Best type of lead balls to buy?

Z

ZVP

New member
I usually ordr the Horniday round lead balls as thry seem to have almost NO flaws and fire accurately!
Moulded balls always look to have voids in them and I want accuracy and a good lead rimg to seaal the chamber for safety. Ialways add either a big wad of Crisco or be sure to have a bag of treated cotton wads to point to.
Any suggestions where to buy these balls cheap?
Thanks,
ZVP
 
Rush Creek balls from Track of the Wolf. Whyteleatherworks also sells round ball at better prices and there might still be a vendor or two on castboolits.

Cotton wads? How stiff is it? Wool scrapes the bore on its way out if sized properly and hard enough.

As for crisco, sounds like a mess compared with a historic type lube over ball recipe.
 
I weigh all my balls and have found that swaged balls have more variation in weight than do cast balls. This has been the experience of others as well.

Do a search for Eddie May from Georgia, he has the best prices.
 
Slightly off topic, but I tumble most of the balls I cast because it removes the sprue and often discloses hollows. If really concerned, I weigh after tumbling. I just mounted a coffee can on the faceplate of my lathe to use for tumbling. gunslinger
 
I tend to think mass matters the most also. I weigh all my competition bullets and discard anything +/- .05% of mean.

However, I quit doing this with cast round balls for .44, because the variation was almost non-existant.

Steve
 
Aren't swayed supposed to be free of pits and voids?trying for consistsncy to promote best accuracy.

I read that plain cast balls were poor quality due to casting errors.

Swahged cost about $14 but seem worthnit!
Zvp
 
From a mass production perspective, cold swaging is a much more efficient process with a lower rejection rate.

Having said that, even my wrinkled round balls with a crooked sprue shoots tighter groups than the Hornady; and I'm not suggesting that they're bad.
 
"Aren't swayed supposed to be free of pits and voids?trying for consistsncy to promote best accuracy.

I read that plain cast balls were poor quality due to casting errors.

Swahged cost about $14 but seem worthnit!"



Swaged balls have more variation in weight than do cast balls.

I cast all my balls and weight them and they go into groups with 1 grain tolerance.

Weigh cast balls and swaged balls and look at the bell curve of the weights and you will see.

I do not know anyone in the upper pistols classes who9 shoots swaged balls.
 
Over this last year I've noticed a few mom & pop caster shops go out of business. I suspect supplies of lead have dwindled thus causing its price to sky rocket. If you find a business place to purchase from. I would suggest buying a little more of their product then planed for. Not hording. Just being practical for your own benefit.

As far as cast or swaged balls. There are no better ball made than the one you make. For your own use.
 
Swaged balls should be more consistent in weight and have no sprues.

But I have had very good success with my own cast balls using Lee molds.

Steve
 
Haven't been here for a while.....

I recently became concerned over variations in weight and physical dimension of the balls I shot .

Mind you, I am no purist. I never shoot competition and I am not much of a shot.

But I noticed what I thought was excessive size variation on some of the round balls I was shooting. I started weighing them and also found weight variation.

I cast my own bullets and balls.

I reasoned that it might have something to do with the amount of pressure I was applying to the handles as the mold was filled and the ball hardened.

So I made up two sets of handles for Lyman/Ideal molds. These handles have a spring designed in which (as a matter of course) always applies the same pressure.

I found that I was getting balls with far better size and weight consistency. In fact, I bought a box of Hornady round balls for a comparison and my cast balls were actually a good bit more consistent that the Hornadys. SD in size and weight variation of mine was about half the SD of the bought balls.

I am not a good enough shot to verify that the more consistent round balls translate to better accuracy. It just makes me feel better.

I have not figured out how to apply a spring to the Lee molds.
 
I know the balls get fitted to the chamber when pressed in but that's just at one spot
I have herd all sorts of advice on where to place the sprue Backward seems to make the most sense, though if you load the sprue across the cylinder mouth, some gets cut off. Might add consistancy?
BP revolvers sure are aaccurate with carefull loading and good lead balls.
Thanks for all the info guys!
ZVP
 
You're going to get a variation in grain weight in any cast projectile - doesn't matter if it's round or conical. There can be a lot of variables involved as well - what you are casting, temperature of molten metal, temperature of mold, the purity (how well fluxed) the metal is, etc.

I've know fellows who go to the point of weighing every ball / conical and powder charge as well (I'm talking BP) - in the end, they usually weren't any better shooters than those next to them who shot their balls / conicals "as cast" and measured their powder by volume in a simple measure.

I have also seen informal rifle matches between fellows as I describe above who were very anal about the wts., etc and fellows who loaded out of the bag with a volume measure and round balls that were cast in a "bag mold" - with the sprue cut off with the mold handle - much more "primitive" than the nice sprue that a modern style mold makes. The guy loading out of the bag usually came out on top.

Given all the "careful" preparation of weighing ball weight and exact powder measurement - that is still not going to guarantee that you won't have a "flyer" once in a while - even with all of that, fouling and climate changes can affect things as well. As can a person's state of mind or physical being - especially if he partied the night before.

I cast .375 balls for my Navies - pure lead or as pure as possible. I cast 5 different conical type lead bullets for my 38 specials that I shoot a lot. Grain weight varies on all of them - but they all seem to shoot as accurately as the next one. While you can try to get everything "perfect" as far as ball weight and charge weight/volume - you have to also remember that while all chambers in a revolver are supposed to be "created equal" - they often are not. Throat size can vary even though they are within "specs." and some chambers will shoot better than others.

On cartridge revolvers (and since this is a BP forum, I'll consider we are talking about BP cartridge revolvers) - chamber throats can vary from one to another. In fact, shooting lead conical shaped bullets - a throat size may possibly be say .356 that the bullet has to go through and into a forcing cone that ends up in a barrel that's .357 + or -. This happens not only on revolvers but on long guns as well (cartridge). It doesn't matter what the grain weight difference is from one conical lead bullet to the next if the bullet is smaller in diameter than the bore is - you're going to end up "key-holing" or leading the bore usually (if using cast).

If a person wants to be picky about the grain weight of their balls or powder grain wt / volume of their BP charges - that's entirely fine. It's a hobby and some folks focus on such things - more power to them especially if they can "measure" the amount of accuracy that is improved by doing so. I am not against anyone wanting to be consistent or their focus on certain aspects of shooting. I just don't feel that unless a firearm is clamped in a vise so that it remains in the exact same position and you can insure that every ball / bullet is the same weight and the powder charge is exactly the same - that you are going to be able to really measure an improvement in accuracy. All things being equal - if a handgun is clamped in a vise and everything is the "same" - in theory, after six shots there should only be one hole in the target.

While it's fine to always want to improve you shooting accuracy and enjoy the various aspects of it - whether it be loads, bullet styles etc. - just remember that for any pistol shooter, things can vary your performance from day to day. The way you feel, a slight change in your hand grip, the ground you are standing on or a slight change in your shooting position. So . . . is the difference in accuracy from say two balls with a 1 grain variation or is it from you, the shooter?

I guess what I'm trying to say is - and this goes for new as well as old shooters - it's fine to follow what you want to follow and what your particular interests are - whether it be loads, casting, ball weights, etc. Just don't get too hung up on the "small things" so that you can't enjoy the shooting end of it and making smoke. I can assure you that our ancestors didn't get hung up on ball weight and such things in their everyday shooting - their concerns were that the gun went off if needed for protection or it put meat on the table. :)
 
I have herd all sorts of advice on where to place the sprue Backward seems to make the most sense, though if you load the sprue across the cylinder mouth, some gets cut off. Might add consistancy?
Click to expand...

I load the balls sprue-up. The front of the ball gets mashed and deformed by the loading ram anyway.

Steve
 
I bought a good supply of Hornady r.b. in .40, .45, .50 (most) .54 & .58
a few yrs. back when they were much less expensive.
Have molds but don't like casting, takes too mcuh time, but will if I must keep blk. pdr. ammo available.
 
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