Flat spots (sprue) on cast round balls

[RBak]

"It's always nice to have something to blame. I account for my lousy shooting today, because I was no doubt followed by an unseen radon pocket." ...Waksupi

Yep Ric, Those radon pockets will get you every time! (They've been following me around for quite a while too.)

Reckon I didn't realize just how prevalent those dadburn random pockets were....learned something here today.
Ie, a good excuse is one that can be used over and over, and over, and....you get the message, sounds a lot like Random Pockets could fill that bill for me.

Russ...

[Maven]

Russ, The odd thing is that my county and the surrounding area are part of the "Newburgh Prong," which has high, but also highly variable concentrations of radon. (In fact, we have a radon abatement system in our basement, but my next door neighbor, with whom we share a wall, does not need one.) To wit, it is highly likely that I've been pursued by a radon cloud. Just look at my silhouette targets!

[toot]

just buy swagged round balls, they have no spreu at all. problem solved!

[rfd]

just buy swagged round balls, they have no spreu at all. problem solved!

heresy. just get a cheap lee mould and cast yer own, it ain't rocket science, a sprue flat on the ball don't mean squat, and there is no such thing as the oxymoron "round ball".

[6bg6ga]

A sprue is a necessary evil! try casting a ball or fishing sinker with out one.

Ever try to make a spru cutter that will work with the radius of the ball?

[Naphtali]

Sprue position does make a difference in accuracy. Flattening of? No need too. Always make sure the sprues nub is staring up at daylight in their loading.
If wanting better accuracy? _ consider dimpling your ball.

I have a "Dimpler." Having dimpled several RBs, a loading question has arisen. To obtain uniform disrupting of the air flow, what patch lubes do the job without filling (clogging) RB's small indentations? The regularly irregular dimples are nowhere the size or pattern incorporated in golf balls. If the dimples are filled non-uniformly, there will be no accuracy. The circumstance will be analogous to a baseball pitcher loading the ball with rosin or slippery elm to enhance a curving (Magnus??) effect.

As I type, I must have my rifles repaired. To mitigate irregular filling of dimples, I'm thinking that loading RB with two patches might be the most trouble free procedure. Patch closer to RB has zero lube. Outer patch is lubed. (I have had excellent results using SPG to lubricate conicals, so it is my default patch lube.) If patch lube is viscous rather than thin and runny, it will not penetrate inner patch to fill any dimples. In theory, lubed patch will do its job and RB's dimples will remain clog free. . . . Well, that's my theory anyway.

What is your procedure?

[Grmps]

You can roll them between 2 flat steel plates. I never bothered with it and load with sprue up.

Back in Asia in the 60's, I had local tribal friends that would make both their own powder and lead balls.
They would cut the lead to the proper size (ish), tap them as round as possible with a hammer then roll them by hand on a piece of steel until they were round. They kept food on the table doing it this way and shied away from modern firearms because it was more economical to roll their own.