Looking for some .735 round ball help

[leadhead 500]

I ordered a Lyman .735 round ball mold and was looking for some help on some loads. I have some Blue Dot, Longshot and lots of fiber and card wads, I am looking for some 2 3/4" and some 3" loads to hunt with. Going to be shooting these thru a Mossberg 500 with a rifled barrel.

[GBertolet]

I use the .735 RB also. I like 40.0 gr Blue Dot, in 2 3/4 hulls. Around 44.0 gr is considered a maximum, working up to this level should be done carefully. The recoil with a near 600 gr projectile, powered by 40.0 gr of Blue Dot is quite substantial, and I find no need to go any higher. I use a Ballistic Products GS2 gas seal wad, and build up the wad column with hard wads to get the proper height for a roll crimp. I found that wrapping the RB in plumbers teflon tape eliminates leading quite well. My chronographed velocity out of a 24" barrel is 1300 fps. Sub 2 inch groups at 50 yards are not uncommon. I buy Fiochi primed hulls by the hundred for about $12. I generally load them twice and discard, as the plastic softens and the crimp weakens. Just like in muzzle loading, the sprue mark should be up in the loaded round.

[leadhead 500]

Thanks for the info. What size groups are you getting from this load?

[GBertolet]

Three shot groups are around two inches at 50 yards, sometimes better.

[too many things]

.735 in a rifled barrel is a tight fit. I use a .728 and 30gr blue dot and its a good load to 75 /100yds 40 gr you better be a big man

[leadhead 500]

I have been shooting some Lee 1oz slugs with 42gr of Blue Dot and have got some good groups but I want to try the .735 round balls to see how they will group

[GBertolet]

I use a NEF Slug hunter that weighs in at 11 lbs with scope. Recoil is muted somewhat by the weight. The beauty of the round ball is the only bearing surface is around the equater, which easily swages down. Here are some recovered fired RB's.

[leadhead 500]

Are those made from pure lead, wheelweights, or 50/50 mix of lead and wheelweights?

[GBertolet]

I like the 50/50 lead and WW alloy, so that's what I prefer to use. You could use pure WW also, and be OK. I feel pure lead is too soft for the shallow rifling, and going harder than pure WW is unnecessiary.

[longbow]

My results are similar to GBertolet's.

I ordered a Lyman 0.735" RB mould and cast range scrap balls that seem about as hard as COWW. I was a bit reluctant to load and shoot at first due to the oversize ball so got a mallet and stout dowel, dropped a ball into the chamber then set the doewl on it and gave the dowel a light rap with the mallet. It went into the bore without a fight. Not much meat around the equator of a ball, it swages down easily.

So, I proceeded to use Precision Rifle's Piledriver slug data (610 gr. full bore slug) for Blue Dot in a straight walled hull. Their starting load was 36 grs. with max. of 44 grs. I load a few with 36 grs. and a few with 38 grs. That is as far as I went with loads in a light single shot. Recoil was "substantial"!

The smoothbore gave me 3" to 4" groups at 50 yards and a borrowed rifled Remington 870 turned in several 2" groups at 50 yards.

By the way, even in the rifled gun recovered balls did not show very much swaging at the equator so fairly small bearing surface I would also agree with GBertolet that pure lead may be a bit soft with such a small bearing surface.

I also note that some of the balls recovered from smoothbore shooting showed a bit of uneven "belt" around the equator indicating a spin or roll through the forcing cone into the bore. I think a scoop of COW or cornmeal under the ball would cushion it and keep it from spinning. I find that with most of my round ball loads a scoop of COW helps accuracy even when using round ball in shotcup.

Longbow

[leadhead 500]

Have you guys used a gas seal and then add hard cards for a spacer then a upside down gas seal for the ball to rest on with a scoop of COW or shot buffer in the gas seal and then finish off with a roll crimp?

[GBertolet]

One thing I forgot to mention. I cut the gas seal of an AA white wad and place it on top of the wad column inverted, as a pocket for the RB to set in. Works well for me.

[longbow]

I use a plastic gas seal over the powder then hard card wad column ~ depending on hull, two 1/2" hard card wads. I tried a fiber wad under the ball to provide a cushiony seat for it but accuracy was poor. Straight hard card wad column for me. I mention COW because I use it under RB's in shotcups. I did not do a lot of 0.735" RB shooting beyond developing loads for them and shot maybe 100 or so. In smoothbore I prefer a round ball in shotcup and use mostly 0.662" or 0.678" RB's. In the rifled gun I was very impressed with the accuracy of the 0.735" RB and if I was shooting a rifled gun regularly I would likely be using the 0.735" balls.

Mine were not lubed and I did not get any leading in either the smoothbore or rifled gun.

I roll crimped mine.

Longbow

[JimP.]

.732 round ball.....100 grs pyrodex, fill case with 1/8, 1/4, 3/8 or 1/2 inch fiber wads to fill the case leaving room for the ball.....fun load, i have shot 160 grs of goex bp....that is a stout load, love the smoke......i recommend working the load up in your gun, but pyrodex and bp makes it fun...JimP.

[BAGTIC]

I use 32 grain of Blue Dot and a plastic wad with the shot cups shortened to below the ball's equator. I put a couple of plastic packing material peanut under the ball. Be careful not to seat the ball too deeply as the peanuts are not resilient. I started with roll crimps but learned that star crimps worked fine and were less hassle. They feed very reliably from my M1100.

Groups are 2-3 inches at 50 yards. Load is mild and easy shooting even from a bench yet will penetrate 7-8 inches of Douglas fir easily. Fired against a 5/32 steel plate it bulges it deeply but does not penetrate. The ball flattens to about half it diameter and expands to almost 1 inch against the steel. Little deformation against wood. I notice my equator belt is narrower than some photos. I use plain wheel weights. I don't have any trouble with leading. I do roll balls in JPW but not for intentional lubing. I do it because the wax keeps the balls from oxidizing in long term storage.

[Hogtamer]

I wish you guys would lay off these glowing reviews about these full bore roundballs. You're gonna force me to buy another dang mold!