Weight of Round Balls according to the diameter?

[GregLaROCHE]

Is thee a formula for determining the weight of a pure lead round ball by its diameter. It would be easy just to weigh it, but I don’t have one and I want to make a boolit close to the same weight.

[triggerhappy243]

lead round ball weights are and have been pre-determined. where the weight varies either way.......... depends on alloy purity. 54 cal. is 230 gr. (.530 dia.) slightly heavier if it were .535 dia. and so on.

[LAGS]

A lot of Re Loading manuals list ball diameter and their weight cast with Pure Lead.
But your mold may vary a bit as well as your alloy.
But the weights are close enough for what we do.

[Ragnarok]

Is thee a formula for determining the weight of a pure lead round ball by its diameter. It would be easy just to weigh it, but I don’t have one and I want to make a boolit close to the same weight.

Let me know what diameter ball you need the weight on and I will look it up in my chart

[NSB]

45 cal is 127g and 50cal is 175g

[bmortell]

just use this, beartooth bullets has a calculator where you type diameter and it gives weight but it seems broken and wont give answers, doing the math manually dont look fun and i cant find another direct calculator for it

pure lead roundball weight
.310 = 45 grains
.315 = 47 grains
.321 = 50 grains
.350 = 65 grains
.360 = 71 grains
.375 = 80 grains
.395 = 92 grains
.400 = 96 grains
.433 = 122 grains
.437 = 127 grains
.440 = 128 grains
.443 = 131 grains
.445 = 133 grains
.451 = 138 grains
.454 = 141 grains
.457 = 144 grains
.490 = 177 grains
.498 = 180 grains
.520 = 212 grains
.530 = 224 grains
.535 = 231 grains
.543 = 241 grains
.550 = 251 grains
.560 = 260 grains
.562 = 276 grains
.570 = 279 grains
.575 = 286 grains
.595 = 317 grains
.600 = 325 grains
.610 = 342 grains
.648 = 410 grains
.662 = 437 grains
.678 = 469 grains
.680 = 473 grains
.690 = 495 grains
.715 = 550 grains
.730 = 586 grains
.735 = 598 grains
.760 = 661 grains
.775 = 700 grains
.835 = 875 grains
.919 = 1167 grains
1.052 = 1750 grains

[AntiqueSledMan]

1) Determine the volume of a sphere: Diameter cubed (D x D x D) times .5236.

2) Multiply the above figure by 2,873.5 (the weight of a cubic inch of pure Pb in grains).

3) The resulting figure is the weight of a given diameter pure Pb RB in grains.

AntiqueSledMan.

[Toymaker]

You do the math and you get the weight of the ball IN THEORY!!
Unless the ball is swaged there's going to be a void, a true void, in the ball. It will be up near the sprue. Cut one in half and look for yourself.
My grandpa showed me this eons ago. That's one reason why you load sprue up. It's also why people weigh their RB.

[mooman76]

Dixie Gunworks used to have little interesting tid bits in the back of their catalog. I assume they still do. I enjoyed reading them.

[Regular Joe]

I found this formula several years ago. Diameter^3 x 1504.56 = weight in grains. That's diameter cubed, times 1504.56. That's the same formula as AntiqueSledMan posted.

[Maven]

You can also use Beartooth Bullets calculator, which also allows you to compensate for alloys as well as pure Pb: http://www.beartoothbullets.com/rescources/calculators/php/roundball.htm

[bmortell]

Does beartooth calculators actually work for anyone. I hasnt worked on any device in my house for like a year.

[roadie]

Beartooth calculator doesn't work for me, tried different combinations, but it comes up empty.

[Maven]

Doesn't work for me either on this (borrowed) computer. However, it works perfectly on my machine at home.

[Squinter]

Thank you!
Squint

[Squinter]

I just got done this afternoon of casting round balls with my new .495 die. Weighted them on a scale, they ran from 180.5 grs. to 182.5., with the majority weighting 181.5, and that's exactly what it figured out using the formula that was posted by antique sled man. The diameter of the ones I measured was .494, and that would make them plum right. This new die is a lee .495 aluminum. I don't always get all my pouring done at the right pace or at the right temperature to get them all the same, but I group them by weight and they're close enough in their own group to be perfect.
Squint

[Good Cheer]

http://i.imgur.com/WZdI5vi.jpg (https://imgur.com/WZdI5vi)

[Texas by God]

Wouldn't a bullet that weighs the same as a round ball.......be a round ball?[emoji848] Or hockey puck shape?

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[Winger Ed.]

Wouldn't a bullet that weighs the same as a round ball.......be a round ball?[emoji848] Or hockey puck shape?


If its solid, the same diameter, and without getting all fancy, it'd have to be a sphere or cylinder shape.

[Tracy]

Wouldn't a bullet that weighs the same as a round ball.......be a round ball?[emoji848] Or hockey puck shape?

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If its solid, the same diameter, and without getting all fancy, it'd have to be a sphere or cylinder shape.



That's an incorrect assumption. It could be a full wadcutter, semi wadcutter, roundnose, or pretty much any other standard bullet shape.

[dtknowles]

Wouldn't a bullet that weighs the same as a round ball.......be a round ball?[emoji848] Or hockey puck shape?

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Nope. I swage round balls into round nose flat base bullets. They then have more bearing area to grip the rifling. I am thinking of making the nose punch that will form a hollow point. That would make the bullet even longer and cooler. :-P

[fiberoptik]

Nope. I swage round balls into round nose flat base bullets. They then have more bearing area to grip the rifling. I am thinking of making the nose punch that will form a hollow point. That would make the bullet even longer and cooler. :-P

Why? Shoot them bare or still patched?


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[indian joe]

That's an incorrect assumption. It could be a full wadcutter, semi wadcutter, roundnose, or pretty much any other standard bullet shape.

Texas was correct so long as the diameter remains the same

[T-Bird]

swaging reduces the diameter doesn't it? Texas seems right to me too.

[dondiego]

swaging reduces the diameter doesn't it? Texas seems right to me too.

Swaging is pressure applied to lead in order to change it's shape. It can reduce diameter and also increase diameter.

[charlie b]

Swaging is pressing the lead into a mold of some shape. Can be any shape or dia you want.

If you swage a round ball you can simply flatten the end of it until it makes a short cylinder with a round nose. It will be shorter than a round ball of the same weight.

Or, as stated above, you could use a hollow point front end and flat back end, or any other shape you want, including a hollow base. Just have to use the proper dies.

Most do not swage lead simply due to the cost of the dies.

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[dtknowles]

Why? Shoot them bare or still patched?


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I breech seat them in my .32 Stevens bicycle rifle and propel them with a nail set charge.

[ofitg]

Is thee a formula for determining the weight of a pure lead round ball by its diameter. It would be easy just to weigh it, but I don’t have one and I want to make a boolit close to the same weight.

This online calculator seems to work -

https://www.vcalc.com/wiki/vcalc/sphere+-+weight

However, it uses the ball's RADIUS, which is simply half of the diameter.

The blue fields allow you to select the units you want. For example, a .45 ball has a radius of 0.225 inches, and pure lead has a density of 11.3 g/cm^3.
The calculator output is set to "grain", and the weight is 136 grains.

https://i.imgur.com/tHFD7jl.png

[Lars-K]

Hi, I will release a calculator soon that will include calculating round ball bullet weight. (I will include link in this post)

[Lars-K]

Looks like this for now:


313617

[Lars-K]

So, I have converted the code from Visual Basic to Javascript. This way it will be a web based calculator.
Link to get it running is here: https://weatherby.dk/BP/rb/roundball.htm

Looks like this: (Will be upgraded)

313652

Enjoy!

[SSGOldfart]

So, I have converted the code from Visual Basic to Javascript. This way it will be a web based calculator.
Link to get it running is here: https://weatherby.dk/BP/rb/roundball.htm

Enjoy!

Thank-you Sir that worked great

[Cap'n Morgan]

I once wrote an equation on my trusty HP28 calculator for calculating the number of shot in a shotshell for a given shot size and payload.
The HP had a function called "Solver", and the beauty of it was that you could have any number of variables and the calculator would solve for each of them as long as the other variables were filled in.

The program had four variables:

#1 = Diameter of shot

#1 = Weight of shot

#2 = Number of pellets

#3 = Weight of payload

#4 = Density of shot (this variable was a switch between two values. I use the density for lead and steel)

If you input two of the first three variables, the program would calculate the last:

If you wanted to find the weight of a single ball, you just filled in the diameter and "1" for number of pellets.

If you wanted to find the size of the balls in a 1-1/8 ounce 12 pellet buckshot load, you entered "12" for pellets and 32 for weight (32 grams=1-1/8 ounce)

And finally, to find the number of shots, fill in payload weight and pellet diameter.

These days, I use the ballistic program KPY https://kpyshotshellballistics.com/ It has many nice features, and I can strongly recommended it

(the link gives an privacy/security warning, but is alright)

[Lars-K]

Stay tuned, a Round ball BC calculator is in progress. Sneak peek:


313651

[indian joe]

You do the math and you get the weight of the ball IN THEORY!!
Unless the ball is swaged there's going to be a void, a true void, in the ball. It will be up near the sprue. Cut one in half and look for yourself.
My grandpa showed me this eons ago. That's one reason why you load sprue up. It's also why people weigh their RB.

I have a LEE double cavity .495 mold ---the formula says 182 grains -- weighed a run of stuff this morning got from 181.5 to 183.2 - - I am some perticular with the look of my cast stuff . no wrinkles etc so any junk ones went back in the pot.
After casting I tumble these in a canvas bag with some powdered graphite and I load with sprue every whichaway (cant see it after the rumble / tumble).