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gmatov

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My new balls, the 380s and the 451s come in today. Shipping was quick, price was good, but when I cut the 2 boxes open, they were cast balls, as RK, I think, said, and I measured them. They ARE 380 and 451, mebbe 452, or close, but they have a hell of a big sprue cut on them, near a 1/4 inch flat on what I will call the top, because when I shoot them I will do my damnedest to put the flat either on top or on the bottom. If the fire does cut the ball, I think first I will make sure the flat is on the bottom.

Calipered, the sprue cut is near 25 thou off the diameter. Put the flat on the chamber wall, a big hole for fire to come out alongside the ball. Am not worried about chainfire from this, I do grease the ball after it is seated, just expected a smaller sprue cut.

Haven't weighed them, too cold in the garage, but think they will be within tolerance. Hey, a little lighter, they'll fly a little faster, right?

Cheers,

George
 
George the Spru always points up so you can see it centered....towards the barrel. Hell the ones I was gonna send ya are almost flush...maybe .0015"

SG
 
Smoke,

Thanks for the reply.

Nah, these have a big flat on them, and my calipers are always on the kitchen table. Measured, 380-381, on the round, measured 355-356 0n the flat. Similar on the 451 ball, about 25 thou sprue cut.

Hope the Lee moulds and pot I ordered don't do the same.

These people are production, so I can see thar mebbe their sprues are different than the casual moulder's mode. Won't know till I melt a few. Only damn way I'm goin back to the garage, with a heat source. 17 degrees, here, tonight.

Innyhoo, they're shootable, and cheap. What the hey?

You know, we talk about 1, 2, 3, 4f. The granulation of the powder in the 100 pound bags that blew the turret off Uss Iowa was the size of a roll of quarters. Like a "C" cell battery. They found a "grain" of the powder in Hartwig's footlocker, a souvenier that everybody had, a "grain" of powder. Imagine touching that off with a low powered CCI cap. Don't think a "40% hotter" Rem would do.

Dozen of those, broke up, would keep you shootin' for a month.

Cheers,

George
 
Your Pot and molds are what I use you should be just fine....

The Pimers we used inthe Field Artillery were like the size of a .45LC only longer shoved in the back of the breech for 155MM and 8" Howitzers. 7-9 bags of powder were used for 10 to 17 Miles Max. Long time ago so I think thats the range...

Hey don't freeze it off out there...HeHe!
 
I didn't shoot the guns, I told them where to shoot. I was in Fire Direction and Control. I was Horizontal Azimuth, guy at the next chart was Vertical Azimuth. You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if we didn't tell you which way to aim.:)

I had 155s, 81 mms and 102s, all different for aiming.

Cheers,

George
 
George, I just cast some 451 balls from a Lee mould the other day, still had them laying on the workbench so I was curious and measured them. If my dial calipers are accurate, they measure between .451 and .452. At the sprue they measure .441. I gotta say I was surprised because the flat of the sprue didn't look big enough to take .010 from the diameter. I dropped one on the concrete floor of my shop ( I have a wood stove in mine, George, 17 degrees here today) until the flat from the impact was the same as the flat from the sprue. If you want to see how big the sprue cut will be from a Lee mould, take one of those .451 balls and drop it on smooth concrete from 5 1/2 feet.

I just love precise science!

Steve
 
Steve,

Ain't this scientific stuff the cat's whiskers? Drop the ball on the floor, cement, of course, be about the same as the sprue cut.

I'm not worried about the flat, as I said, just watch how I place the ball, flat up or down.

Should still shoot as good as or better than the swaged ball. Casting should make them a smidge harder, grip the rifling better. And if they're a few grs lighter, as I said, a few FPS faster.

Still, the 7.70 for swaged and the 3.24 for the cast, I just shoot paper at 25 yds, these cast balls should go through 2, mebbe 3 or 4 sheets.:) :)

For the hell of it, think I will take a length of 2X10 with me next time, see what it does to the backside of it. I mean, BB guns will hit paper.

Don't know if I am allowed to take milk jugs and the like, just for the thrill of the sense of power they really have.

Cheers,

George
 
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