.31 Buck shot

[NZSarge]

Hi, I have a lee double cavity mold, .31.

This casts somewhere between #0 and #1. It fits 9 into a 1oz or 8 into a 7/8 Winchester wad comfortably.

I bought the double mold because I wanted to use smaller quantities for range/fun use and these don't have the sprue cut off issues.

They drop fine and without sprue material but they do have a flat spot once the sprue handle is used.

Is this normal or do I need the lead hotter or colder to reduce this flat spot. Not large but its there.:neutral:
Thanks Sarge

[Rick N Bama]

Mine does the same thing. I wonder if the small size of the ball has something to do with it?

The monster Squirrels I've shot with my loads didn't complain about the flat spot so I guess it's not much to be concerned about:)

FWIW, I'm casting mine from wheelweights & water dropping the balls.

Rick

[Rusty Shackleford]

Sarge,

I wouldn't sweat the flat spot, but hang on someone here may have clue on how reduce its size.

[Hamish]

I have run across posts where fellows are tumbling the castings with and without other "stuff" and reporting the shot looks and feels rounder.

[UNIQUEDOT]

The flat spot is normal and as Rick questioned it indeed has to do with the small diameter of the balls. The smaller the ball the more noticeable the flat will be. I used to cast them from .311, .315, and .319 molds and my experience with them tells me that the sprue flat does not affect accuracy to a noticeable degree.

As mentioned some people tumble them to make them rounder, but if you have ever cut open older factory buckshot (newer factory stuff is swaged shot) it had flat spots all around and still performed well enough.

[Rick N Bama]

I have run across posts where fellows are tumbling the castings with and without other "stuff" and reporting the shot looks and feels rounder.

I tumbled some with BBs and if it made the flat spots smaller i didn't see it.

Rick

[NZSarge]

Thank you folks, mine too are wheel weights and water dropped/ I guess the flat spots wont bother me much, just I know they are there..)

[wilded]

I have been shooting some #0 buck as ball in my .32 TC cherokee and often see flat spots on the balls but it does not seem to effect the accuracy of the rifle as it still shoots minute of squirrel head at twenty yards. As far as out of a shot gun it would take a large flat to send a flyer out of the pattern. JMHO

[9.3X62AL]

An acquaintance of mine years ago enjoyed shooting cap & ball revolvers and muzzle-loaders with roundballs. His solution to the flat spots was to place the cast RBs between 2 glass panes--40 to 50 at a time--and roll the balls in a circular motion for a few minutes between the panes. I watched him do this a couple times, and it did largely "remove" the flats and sprue marks.

[mwjones]

I shoot .312 round balls with 10gr of 700x in a .303 british. I place them so that the flat spot is on the tip of the cartridge. works good :)

[UNIQUEDOT]

An acquaintance of mine years ago enjoyed shooting cap & ball revolvers and muzzle-loaders with roundballs. His solution to the flat spots was to place the cast RBs between 2 glass panes--40 to 50 at a time--and roll the balls in a circular motion for a few minutes between the panes. I watched him do this a couple times, and it did largely "remove" the flats and sprue marks.

That would work fairly well with blackpowder balls because they are cast from pure lead, but most folks cast their buck out of harder alloy. The guy was wasting his time anyway because a properly fitted ball in a c&b revolver is not round after loading anyways since it's shaved when loading. Even if you chamfer all the cylinders to prevent shaving it's then swaged into the chambers. They remain fairly round in muzzleloaders til the powder is lit behind them. They are always loaded sprue up in c&b revolvers and muzzleloaders.

[NZSarge]

Another guy suggested keeping them in a cake tin in the boot of the car for a week...couple of hundred miles of tumbling would work...)

[Combat Diver]

I have the same mold and load 9 or 10 of the .311 RB in a WAA12 wad. Accuracy at 15 and 25 yds is still tight enough to keep in the chest area. I need to bring my tempeture up however next time I cast pure lead.

Remington 870 18" cyl bore
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/12_ga_9_and_10_pellet_0_buck.JPG


CD

[HiVelocity]

I bought one of the Sharpshooter molds to cast 0-buckshot.

I'm using straight air cooled wheel-weights. Once I cast a couple pounds, I just throw them into my case tumbler with uncooked rice. I got this idea from a friend who donated the tumbler. I was surprised when I opened the lid to find rice.

Before loading, I'll leave a couple pounds in the sun for an hour or so, then roll them around a few minutes in a light coat of Johnson's Paste Wax. Dump them on a sheet of wax paper and let dry. These boogers are so slick, they're hard to pick up. I, like others, load 3 stacks of 3 for 9 pellets in a Federal 12S3 wad, 16ga card, over a charge of 35.8gr of Blue Dot. I normally use once fired military high brass buckshot empties. These work well out to 40-50 yasrds with good grouping.

I think I want to try the same load/set-up but superglue the 3 pieces of buckshot together before I stack them inside the shot cup. [I can see all of you now, scratching your heads! Lol!]. Don't ask why, its just an idea.

Just food for thought,

HV

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Greetings, how about using drops of wax from a burning candle tilted to form a cluster for longer range, rather than super glue!
Ajay
Video Memories
VdoMemorie's-Blazing Sabots
www.PreciousVideoMemories.com

[NZSarge]

Now that is an awesome idea Ajay

[John in WI]

I use a Sharpshooter mold, and as someone said the flat spots are proportionally "worse" for smaller balls. I make a lot of .22 (F) shot.

I bought the molds after having a sack of commercial buckshot in my hands, and noticing how out of round that junk was. I can't imagine the casting defect is going to make that much of a difference. I can't imagine how beat up the shot gets when you pull the trigger, or hits the choke at 1000FPS. Mine is water dropped too--but that's still metal on metal contact at high speed.

[HiVelocity]

[
I think I want to try the same load/set-up but superglue the 3 pieces of buckshot together before I stack them inside the shot cup]

Folks, my idea behind the supergluing 3 pieces of 0-buckshot stacked in 3 x 3 was to use as a HD/Close Proximity load. I plan to try this and see what happens out to 25 yards, then 50 yards. I am looking for a good medium heavy load to use on vermin [2 legged OR 4 legged] and thought that putting 3 "groups" of 3 in a close grouping would dispatch either with one shot. In any case, I'm going to try it and see what happens.

Just food for thought.................. Lol!

HV

[NZSarge]

Lightly tumbled with home made tumbler and battery drill and lightly lubed.

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i427/Sarge8087/Buckshot002.jpg
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i427/Sarge8087/Buckshot004.jpg
http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i427/Sarge8087/Tumbler002.jpg

[nanuk]

I can't see superglue holding up at the intial launch

it is brittle and easy to break

you can prove it with a car's rearview mirror..... doesn't take much to take them off

[EMC45]

I use that Lee mold as well, 9 stacked in a WAA12 wad does it juussttt riiggghhhttt.

[35remington]

What is the point of lubing buckshot that is placed in a wad?

I do not do so, and the buckshot do not fuse together, so the reason for lubing wad protected buckshot completely escapes me.

[NZSarge]

Good point sir.

I didn't start off wanting to lube, essentially was trying to hard roll on an old steel lube tray to round off the sprue marks. Then found it easier to use a home made tumbler.
They came out lubed so I guess it doesn't hurt.

In saying that though, I was watching the video instructions on Sharpshooters website and he lubed them as well, as did others that commented on his instructional on You tube.
Some say they separate easier and roll better..who knows.

They are far more expert than I, plus it looks nicer in my view, before loading.
Why also do we graphite bird shot??? To lube them. I see your point though.

Interested in others comments

[pipehand]

After a lifetime of being a rifle and pistol shooter, I have just recently started playing with buckshot loads.

Today I fired a couple of rounds of Winchester's 3" 24 pellet #1 at 25 yards. Each round put +/- 16 on an IPSC target at that range. The coverage was good, but I did expect a little tighter patterning. Federal premium OO buffered and plated (haven't gotten to try the flight control yet) did a bunch better, keeping all 9 pellets on the torso target. Both out of an 870 with 18&1/2" cylinder choked barrel.

I haven't reloaded shotgun shells in 20 years or so, but I still have the gear. Have a Lee .311 roundball mould on order, as well as the 1 oz slug mould. what kind of loads and patterns are ya'll getting out of water dropped wheelweight .311's in the 12 gauge? I probably won't be able to beat what Federal is getting with their Flitecontrol wad, but I would like to beat the patterns I'm getting with standard soft Buckshot available @ Chinamart.

Ordering a .600 mold as well, and the hulls and wads to recreate Dixie's Tri-Ball.

[Gray Fox]

I put three layers three of these in a Win ounce and an eighth shot cup in a AA hull with a moderate charge of powder--just enough to cycle through a Rem 1100 and get 10-12 inch patterns at 25 yards from a modified choke tube. I didn't get tighter patterns from a full choke. No buffering medium was used. This seems to be similar to the recoil of the "tactical" LEO loads and the WD WW balls will probably penetrate a car windshield, which a standard alloy buckshot load seldom does. I need to find a dump with an old car in it to try it out.

[Longwood]

I need to find a dump with an old car in it to try it out.



Use caution.
I have been hit twice and seen others get hit by rounds coming back from automobiles.

[singleshot]

One of the easiest ways to tighten patterns with shotshell reloads without changing choke or components is to dial the load back. Work back in .5 grain steps until you get the desired pattern.

[Combat Diver]

What kind of loads and patterns are ya'll getting out of water dropped wheelweight .311's in the 12 gauge?

Bottom of the page.

http://http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=148999



CD

[geargnasher]

I wouldn't worry too much about the flat spots, if they don't have them when you load them they'll have LOTS of them after firing.

Gear

[pipehand]

Bottom of the page.

http://http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=148999



CD

Internet Explorer cannot display the web page-- what am I doing wrong?

[Combat Diver]

Don't know what happened but here is my data.

Remington Hi Brass Hulls once fired
Fed 209A primers
Unique 22.2 grs
9ea .309 round balls ea 45.6 grs total 390 grs (short of 1 oz/432 grs)
Wad WAA12

Pack the balls onto the wad 3 at a time and seat with a pencil. Add just a touch of Styrofoam from some peanuts to finish filling up wad/case. Light recoil and good performance from 18” cyl bore 870. I didn't chorograph the load.

Packing the balls in, use a pencil to seat
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/12_ga_buckshot_packing.JPG


Fired the rounds out of my Rem 870 with 18" cyl bore, recoil was like a Factory reduced 8 pellet buckshot load, ie light recoil

Results 15/25 yds
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/12_ga_buckshot_performance.jpg

Then adding one more .311 pellet for 10 0 buck balls 2x5 with 22.4 grs Unique. Little bit more recoil, like a standard field load, course now weight is exactly 1 oz.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/12_ga_9_and_10_pellet_0_buck.JPG

Then since I also cast and shoot .36 cap and ball revolvers tought of using the 66.5 gr .375 round balls. Had to cut the pedals off the WAA12 wad to be able to stack 2x3 inside. Added a bit of styrofoam to prevent balls from moving.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/12_ga_0000_stacked.JPG

.311-0 buck compared to .375 or 0000 buck
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/12_ga_0_and_0000_buck.JPG

Target from Rem 870 18" cyl bore
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/12_ga_0000_tgt.JPG

CD

[Gray Fox]

Combat Diver:

Your results look similar to mine (I didn't take photos, nor did I chrono them). I've got a bag full of the .36 round balls I cast also, so I'll give them a try, too. I like the idea of using the bits of styrofoam as filler. At 15 yards I think I'd be taking head shots on that guy with either load. GF

[NZSarge]

Hi, I used 9x .31 RB in a 1oz wad, Winchester AA hull and 21 grains of WST.

Single shot H and R 12g, Full fixed choke.

Results of two rounds fired at the target at 30m ( 32.8 yards). The smaller holes were 7 1/2 trap loads for comparison

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i427/Sarge8087/TM1oz015.jpg

[pipehand]

Just cast up a bunch of .311" balls, and a bunch of .600" for use in the Dixie Tri-ball repro. Need to get some Blue Dot powder for the heavies. Haven't tried the Lee 1 oz. slug mould yet, but it came in with the same order. Kinda time constrained, but I do want to get into the buck and slug reloading hobby. The epoxy is setting on the XS big dot tritium sight I just put on the 870. thanks for the info y'all.

[Just Duke]

[smilie=w:

[Newtire]

I bought one of the Sharpshooter molds to cast 0-buckshot




I got one of those molds. Couldn't get any good castings from it. Tried getting it hot but the handles got too hot to hold on to. What's the secret to getting it to cast?

[Markopolo]

The secret to getting it to cast well is welding gloves.

I used to throw the shot from my lee mold into the same ball mill I use for making BP. They turn out smooth, but after a while I just got lazy and didn’t do it, patterns were very similar. I don’t think it matters at all.

[RogerDat]

Track of the Wolf sells that Lee .310 RB mold in a 6 cavity. Might be of use if one was looking for a bit more productivity. Seems to work well. Does show flat spot more than .58 caliber but I don't think it flat spot is actually as large a diameter as the 58 caliber, would agree on the small ball it is more noticeable.

[6pt-sika]

An acquaintance of mine years ago enjoyed shooting cap & ball revolvers and muzzle-loaders with roundballs. His solution to the flat spots was to place the cast RBs between 2 glass panes--40 to 50 at a time--and roll the balls in a circular motion for a few minutes between the panes. I watched him do this a couple times, and it did largely "remove" the flats and sprue marks.
I do pretty much the same thing except I use a thick flat piece of aircraft grade aluminum and a smaller square flat piece of steel . I cast .380” for 0000 Buck and .395” for 00000 Buck .

[Blood Trail]

I bought a rock tumbler from Harbor Freight. I add 2 lbs in each tumbler (comes with two), a light squirt of graphite, and I tumble them for a couple hours.

Comes out looking like this:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181201/7b8b6bc07af730271e87366078b8843e.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181201/2110806b80e2acc06120404a003bb427.jpg

Works great on slugs, too.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181201/4e337533363df7f4dc965d71c9c59df3.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Blood Trail]

I got one of those molds. Couldn't get any good castings from it. Tried getting it hot but the handles got too hot to hold on to. What's the secret to getting it to cast?

Care to sell it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[shootinfox2]

We graphite bird shot to make it flow better in the shot hopper and charge bar. Gets rid of clumping.

[RMc]

I put three layers three of these in a Win ounce and an eighth shot cup in a AA hull with a moderate charge of powder--just enough to cycle through a Rem 1100 and get 10-12 inch patterns at 25 yards from a modified choke tube. I didn't get tighter patterns from a full choke.

Have you considered why? Does your pellet stack pattern work against a tighter choke?

[gpidaho]

I tumble all the round ball castings I make, from #4 Buck up to .735 round balls in a Harbor Freight double chamber tumbler. About 3hrs. later you can barely tell where the flat spot was. On the larger balls, fifty caliber and up I sand the sprue bump off with a delta 1" vertical belt sander before tumbling. Gp

[RED BEAR]

you can't cast a round ball without a flat spot there has to be some room for lead to go into the mold. i also use the lee mold for my shotguns. i do lube most of my shot because i don't always use a wad. i don't hunt and just shoot for fun and wads are an unnecessary expence. as long as they pattern ok then why worry about a little flat spot?

[Treeman]

Red Bear, Ummmm, what do you mean? Certainly we can load shotshells without using one piece plastic shotcup wads...... but some sort of wad is essential.