HARD cast round balls?

[cpileri]

Dear Sirs and Ma'ams,
Can anyone point me to a source for hard cast round balls? I am thinking of trying the Dixie Tri-ball load(*) and it specifies hard cast balls, somewhere btw .575 and .600 diameter.
I find hard cast bullets, and lots of pure/soft lead balls of correct diameter; but no hard cast in that caliber range.
many thanks!
C-

(*) once Dixie begins taking orders again, I plan to buy some. Meantime...

[NSP64]

Cast them yourself

[pipehand]

What NSP64 said. Lee makes a .600 mold, which is the one I use for Tri-Ball loads. I have been water dropping wheelweight alloy, and they have been hard enough. I'm sure oven heat treating would get them harder, but what I'm doing seem to work well. If you start with 100 new Cheddite or Fiocchi Hulls, and buy the wads, and buffer,and overshot wads per the recipe, a Lee mold for less than $20 is a great deal. No one is going to sell 300 60 cal balls for that price.

[cpileri]

I guess i did say "any" source. I shoudl have said somethign to the effect of "for those of us who cant cast our own". In any case, is there any commercial or private (non-self) source for Hard Cast round balls btw 575 and 60 cal?
thanks again,
C-

[KCSO]

Sir Samuel Baker cast his own 8 gauge balls from hardened lead for big game hunting and did it in the field. I cast up my hardened balls from just plain wheel weights and they give all the penetration I have ever needed. I have tried balls from lino in my 20 bore and if you shoot them into a sand bank you can dig them out and reuse them.

[snuffy]

I guess i did say "any" source. I shoudl have said somethign to the effect of "for those of us who cant cast our own". In any case, is there any commercial or private (non-self) source for Hard Cast round balls btw 575 and 60 cal?
thanks again,
C-

Well, not to be a smart *** but what are you doing on a cast boolit forum if you don't cast yourself? You can never be self-sufficient if you DON'T cast your own. You can see from the Dixie site how dependent you are on others.

I make a 690 ball for just a round ball load for my 12 gauge. No room for another, and I don't see the advantage of a 3-ball load. Well, not for hunting anyway. Self defense, zombies, or other threats, one well placed 690 ball is better than random hits with a scattered pattern from a 3 ball load.

[cpileri]

I am still very much a learning caster. SO i read this site religiously.
I cast still a little, mostly soft lead as i havent experimented enough w making alloys yet. And one of the molds i dont have is a .60 round ball.
Everyone started somewhere, and that's where I am. Call me the world's most inexperienced caster who has ever cast a bullet.
Besides, where better to ask where to get a cast ball than a boolit casting forum? Is that not reason enough to ask on this site?
Self-sufficiency is a goal/dream: but i am not there yet.
C-

[pipehand]

Snuffy, the Tri Ball load doesn't "scatter" much. It patterns better than the Lee slugs group out of my guns. Only drawback is the ouch factor from sending over 2 ounces of lead downrange.

cpileri- if you haven't ever cast a boolit, a large round ball is about the easiest thing to get good casting results from- no lube groove or base fillout problems. James Gates did the research and pressure testing and was good enough to post it- please follow his recipe and don't substitute. The original recipe is already operating at >10KPSI. You'll also need the roll crimp tool from Precision Reloading, unless you're doing the 3&1/2" fold crimp version. Good Luck.

[mdi]

FWIW; today many folks use "hard cast" to describe any cast lead bullet, to diferentiate between cast and swaged, not as a determination of actual hardness (higher BHN). For the application you're talking about, use the soft ones...

[snuffy]

Forgive me for being so harsh, but this meant to me that you haven't/aren't casting yet;

"for those of us who cant cast our own"
I can understand getting started on a budget, but as said above, the mold is much less than buying 50 from someone.

Ouch! 2 OZ>?! No thanks. That could beat a shotty to death. To say nothing about your shoulder! Besides the velocity must be real low to launch them @ 10K pressure.

[pipehand]

No go on that mdi. They need to specifically NOT deform on ignition- remember, there are three of them lined up in a row in a steel shot wad with buffer vibrated to fill in the spaces. Mr. Gates mentioned hard balls in particular for that reason.

Snuffy, the velocity is circa 1050fps. The pressure is kept low by using hard balls that do not fatten/flatten on firing. So far my Remington 870 isn't beaten to death, and I can shoot them in a T-shirt. More than ten gets me a little sore the next day.

[cpileri]

Thx All, yeah mr james specifically says hard : bhn ~14 i believe. So thats what i am looking for. Maybe those guys on this forum adding copper to their alloy can cast me up some unique balls for this project? All that fancy alloying is really interesting to me. Well beyond my experience, as noted, but neat-o just the same. C-

[cpileri]

No worries, Mr Snuffy. No apology necessary.

[D Crockett]

cpileri you have a pm D Crockett

[cpileri]

Dcrockett, sent reply. Thx! C-