spur up or spur down

[Brittany]

I put my spur down, reason I want the smooths part of the ball up, it is going through the air first. How do I know the spur is centered down, I put the rb on the bench, on the spur and put a dot of black marker on them.

Charlie

[lancem]

After shooting a blue million round balls both ways and some wrong ways in the end I don't think there is much difference. The quality and fit of the patch will make 100 times more difference.

[dondiego]

Spurs up or down, my horse don't like them either way!

I put my sprue up for my ML.

[johnson1942]

keep them rolling, thats the second one ive read this morning that kept me laughing for 5 minutes. i was married to a speech path. english masters degree lady once, i got that every day 10 times a day. that was a lot of years ago. my english is better now and i also learned french, im still laughing.

[OverMax]

I've short-started my sprue's in side-ways on a few occasions having one to many barley pops. But upside down never occurred to me. I guess there's always a better way.

[waksupi]

The rear of the boolit is the guidance system. Sprue up.

[jmort]

Don't doubt it, but in shotguns most recommend sprue down for the big balls

[mooman76]

I don't really think it matters much either way but I shoot Lees that don't have a spur, just a flat spot, so I've never pay much attention to it.

[Hanshi]

I put my spur down, reason I want the smooths part of the ball up, it is going through the air first. How do I know the spur is centered down, I put the rb on the bench, on the spur and put a dot of black marker on them.

Charlie

Ballistically it makes no difference whatsoever. But by seating the ball sprue up you will always know where it is, if it's centered and that it's not against the bore.

[wgr]

just do it the same way every time and enjoy

[KyBill]

Had the same conversation here for my 56 cal smooyhbore spur up makes a good guide for the rod

[nanuk]

The rear of the boolit is the guidance system. Sprue up.

I think the "rear" that steers is the part that is the last to touch barrel steel.

I doubt the center of the base does much, unless it would be out of balance.

I DO remember reading, where if the nose of the roundball was damaged, accuracy went wild.

I wish I could find that article.
IIRC it was in a ML manual/book by Fadala... but my memory fails me now

[Gary Carter]

I remember reading long time ago that with the sprue down centered is the most accurate. However in the same article it also stated that it is almost impossible to make sure the sprue is completely centered so the next best is to have the sprue centered out. Has to do with balance of the round ball. I have always loaded sprue up, and with my solid brass ramrod I figure I end up without a sprue anyway.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I put sprue up I am going to get a flat spot fromt he ram rod any way might as well only have one , if you follow the logic of conicals or cartridge boolit that you can have a big flat nose , a round nose or a pointy nose boolit in the same barrel and they shoot accurately , so long as the last part of the boolit the tail is good it doesn't steer the boolit off course

you can see the air flow in high speed stop action photography , and the nose makes little difference in the air distortions , but the tail can cause a ripple

it probably matters less in round balls as we just don't shoot them that far or spin them that fast although i do shoot them in a 1:28 with decent results sprue up , and even when we do shoot them far they are already falling sub sonic and breaking the trans sonic barrier that will cause some disturbance to the flight

[h8dirt]

Sprue up. If you are not getting a small flat spot on top of the ball after it's started in the bore, it's too small or your patch is too thin.

[HNSB]

most recommend sprue down for the big balls

This seems like it should be the punchline to a joke.

[dondiego]

Sprue up. If you are not getting a small flat spot on top of the ball after it's started in the bore, it's too small or your patch is too thin.

What do you mean by a "small flat spot"? Do you mean the sprue, or are you referring to actually making a dent in the ball while seating it?

[Char-Gar]

I put my spur down, reason I want the smooths part of the ball up, it is going through the air first. How do I know the spur is centered down, I put the rb on the bench, on the spur and put a dot of black marker on them.

Charlie

I thought this was a cowboy question and was trying to figure out what you where talking about. I have some familiarity with both "spurs" and "sprues", so it took me a while to break the code.

On round balls or doubled ended bullets, folks load them with the sprues up. The powder gas needs a uniform surface on which to push. Accuracy is better than way.

[Omnivore]

Hmm, yeah some of the commenters are using that word; "Spur". The term is sprue, pronounced /Sproo/, rhymes with "stew". It's a general casting term, referring to the hole into which you pour the molten metal, and also the solid metal shaft that remains and must be cut off after it's frozen. What we refer to as the "sprue" on a lead ball is the sprue remnant. That is if we want to pick nits. The sprue is cut off completely on other bullet designs, but the round ball make complete removal virtually impossible unless you want to end up with a flat spot that cuts down into the circumference of the ball (I have a 36 caliber ball mold that does just that, but the flat spot still has to be oriented on top, same as a protruding sprue nub, otherwise you could get some blow-by there).

"Sprues", "gates" and "risers" are typical in other casting techniques, but in bullet casting we only need the sprue.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

What do you mean by a "small flat spot"? Do you mean the sprue, or are you referring to actually making a dent in the ball while seating it?

yes ,how much depends on the contour of you short starter but best accuracy seems to come with a patch that is tight enough that the starter leaves a flat spot on the ball , with other contoured short starters it leaves a ring because it is cupped , but soft lead with a tight patch often leaves a mark on the front of the ball

my hand gets sore from the ball starter after 50 rounds