Hornady/Speer Roundballs

[6pt-sika]

I am curiouse as to whether the Hornady and Speer ready made roundballs are of an acceptable hardness for use in my 45 , 50 and 54 flinters for use on deer ?

I have no idea the hardness they have and am wondering if they will flatten correctly for deer .

Also the Hornady balls in my 36 cal original rifle for squills .

[frontier gander]

hornady i believe adds a little harness to them. I used Speer in my .50 flinter and the result was great. They expanded more.

[docone31]

I just fired some Hornady today.
I usually cast my own, I do not have a mold for my caliber yet.
They are good. They do deform a little with the ramrod, I have no doubt they will flatten on game. They are hard hitting little balls.
I have two sizes, .490, and .495. Both fire the same, the .495 is harder to load.

[madcaster]

I am curiouse as to whether the Hornady and Speer ready made roundballs are of an acceptable hardness for use in my 45 , 50 and 54 flinters for use on deer ?

I have no idea the hardness they have and am wondering if they will flatten correctly for deer .

Also the Hornady balls in my 36 cal original rifle for squills .

Squills?Must be a Central Virginian Critter!
All the sizes should be of the same softness,I think you will NOT be having any problems save just one-recovering the lead on thesquillers!:wink:

[WickedGoodOutdoors]

You may want to try making "Sabots"( Thats pu-nooncied Say Boughts" with a flourish on the akscent.

to use for shooting Squills.

Just take some B.B. s and roll them in some flour and water with salt & pepper, wrap it in a corn husk to proper diameter and seat firmly with the ramrod over 30 grains of Elephant or Goex FFF grain Powder.


They really arnt that had to kill. and just tasty when grilled over an open campfire. (Cooking hint, Remove Guts first)

http://www.cjwnaturalhistory.com/USERIMAGES/SQUILLS2004(2).JPG

[6pt-sika]

Squills?Must be a Central Virginian Critter!
All the sizes should be of the same softness,I think you will NOT be having any problems save just one-recovering the lead on thesquillers!:wink:

Yeah we are overrun with SQUILLS in central VA !

Although some folks here (ME) call them Tree Rats and others call them "Squirrel" (strange name don't you think ) .


I think the plan for this year is Hornady or Speer roundballs in the 45 , 50 and 54 . But eventually I'll more then likely get a mold for each rifle and most surely the 54 if it shoots half as good as it looks in pictures !


As to my original 36 caliber caplock I don't think I'm gonna waste my time casting those little balls , so I am sure the Hornady balls I use now will be fine .

[northmn]

the Hornady and Speer ball are supposed to be pure lead. In a ML round ball they do not get any better than that.

Northmn

[madcaster]

You may want to try making "Sabots"( Thats pu-nooncied Say Boughts" with a flourish on the akscent.

to use for shooting Squills.

Just take some B.B. s and roll them in some flour and water with salt & pepper, wrap it in a corn husk to proper diameter and seat firmly with the ramrod over 30 grains of Elephant or Goex FFF grain Powder.


They really arnt that had to kill. and just tasty when grilled over an open campfire. (Cooking hint, Remove Guts first)

http://www.cjwnaturalhistory.com/USERIMAGES/SQUILLS2004(2).JPG
Now there goes my mind,blown away again!It didn't even take a strong wind!:???:

[nicholst55]

Hornady at least used to market a 'hard' ball, with a plastic skirt. They claim(ed) better penetration than with standard pure lead balls. I don't know anyone shooting PRBs (patched round balls) who uses/used them, as they are a solution in search of a problem.

Several MLers that I know claim that they get better accuracy with cast balls as opposed to store-bought swaged balls. They claim that there are air voids in the swaged balls, and suggest weighing a bunch to verify this. Some day when I'm really bored, I may try this. I have molds for RBs in the calibers that I regularly shoot, but haven't used them yet.

[pietro]

I thought "Squirrel" was the description for one of those always-in-a-rush, road-rage, video-game-lane-changer highway racers. :mrgreen:

.

[Hanshi]

Hornady at least used to market a 'hard' ball, with a plastic skirt. They claim(ed) better penetration than with standard pure lead balls. I don't know anyone shooting PRBs (patched round balls) who uses/used them, as they are a solution in search of a problem.

Several MLers that I know claim that they get better accuracy with cast balls as opposed to store-bought swaged balls. They claim that there are air voids in the swaged balls, and suggest weighing a bunch to verify this. Some day when I'm really bored, I may try this. I have molds for RBs in the calibers that I regularly shoot, but haven't used them yet.

Store bought swaged balls do look nicer but if truth be told (shouldn't it always be), my plain, simple cast ones shoot every bit a well, maybe better. Cheaper, too, even for the little calibers like .32 & 36. Casting is fun, too, assuming the rest of your life sucks.[smilie=l:

[northmn]

Mnay bench shooters use the swaged ball weighed to within .2 grains or so. Cast ball have a sprue swaged don't. Either will shoot better than most of us.

Northmn

[10 ga]

.50 & .58 round ball guns do great with commercial or home cast. With the home cast just always load with the sprue cut up and not down or off direct center. Yeah they flatten plenty but why fret over that. You'll have a .50 or .54 wound channel and that is plenty big. I shoot 110 gr. FF in both guns and 90% of the time the balls are not recovered from whitetail deer. Those that are recovered usually have smashed a bunch of bone and traveled a distance tearing up stuff and are not broadside type shots. I guess that 180 gr. round ball is maki8ng about 2000+ at the muzzle but drops quite fast. Both guns shoot plenty accurately, less than 2" groups off bags at 100 yds. Of course i try to shoot at least 200 rounds every fall before hunting season opens. Some of the guys don't like me to use them groundhog hunting as they shoot better then most at under 100 and my recovery rate is better. have at'm, 10ga

[6pt-sika]

.50 & .58 round ball guns do great with commercial or home cast. With the home cast just always load with the sprue cut up and not down or off direct center. Yeah they flatten plenty but why fret over that. You'll have a .50 or .54 wound channel and that is plenty big. I shoot 110 gr. FF in both guns and 90% of the time the balls are not recovered from whitetail deer. Those that are recovered usually have smashed a bunch of bone and traveled a distance tearing up stuff and are not broadside type shots. I guess that 180 gr. round ball is maki8ng about 2000+ at the muzzle but drops quite fast. Both guns shoot plenty accurately, less than 2" groups off bags at 100 yds. Of course i try to shoot at least 200 rounds every fall before hunting season opens. Some of the guys don't like me to use them groundhog hunting as they shoot better then most at under 100 and my recovery rate is better. have at'm, 10ga

My neighbor has kill permits for his vineyard so I'll most likely start in september !

I'll put myself in treestands where a long shot will be 60 yards ! With this kinda deal I think even the 45 cal should do fine !

[northmn]

My neighbor has kill permits for his vineyard so I'll most likely start in september !

I'll put myself in treestands where a long shot will be 60 yards ! With this kinda deal I think even the 45 cal should do fine !

Lots of deer have been dropped with a 45 and it will do fine up close. Round ball do lose velocity very quickly and are best kept under 100 yards, although deer have been taken further. That is an advantage of the big bores in that they retain velocity better and will hit at the same speed as the 45 at 100 yards or so even though driven much slower at the muzzle. Many that use the big ones only use about 80-100 grains and still find them very effective. Smoothbore shooter have taken a lot of deer with a 20 ga (60 cal) and 70-90 grains of powder.

Northmn

[Baron von Trollwhack]

The Hornady bulk buckshot are, by their own advertising, hardened with antimony. I used the "O" for years in a .32 caplock and they worked just on everything from squirrels to beaver. The sizes they advertise are nominal, I found the "O" the be .321/.323 in actual. The red box RB are advertised as pure lead, and they did advertise the "hardball/sabot" combo but I never fooled with buying them.

BvT

[northmn]

Track of the Wolf handles the pure lead version. Most other suppliers are handling the "magnum version" Considering what I will be using it for I doubt if it would matter much as it is small game only. Twist is 1-48 and if for some strange reason I wanted bullets in this small a bore, it would not likely shoot them. Others have reported good results with buckshot. A 1/4 inch rod drops down the bore freely. I was told Rayl designed it so a 1/4 inch ramrod can be used. By ML nomenclature it is really a 26.

Northmn

[6pt-sika]

I just so happen to have 15 pounds of Hornady "OO" Buck, with a patch that just might be large enough for my 36 caplock !

[Baron von Trollwhack]

My Douglas 1/48 32 caliber caplock shoots the lee 32 SWC either patched or paper patched as well as RB out to 60 yards and with the same charges I use with the hornady "0" buck. And that's pretty good !

BvT