My balls are less accurate than Hornady??

[MikeBitzenburger]

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[aspangler]

Sprue up? May have to adjust the powder charge for the cast balls. Try different patch material. Try one thing at a time. I have no trouble with anything I shoot in my MLers. You just have to see what yours likes.

[swathdiver]

Definitely have to test again with different patch thicknesses. Your balls may be bigger or smaller than Hornady's. Hopefully bigger!

[Hanshi]

You're a much better shot than I am. I cast from Lee molds and have found no advantage with Hornady ball.

[idahoron]

My first idea is hardness of your lead. Hornady is butter soft, and I mean butter. Lead pipe by itself is between 5 and 6 BHN. If the joints are added it goes up from there fast. Are all of the balls used the same diameter? Ron

[MikeBitzenburger]

deleted

[waksupi]

File off your sprues, and give it a try. Don't know if it will help, just shooting in the dark.

[MBTcustom]

I havnt cast RBs in a long long time, but just thinking about what the differance could be, if I were you I would look at three possible variables:

1. Alloy. Hornady most certainly is not scrounging their lead from pipes etc. They are using certified pure lead. To test this, I would buy 10lb of certified alloy from RotoMetals etc etc. yeah I know it's expensive, but it's the only way to know for sure.

2. Casting voids. I don't know what your casting procedure is, but try pressure casting with a ladle, and weight sorting your balls.

3. Sprue problems. Lee molds don't leave much other than a flat spot on the ball, while Lyman's typically are designed so that the radius of the ball crests right in the center of the sprue titty. What I would do is file them flush to the radius as close as possible, and build a ball mill.

I would run the balls in the mill with graphite. This will make them all perfectly round and uniform, and is as close as you can get to the genuine article from Hornady. I would be doing this regardless BTW. I don't know if the graphite could possibly make a difference for you, but it is a very stark and glaring difference between your balls and Hornady's.


If I ever make it to retirement, my plan is to emerse myself in the awesomeness of BP, thus finishing where I started. I hope that I have your sort of problem someday!!!

[country gent]

A swage could be made to press the spprue into the ball with a press thus doing away with that diffrence. Cast balls may not be perfectly round depending on the mold, measure them at parting lines and accross the parting lines. Hornadys balls are swaged in a press and die possibly resulting in a rounder ball. Measure your balls across the parting lines 90* to that then from just under sprue to oppiste sides both directions. See how round they truly are then measure the hornadys the same way 90* and top to bottom. See if there are any measurable diffrences between them and work from there. The swage can be bade as a simple die set for in an arhbor press from 2 plates 3/4" X 2" X 4". Set 2 3/8" dowels in the bottom plate 1/2" form each edge bottom plate pins press in top are a light slip, this provides alighnment for the cavity. Springs can be placed around the pins to open die. Assemble this and find center of plate between pins and bore a 3/4" hole thru both plates. Turn 2 stems to fit these holes from 1" round tool steel 1" long face flat and with a ball mill cut a cavity .245 deep in each one Turn a step to press into the plate holes 3/4" long. In use set up int a arhbor press set ball in bottom "cup" sprue up and lower press and apply pressure to form sprue into ball. You may have to lapp the cavities to come up with the perfect dia. Soft lead will swage nicely. A set up could be made for a 7/8" reloading press but an ejector set up would be needed to get the balls back out.

[MikeBitzenburger]

Deleted

[mooman76]

Try weighing your RBs and separate them by weights + or - .02 grains or whatever you feel is a fair close range of weights. You should be doing at least as good if not better than the store bought ones.

[docone31]

Thinner patch and slightly reduced load?

[Hellgate]

I'm suspicious of the alloy difference. Dead soft pure lead will upset a little bit more and likely grip the riflings through the patch more than slightly harder pipe lead giving more accuracy. If you weigh your castings that will cull out any with voids. The Hornadys being heavier suggests there is tin or some other lighter metal (antimony) in the pipe lead which could harden it.

[BrassMagnet]

Thinner patch and slightly reduced load?

Thicker patch and slightly reduced load?
I remember the sprue is supposed to be down. Has that changed in 40 years?
If your alloy is harder then is should also be smaller. A thicker patch should help as long as you can still seat it fully on the powder. Make sure your bore is absolutely clean before you try a thicker patch as you really don't want to stick a ball in the bore.

[waksupi]

Thicker patch and slightly reduced load?
I remember the sprue is supposed to be down. Has that changed in 40 years?
If your alloy is harder then is should also be smaller. A thicker patch should help as long as you can still seat it fully on the powder. Make sure your bore is absolutely clean before you try a thicker patch as you really don't want to stick a ball in the bore.

The sprue goes up.

[mooman76]

Down or up works as long as it's the same. Most choose sprue up because you can see it clearly and placing down it would be easy to have it off to one side a little. An alloy will make the ball larger not smaller. A very small amount of tin or antimony actually help with fill out without really effecting hardness so your RBs should come out more consistant. There are several ways to get rid of the sprue all together if you want to take out that variable. Roll them between 2 plates of glass, tumble for a short while in a tumbler and some put in a metal tin with enough room to roll around and place in your vehicle as you drive around.

[hc18flyer]

For hunting I learned to put 25 or so into an embroidery hoop and roll them around for several minutes between two glass panes to totally eliminate the sprue. I was always satisfied with the results, haven't bought .490 in 20 years. Flyer

[TCLouis]

Love my Lee RB molds because they do not really leave a sprue.

Have you compared the diameter? May need a mic for this.
Calipers should be comparable even if less precise.

I'm thinking your castings are just slightly smaller.

[C. Latch]

How many do you shoot in a year? Maybe plink with the homemade balls and buy some hornadys to hunt with?

[rhbrink]

I find this thread rather amazing I have been told that the Hornaday Round Balls are what all the target shooters use at Friendship. So I buy a box of the .495 balls and decide to weigh them what a surprise! I found balls that varied as much as six grains in weight and could also measure differences in ball diameter with the small diameter balls weighing less naturally. I would not consider even shooting a match with my cast balls that would have more 1/2 grain of weight variation.

Years ago when I was a very serious match shooter I used to shoot Speer Balls and I could not make my cast balls shoot as well as the Speers and considered the Hornady and third best if that as I could always shoot better with my cast balls better than the Hornadys. I have yet to shoot the Hornadys but I did separate them into three groups by weight and will give a try to see what happens one of these days when the weather gets a little more friendly.

RB

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I find this thread rather amazing I have been told that the Hornaday Round Balls are what all the target shooters use at Friendship. So I buy a box of the .495 balls and decide to weigh them what a surprise! I found balls that varied as much as six grains in weight and could also measure differences in ball diameter with the small diameter balls weighing less naturally. I would not consider even shooting a match with my cast balls that would have more 1/2 grain of weight variation.

Years ago when I was a very serious match shooter I used to shoot Speer Balls and I could not make my cast balls shoot as well as the Speers and considered the Hornady and third best if that as I could always shoot better with my cast balls better than the Hornadys. I have yet to shoot the Hornadys but I did separate them into three groups by weight and will give a try to see what happens one of these days when the weather gets a little more friendly.

RB

since I know there are guys on this forum shooting wheel weight , home cast at Friendship we know the above statement is not true


I like my track of the wolf 6cavity lee .490 mold , when I set down to cast I can make a coffee cans worth in not that long

I can't see well enough over irons to see any difference between my cast lee and hornady and anything I use them for past 25 yard paper is generally a Silhouette 1.75 from center on a muzzle loader silhouette is still a hit

[Hellgate]

I wonder if anyone lately has weighed hornady round balls. Maybe they have improved their QC due to complaints or info from match shooters that showed excess variation. Maybe they have cleaned up their act from years ago.

[rhbrink]

The ones that I was writing about were bought less than a month ago so it doesn't look like much improvement to me. I'm sure that the top shooters that would be using them would weigh them out and maybe even sort by diameter.

RB