What to do with the sprue?

[brewer12345]

I think that would have made a good title for the doctor Seuss book on muzzleloading.

Anyway, I cast a bunch of round balls and maxi balls today. I have been shooting swaged balls, which are perfectly spherical. My cast has sprue marks. Point them toward the muzzle when loading? Should I expect less accuracy?

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

load the sprue mark straight up. They will shoot just as well as the fancy store bought balls.

[Conditor22]

I put freshly cast round balls and shot in a small rock type tumbler with a little graphite for a few hours. this rounds off the sprue and coats the balls.

[brewer12345]

I am planning to pan lube the conicals with a 50:50 mix of beeswax and Crisco. Any obvious problems with that?

[SSGOldfart]

I am planning to pan lube the conicals with a 50:50 mix of beeswax and Crisco. Any obvious problems with that?

Many good lube recipes listed on these pages,I'm not a fan of Crisco unless you get the salt free type.remember to lube your patches

[rodwha]

The lack of a real sprue is a reason I like Lee molds. But otherwise I’ve loaded them up as suggested by others except in my revolvers where I turn it sideways and shear it off.

[indian joe]

The lack of a real sprue is a reason I like Lee molds. But otherwise I’ve loaded them up as suggested by others except in my revolvers where I turn it sideways and shear it off.

ME TOO!!!!!
then I put those Lee balls in a canvas bag with a little graphite powder and tumble em by hand for a couple minutes -- cant find the sprue mark after that so just load em like swaged ball .
ps those swaged balls are not always perfectly round either

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/59423075_2379847518746677_5663001670691323904_n.jp g?_nc_cat=109&_nc_ht=scontent-sea1-1.xx&oh=e55c83206cf0e8425e2e554e9b46bd5e&oe=5D2D1CF0

[koger]

I have shot around 40,000 round balls in the past 18 years and the majority of them have been with sprues, loaded up, like Frontier Muzzleloading shows in his pic. I had a buddy who shot with me and he loaded them on the bottom, shot just as good, cant get them on the sides or you will have problems. Like some mentioned, I at one time tumbled them in a vibrating case tumbler, but one day I sat down and shot from a bench, and the ones with the sprue shot just as well as those without. Never wasted my time after that. Put them on the top or bottom, and let her rip, you will be good to go. I medaled 31 times in NMLRA events, and all were with RB's with the sprue loaded up!

[triggerhappy243]

i have a shiloh 4 cavity round ball mold. the sprue is soo small. i have to search for it.

[bedbugbilly]

Load 'em and shoot 'em. People worry too much about all of this - our ancestors shot cast round balls cast in "bag molds" where the sprue was removed with the cutter on the handles - none were "perfect" - but they put meat on the table nonetheless.

If you're going to really worry about it . . . roll 'em between two steel plates. I have many round ball molds - all different makes - some cast leaving a slight sprue, some cast leaving a light "flat"where the sprue is when cut off - all shoot just fine.

[TNsailorman]

When I shot round balls with a sprue I always shot them with the sprue on the bottom. I did try a few with the sprue up but I could see little difference in accuracy. I like to seat them on the bottom so that the cup on the ramrod sits on a rounded edge. Does that make a big difference---not really. Just more of a habit with me. my experience anyway, james

[midland man]

i load with the sprue up so that when i use my ball starter it will round the sprue more round when pushing in the ball plus it's the only spot with marks on the ball!

[bmortell]

mine I set a glass plate down, set a handful of balls on it, set another glass plate on top and "wax on" motion

[rfd]

sprue up or down, just not sideways. though i prefer jeff tanner brass moulds, i have lee ball molds that have that "tangential cut off", but that also goes up or down as well.

and i prefer greased patch strips, cut off at the muzzle ... or ball boards.

[Buzzard II]

Load with sprue up and don't worry about it.

[725]

Sprue up and the ram rod fixes sprue issues.

[indian joe]

sprue up or down, just not sideways. though i prefer jeff tanner brass moulds, i have lee ball molds that have that "tangential cut off", but that also goes up or down as well.

and i prefer greased patch strips, cut off at the muzzle ... or ball boards.

up works ---I never tried down - cast boolit shooters tell ya that damage to the base is more important than to the nose so that became my logic I guess - good cast ball has shot as good or better than swaged stuff for me - got a 54 cal mold with a distinct sprue (Lyman I think) that shoots nice. Won me a traditional rifle aggregate at a major shoot this Easter

never found ball boards to be an advantage other than speeding things up a bit on the line - they work for that - but I think I had more trouble with patches and ball skewey using the board than loading straight at the muzzle

Always used pre cut round patches - thought if I got a knife sharp enough to cut a patch on the muzzle - proly gonna slice my finger just at the most inconvenient time - but - back to basics - I always cut one patch at the muzzle then pull that ball to get the ideal size for precut patches - lots of guys use patches that are too small to be easy and consistent loading - but - too big wont shoot right either.

Loading a patched ball evenly is real important no matter which method is used .

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

loading it straight up makes it easy to verify its actually pointed up and not canted to the side.

[Golfswithwolves]

I remember the teaching of a wise man: The sprue is there on the ball so you know where the front of it is.

[OverMax]

Point them toward the muzzle when loading? Good idea.


Should I expect less accuracy? Nope.

[waksupi]

Always point them up. Even if they are cocked a bit off center, they will shoot well. You want that round surface down, as that is the base of the projectile, and like an elongated bullet, the base is more important to accuracy than the nose.

[OverMax]

Its {preferred relaoding} that the sprue be facing up. No doubt about that.
Although in the heat of the moment _ sprue up or down or worse {dry ball charging} has been known to happen as {not all} shooters caught up in such hurried situations are multi task'ers. Thus end results count. Although a shooters P/b reloading effort {correct or not} if that ball happens to hit precisely or close too the point of aim "no doubt that resolve will make his/her day."

I personally think there are two types of accuracy in shooting skill. One is stationary target. The other is non-supported moving target accuracy. Don't know about you others. As far as myself? Seldom am I competent to excel at both.

[Tom_in_AZ]

As others have said, point the sprue towards the muzzle.


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[triggerhappy243]

you could always knock it off with a file....................... oh dang, i just spoiled the argument.

[Hickory]

you could always knock it off with a file....................... oh dang, i just spoiled the argument.

Or whittle it off with a knife.

[Good Cheer]

When there's a shrink hole in the center save those for hollow points.

[59sharps]

I don't use crisco, use veg. or olive oil.

[waksupi]

Or whittle it off with a knife.

And invest in Band Aids! ;o)

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

WHy go through the trouble? If you use a concave seating jag, that little nub normally gets squished down as you seat the ball.

[AllanD]

I currently only use .451 round balls in a Cap & Ball revolver and .440 patched balls in a pair of box lock single shots
I load the ball in the cylinder sprue up and it usually disappears
when the ball is rammed down.

I load the slightly smaller .440 patched balls in my single shot "Box lock" pistols the same way and the concave tip on my ball starter does a good job of erasing the sprue mark. The Barrels are only 4" on those, so the 8" starter does the entire job


I've never noticed a difference in accuracy loading the ball sprue up or sprue down
but then again the sights on my revolver are of dubious utility and the Box Lock single
shots don't have sights, so.... There is really no way I would know...