batch of WWs to the next. I tend to do some test weighing every time I cast anything - balls or conicals.

The good news is that with such a large diameter ball, and heavy weight, a variation of up to 5 grains will usually not make much of a difference in Point of Impact out to 50 yards.

The only caution you need to take into consideration is the patch thickness, and lube chosen. Since these WW balls won't obturate, or expand on impact, as pure lead balls will, you don't have any " fudge factor " in the choice of your patching material, and you want to use a good lube on those patches, too. You may want to try using an OP wad over the powder and behind the PRB to seal the gases, rather than expecting these WW balls to do that job with the patch you choose.

According to the Bevel Brother's Tests in MB, they found NO real difference in accuracy using WWs compared to using pure lead balls. Now, they were doing their work in rifles, not smoothbores, but there should be no difference at the ranges where Smoothbores are usually shot.
 
hanshi said:
The consensus was that alloy should work fine. Has anyone here used ww, etc. in smoothbores?

I have shot ATM, anything that melts, in my bess for probably 20 years with no ill effects. Won several smoothbore matches too.

Cast 'em and shoot 'em in good health.

ATM lead works good on deer too.
 
I use w-w in my 28 guage smoothie. Ive won my share of woods walk matches against the rifle shooters. So I would say they shoot well. My problem is I dont shoot well on paper just in the woods for whatever reason. BJH
 
I haven't had to shoot WW out of my smoothbores because I have a big supply of pure lead. But I have experimented with shooting .060 ball bearings out of my 20 gauge smoothbores. The ball bearings work great, so I imagine WW would work good too.

Many Klatch
 
All I shoot is WW in my smootie (not that I can shoot it for beans!)

I figure that its all wrapped in a patch, smooth barrel/ no rifling to worry about and modern shot is made to be hard and has no ill effectson barrels!
I save my pure lead for the same reasons!
 
Mr. hanshi,
We have been casting/using ww for RBs for almost 40 years without ill effect in either smoothbore or rifled firearms. In our weapons they have proven to be as accurate as pure lead.
The only place pure lead has been an improvement was shooting REALs and some HB conicals with small charges of powder.
Best Wishes
 
I like pure lead in my rifles because the prbs expand so well in deer. However, considering your success with ww in rifles, I think I'll try using it for practice & plinking. Thanks.
 
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