(.380 balls ) Where ?

[Muskie Hunter]

On several occations,I have tried to find the warrenmuzzleloading.com site but I do believe I am on a wild goose chase.Where can one order .380 round balls ?

[Full House]

Warren muzzle loading is out of the swaged round ball business.  I talked with them via phone not long back.

You can try www.dixiegunworks.com/ for .380s; however, they are not the best quality.

I do not understand why Speer or Hornaday does not make them available where as all Uberti .36s use them.

[Muskie Hunter]

Full House,
Keep your ears and eye's peeled,if you will.Sounds like I'll have to take up melting lead,never done that before.Pure lead is hard to come by.

[454Puma]

Muskie Hunter
  Lee makes a mold as I have one! Or I could make you 100  for say $5.00 + SH these would be WW which is a little hard , but they work great in my 1860 Sheriff model!

[Muskie Hunter]

Hi 454Puma,
Thankyou,that is considerate of you and I do appricate the thought but I have 500 coming as I type this so I'll wait and see how that goes.I am going to ask around and see where I can come up with pure lead in this neck of the woods and look into maybe taking up the hobby myself.LoL,just what I need,another hobby.

[long]

mere weeks ago, you could get buffalo bullet company round balls from Track of the Wolf in .380 diameter.  Now they are listing .375".  The buffalo web page list balls for 36 pistol but declines to mention the diameter. 
It has been possible to get cast 380 balls from Dixie Gun Works and they probably still sell them. 
While warren balls and hornady 375s were of inconsistent diameter and lopsided shape and would frequenlty stick to the loading ram instead of the chamber walls, Speer swaged 375s are of consistent diameter and are actually round.  The will frequently work well in Uberti sized chambers.

[Flint]

It would be good if we could talk Speer into selling a .380 ball, as the .375 does not work in most Uberti cylinders.

[howdy doody]

Yup, it does take some jingle to get set up casting, for sure. Then again you can cast out just the bullets or balls you need.
Pure lead is easier than ever these days. The stick on tire wheel weights are near pure and they are easy to ram and shoot just fine. I have been shooting them for quite a while with no problems. Fact is I get so many of the stick on weights in buckets from the tire shop, that I have a stock pile of pure ingots going and have to keep my supply of straight wheel weights replenished.
A trick or a way I get wheel weights is that I bought a couple molds off of Ebay of soldiers and indians. I had to modify the air channels a bit with a dremel, but they cast out fine. So, I cast a bunch out and then paint them with acrylic enamels and go to the tire shop and hand them out explaining that is my hobby. Works like a charm. I get buckets of wheel weights loaded in my truck for zip. I always bring them a bucket or two and they appreciate that. I appreciate not having to buy them, since it does take some time to melt down, flux and cast out in ingots.
I made casting a part of the overall hobby and set up with the Lee pot and some accessories. I bought the molds I use for C&B and bullets and in a few short hours I can get a good number cast out. Lubersizing I don't care for and only do rifle bullets, others I just pan lube and shoot them as cast. I am thinking hard right now about a shot caster. Shot has risen a lot lately and I am trying to decide if the investment would be worthwhile.
Casting balls at two at a time goes pretty well, but you sure get spoiled with a 6 gang bullet mold. 

[long]

the lee .380 round ball mould casts a near sprueless ball and is easy to use. Lee pots and moulds are fairly affordable from midway

[flintlock]

muskey...I get my lead free...from my dentist...That plastic square they put in your mouth when they x-ray your teeth has lead in it...I guess I'm cheap, because I have made my own rbs for my .54 flinter and .40 flinter for 20 years or so...I melt the lead in a tin can that soup, veggies, etc come in on a old Coleman stove, I use SnoSeal for flux, I have 2-Rapine bag moulds and use a dipper I bought years ago from Dixie....Balls are fairly easy to roll, and if you screw up, just melt away your imperfections....

[Muskie Hunter]

Thanks for tips gentlemen.I enjoyed your comments Fintlock.I have about ten teeth left,I'll have to hit up my dentist before they are all gone.
Question,( flux ) is that what you use to coat the die so the ball doesn't stick? I never melted any lead before and this is a new adventure for me.

[Rickk]

My best source of pure lead has always been lead pipe. Check scrapyards for it. They are all happy to trade it for green stuff.
The joints are not pure lead, they are mostly tin. The scrapyards usually separate the joints, as tin is worth more. If you get joints, melt the tin off with a tourch (it melts at a lower temperature than lead) and save it in case you want to cast for a modern cartrige gun. The tin will harden lead alloys for higher velocty shooting.

[blhof]

Flux is used to keep the lead mix in solution; to soften wheel wts you don't flux; you just skim until surface sludge stops and a bluish discoloration forms.  The skimmings are the tin and other lighter metals that harden the ww's.  You don't get it all but it's pretty soft compared to fluxed lead. Pure lead is used by roofers for flashing and sewer vents.  After the hurricanes in Fl.. 2yrs ago, when I lived there: I got about 50 lbs just from scavaging vents from replaced roofs.  I gusee you could buy it from a hardware store though.

[Muskie Hunter]

That's a whole lot of good information.I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to answer my questions.I've done a whole lot of shooting in my 59 years but this black powder stuff is so much more fun to me now,for some reason.

[mykeal]

Track of the Wolf currently lists them:
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(spcoh2ihmgj4uqmrqmkeo455))/categories/tableList.aspx?catID=2&subID=25&styleID=58

[Muskie Hunter]

I tried the .380 balls that I bought from Track of the Wolf. I didn't get pass 1st base with them. The arrived and I was concerned of their color,they were as brightly silver as my cast bullets for my 45ACP. that I shoot at the indoor range.However,I was able to put a light scratch in them from my thumb nail so I didn't give it any further though.They sure aren't the dark grey color of the Hornady .375's. When I tried to load them in the cylinder of my Euroarms 1851 Navy,I couldn't even seat them all the way with the loading stand that I bought from Powder Inc.,which is built very strong.I had to remove the nipple,powder and drive the ball back out.The Hornady's .375 loaded easily but without removing any lead while being seated.What's your take on this? Are these hard cast balls from Track of the Wolf? Does anybody know?I know one thing,I got 500 of them. Ouch !

[Muskie Hunter]

Here is an update to my previous post. I tried the .380 round balls that I bought from the Track of the Wolf,this morning after worrying about it all night.This time,I had no problems.I seated them in all the chambers,some needed a little more force then others .My only explanation is,I must have not had my ram centered properly over the ball.The idea to try and seat them again was posed to me by another gentleman on another forum.I like the tighter fit of the .380balls and they should aid in the accuracy of any revolver,launching a 36 cal. round ball.I was skeptical of the bright silver color of the balls at first,thinking they were hard as a hard cast bullet that I shoot out of my 1911's.

[mykeal]

Different revolvers like different bullets. This axiom is true for black powder weapons as well as smokeless powder weapons. Should the .380 be more accurate in your Navy? Well, yes, based on your description. But the only real test is to try both, with different loadings, of course. I've tried both .380 and .375 round balls in 4 different 36 cal revolvers with varying loads, and each gun liked a different combination. The best "compromise" for all was 18 gr fffg 777 with .380 rb. That combination was not the best in any gun, but it was reasonably good in all 4. So, to keep myself from having to remember 4 different loads, I chose that one for all. As for the silver color - beyond my experience or expertise.