HT Round balls

[peter nap]

Can Hornady .58 Round balls be heat treated or are they pure lead?

[stubshaft]

They are advertised as pure lead.

[dualsport]

If you want hard balls you'll probably have to make your own. Get a mold and some ww, HT those.

[peter nap]

If you want hard balls you'll probably have to make your own. Get a mold and some ww, HT those.

Thanks!

I was afraid of that.

[44man]

How will you load hard balls? Why the need for hard ones?

[dualsport]

That's a very good question, should have thought of that. Only use pure lead in a muzzleloader.

[Leftoverdj]

That's a very good question, should have thought of that. Only use pure lead in a muzzleloader.

Why?

Have you tried an alloy?

WW works fine in my T/C Hawken for RBs. I dunno why anyone would want to use heat treated RBs, but with the right ball and patch, there should not be a problem.

[44man]

Under size round balls and thick patches are not the best. The ball should be bore size or not more then .005" under. A .50 cal would be most accurate with a .500" RB and .010" patch. Or a .495" and .020" patch.
The patch should engrave the patch at the BOTTOM of the grooves .005" into the ball.
You CAN'T do this with hard lead. Hard lead will also cut patches.
Gee whiz, do I have to teach you fellas how to shoot a muzzle loader too?
I will stand side by side with you, off hand at 200 yards with round balls. Show me your hard lead balls and if you can hit anything.
A smooth bore can take any hardness, even rocks, can't hit anything anyway! :bigsmyl2:

[Leftoverdj]

Question was not "best"; question was whether it could be done. It can.

[mooman76]

He never actually said he is using them in a ML. It would seem that is what he would use them for but maybe he has something else in mind.

[Flinchrock]

Under size round balls and thick patches are not the best. The ball should be bore size or not more then .005" under. A .50 cal would be most accurate with a .500" RB and .010" patch. Or a .495" and .020" patch.
The patch should engrave the patch at the BOTTOM of the grooves .005" into the ball.
You CAN'T do this with hard lead. Hard lead will also cut patches.
Gee whiz, do I have to teach you fellas how to shoot a muzzle loader too?
I will stand side by side with you, off hand at 200 yards with round balls. Show me your hard lead balls and if you can hit anything.
A smooth bore can take any hardness, even rocks, can't hit anything anyway! :bigsmyl2:

No,,,ya don't have to teach me about frontstuffers,,, (but I might learn something in spite of myself) and I agree completely with the rest of your post.:-P

[Rick N Bama]

Betcha good money he wants them for use in shotshells.

Rick

[44man]

Betcha good money he wants them for use in shotshells.

Rick
That could be, think we can get him to tell us?

[waksupi]

It was common practice with African and India hunters to make hardened balls for dangerous game, for better penetration.

Any one care to stand at 200 yards, and have me take a shot at them with wheel weights in a smoothbore?

[dualsport]

Only if you let me shoot back with pure lead. Hey, sounds like a duel! Nevermind, I'm backing out, you win!

[peter nap]

Sorry, I missed a bunch of posts...

Yes, I am uing them in a shotgun. I am making some Tri Ball Loads. (Actually already made a few)

The hardened balls are to keep them from deforming which I haven't seen as a problem so far. I have kept the loads down some though.

[44man]

It was common practice with African and India hunters to make hardened balls for dangerous game, for better penetration.

Any one care to stand at 200 yards, and have me take a shot at them with wheel weights in a smoothbore?
I can hit you with my slingshot at that distance! :kidding:
Let me put up a chicken target or a paper plate. If you want to shoot from a rest, I have some clays.