Lubricating round balls?

S

SAA GunSlinger

New member
Hello, I'm new to the world of casting bullets. I had some old conical buffalo company conical bullets that I melted down and turned into .454 round ball. I followed the instructions. Took me a few trys to get the temperature right cause I had some that frosted and wrinkled but now I have a nice amount of shiny 44.cal balls but do I lube them? Ive watched youtube videos and read in books after there casted and nothing seems to follow. What next? Do I need to lube them? What are my next steps to get them ready for shooting? Gonna be shooting them through a pair of uberti walkers.
 
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What they said and nothing wrong with frosted balls. Or wrinkly ones for that matter. They shoot just as good as smooth, shiny ones.
 
In a rifle or muzzle loading pistol round ball shooters use a patch which is typically lubed. In a revolver you can add a lubed wad like a Wonder Wad or else add lube between the ball and an over powder card wad.

Seamus
 
I load the ball on top of powder then use a little butter knife to fill the balance of the chamber with lube. I can get about 20 shots before I need to clean and relube the base pin.
 
A lot of people tumble them to eliminate the sprue. I rarely bother but I have bought powdered graphite and tumbled them which makes them black, slick and look "factory". Don't bother to lube the balls until loaded. After many thousands of rounds fired I have settled on lubing and then splitting the Circle Fly 1/2" fiber filler wads into two or three thinner wads put under the ball. It swabs the bore/chambers & I have so far, never had a chain fire.
 
I load the ball on top of powder then use a little butter knife to fill the balance of the chamber with lube.
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You're using way too much lube. All you're doing is making a mess.
 
You're using way too much lube. All you're doing is making a mess.
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Sadly, over-ball lube is required for N-SSA competition.

In period, conical bullets were often made into combustible cartridges. The bullets were dipped in lube, sometimes paraffin, as I have recently learned!

Round balls were probably not lubricated in any way.

For modern shooters, people either use a lubed wad under the bullet or smear lube over the bullet.

Steve
 
Sadly, over-ball lube is required for N-SSA competition.
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I'm not saying don't use it but all you need is a little around the edge of the balls. Anything else just gets blown all over the gun.
 
I sometimes use a curved tip irrigation syringe to apply a grease to the edges of the chamber like caulking with a small bead of automotive grease. It helps to cut the tip of the syringe back to get easier flow of the thick grease.
 
>I'm not saying don't use it but all you need is a little around the edge of the balls. Anything else just gets blown all over the gun.

Yes I have started using a little paint brush to squeegee some grease all around the ball, but I no longer "fill 'er to the rim". I agree the blast from the first shot blows most of the grease away from the neighbors.

Steve
 
Lubing is,nt needed for loading, but a light coat of grease/wax prevents the ball from oxidizing in storage.
Also, make sure to load the ball with sprue facing up (the barrel) for best accuracy !
 
make sure to load the ball with sprue facing up (the barrel) for best accuracy !
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Most molds nowadays don't leave a spru, just a small flat spot where the sprue was cut. It doesn't make any difference where it's positioned.
 
Hawg,
If the flat spot (sprue site) is on the chamber wall (especially if a slightly undersize ball such as a .451 dia.) you could get flash by and a chain fire w/o a wad under or grease over the ball. So, IMO flat sprue positioning is a problem only if it is on the side.
 
It would only be a problem with undersized balls. The correct size would shear the flat spot off.
 
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