who's got the best balls ? :)

[tommy4toes]

I was cleaning up and dropped a few ".495's" into my box of ".490's". God forbid, so i figured well I'll mike 'em and get them straight again. Well to my surprise, my Speer 490's ran the range from .484" to .492", and the .495's (same manufacture) ran from .490" to .498"............well this cant be good for real accuracy - who's got the best balls?

t4t

[Triple Se7en]

Tommy

Show some patience here with me cause I know 'didley-squat' about reloading & makin' bullets. What did you use to conduct those findings? All I own is a shirt pocket micrometer that gives false readings because the "grab points' vary. How would I "lock-down" a .490 ball or any bp bullet with one of those hand-held mikes to ensure identical readings... anybody know?

I would imagine every ball is supposed to weigh the same too.  Does this mean I need to buy a bullet scale & a reloader's calibrating device to group my roundballs in weight & size? What's that gonna cost me? I see digital scales are around $100 & are useful for other purposes like weighing your powder charges. So what's a good calibrating device & how much is that gonna cost me??

BTW... I use Remington gold balls

[olduvai george]

t4t Sir:  i sssume you mean best in terms of efficiency.  personally, despite long term efforts i have never been such a good shot that the differences  you cite in randomly selected ball diameter, would,  in and of themselves,   have  made a critical and measurable difference in my shooting..  for example, i can tell the difference between shooting my pet .54 rb gun  offhand at 50 yards with  90 2f, .535 speer rb,  and a .018 tick patch and shooting a hunting load formulated with different powder, ball, and patch.   i suggest that its the totality of the shot and its purpose that that determines best.    some of the best rb shooting i have ever done was done using visibly out of round shot on silhouettes.  just shoot.  be consistent in as many aspects of the shot as possible.  sight picture is more important than .001 difference in ball size.  good shooting.  olduvai george

[propredator]

i never really gave much thought to the given diameter of each ball,i do weigh them.the speers run lighter than the hornadys.The speers seem to be closer in weight per box.
 Ive got about 500 round balls weighed out in groups of .5 of each other.Basicly i have about 6 groups of balls,im shooten the heavyer ones but the idea of weighen them is to keep say a ball that is 4gr lighter away from the rest of them,besides it gave me something to do on a hot summer day.
 Will a ball that weighs 1 gr heavyer than another make a big difference,no.Will a ball thats athousand of a inch make a diff,probable not.
  :-)

[Triple Se7en]

Thanks George & Props

The wifey just asked me an hour ago what I wanted for my birthday in October. I was going to tell her a scale & calibrating device. Now that my groupings won't suffer without these,  I really could use some new binoculars -- mine are junk & my neighbor thinks I own his.

Best regards!

[johnt]

Highly debated subject!
  It's very difficult to "mic" a sphere. Round is easier than ball.
 
 Weighing is much easier. Like prop' said, seperating ball into "group's" wtihin a given tolerance will remove the really odd cast from the vast group. Casting is an "art",the big suppliers do the best they can and ya git what ya pay for! Yet there is alway's gonna be that "odd ball" in the bunch!

 Some say it doesn't mattter!

 Me? If ya wanna"put yer money on the barrel head",or "shoot for the whole 9 yards", don't be surprised if I come out with 10 ball that weigh exactly the same. .

 I have a Horandy powder scale I got for $40 a few years back. Works fine for .1 of a grain,(grain is less than gram) in a trusted accuracy needed too .5 gr. anything less ya need a better scale.

[tommy4toes]

I used a good 1" caliper to take the readings; but I suspect johnt's suggestion of an electronic scale would be the way to go. A real thick patch may be able to compensate for small differences in diameter in a muzzleloader; I don't know because I'm new to this. I do come from a high-power and BPCR long-range background, and there the tolerances are quite critical. I figure it cant hurt applying some of those rules to this new interest of mine.
I do have some Buffalo balls on order and will check them out, as well as pick up some more Speers and Hornady balls. I think the way to go is to separate them by weight; if anything it'll be quicker

t4t

[TOGO]

Great ! Now you guy's got me wondering about my balls :?

[LOG EYE]

Hey T4toes:  Like previously posted ,I weigh my BP lead balls into +/- .5gr weight groups. This last June at Frienship, IND  spring shoot, I talked to a gent who makes many sizes  of balls for Dixie about this very issue. He said stop wasting my time !!  but, if weighing each ball gives you more CONFIDENCE in your shot-DO IT. I DO IT!! and will continue to DO IT. I've seen all the proof I need on paper targets.  AS for cost , The plain-box lead balls at Gander Mountain sell $2-4.00 less per size than all the name brands and show practically the same ball/ball weight variations
So I payless and weigh'm. Sorry,I don't EVEN want to make my own.

[tommy4toes]

hey LOG EYE
I've been casting for years, but - round balls I dont want to get into either. I have enough old guns to cast for.
Do you pool your balls after weighing? I was thinking sort them by weight to +/- .5gr and all that fall outside that go into the pot.........who knows maybe I need something new to worry about but after years of long-range I can tell you that sometimes these little things make a difference, if only mental .......... :?

t4t

[johnt]

Well said Log Eye

[KING]

:toast: togo.  You fergot............I have seen you shoot.  I think you should probably look for something else to blame .....than yer.......ahhhhhhhhhh..................projectiles. (next excuse will be he needs glasses) Heheheheheheheheheheh.stay safe.........King

[KING]

  Log Eye is very correct on what he is telling you.  I have cast my own for a lot of years,but kinda gave up on the RB because it is a lot quicker for me to just purchase them.  Now,as to my BPCR rifles,they are always cast.  I have had good results with the Rem. Gold Balls,and also the Hornady in all diameters.  If you cant find the above named brand,just do what Log Eye said,just get some generic plain box type.  You might be surprised.  I really wished you had not mentioned ball diameter,now ya gave someone an excuse to use on me,and I aint gunna mention who.     Stay safe.......King

[tommy4toes]

Apologies for supplying excuses.......and maybe I'm getting too scientific for an un-scientific hobby. I will begin weighing my balls (lol) to relieve my mind, and maybe I will shoot better. Having spent many hours getting PPB's to shoot good in my Sharps, a little time on the scale and some selective corraling of the little critturs can't hurt all that bad...... Now maybe I'll have an excuse too?

t4t

[KING]

:-D t4t.  I think that you are probably ahead of the game.  I know(second hand info) someone that uses two (2) electronic scales when weighing his cast projos for his BPCR.  I really have no idea whom this individual might be by any means.  He even weights his cases,wads,and if he ever uses a cookie......that also.  He will even EXACTLY weight out a BP charge,not less,not more,than what he wants to put in the case.  Not alowing a tenth under or over( like a tenth grain is gunna make a differance...yeah sure).  Actually I even hear this character has fun shooting em after all the" work" he puts into em.  Does not matter if it is a BPCR or not.  Has been known once or twice to shoot a RP projo right out of the box and not weight it.  Unheard of!!!!.   I think this is why we have fun doing what it is that we do. :roll:   Stay safe......King

[LOG EYE]

Hey T4T: Sorry it's taken this long to respond to your question. Yes, I do group the balls by weight. By experience with the .54 balls I use 222.8gr as a mean(x) weight to set  my zero of the scale. So the +/- .5gr weight groups are maked,by me , on my beam scale and i put the ball in bowls maked +1,+2,+3 and on the - side the same. I zero my rifle when I start a new group and smoke away at them clangers or center punch the paper. Lastnightat leagues, we had to shoot at clangers that had NO centers. It was fun BUt I missed more target scores than I ever have before. :oops: It still beats mowing the yard

[tommy4toes]

I live in the high desert in southern Colorado - kinda hard to mow sage and mesquite, so I have more time to go shooting
Just picked up two more boxes of RB's so I'm gonna weigh 'em tonight for tomorrows shooting.
I'm still in the load development process; my rifle loves Goex but I'm trying to get it to like Swiss because I have so much of it......we'll see what happens

t4t

[johnt]

T4t, don't change powder's in the middle of load development.
 don't change patch thickness,
 don't change patch lube,
 don't change ball size,
 If you want true accuracy from your BP rifle, you'll learn all of the variables that applie, and learn to adjust each one individually once you have found the preferance for your rifle of each variable.
 Or,buy a bubblrpack from wally,tube powder,an tube prelubed bullet thingys.
 t4t, you did all these questions on a now defunct site month's back.

ya got alot of darn good advise. from lot's of good folk's. I had hoped you took notes
 try thiswww.bpaccuracy.com

[River runner]

I cast my own balls, for my .54, .50, .45, and .32, I feel pretty confident that the diameter is consistent, and noted that the weight is most critical in the smaller caliber such as my .32 flinter. never-the-less I'm one who weighs my balls and separates them by weight.

Triple 7, you ought to check with Mid South Shooting Supply for a scale, you can pick up a pretty decent scale for under $40.00, I've never been impressed with the digital allthough I've owned a couple. Good Shooting RR