How much oversize???

I am wanting to get a bore riding round ball mold, but I do not know how much oversize I can go with it.

The bore/groove diameter on my Hastings Wadlock barrel is .728/.732

I have several hundred pounds of new magnum #8 lead shot that will be used for these particular round balls.

I just need to know how much oversize I can go, to hopefully achieve the best possible accuracy potential from these round balls.

Thoughts and or ideas?

Is there any place I can get just a couple of oversize round balls to try out, that are in different diameters?

I have loaded 0.735" RB's (as cast at about 0.738") and shot them successfully through a rifled barrel of 0.727" groove diameter. No sticky extraction with 38 grs. BD.

There isnt a lot of meat to swage down at the equator of a ball.

What the safe max. diameter is I don't know.

Track of the Wolf sells 0.735" RB's but soft lead.

Moose Moulds sells balls too but not in the range you want between 0.730" and 0.740". Not sure if they'll do custom sizes. Oops! They sell moulds only not pre-cast balls.

If you are looking for custom/in between size moulds Ball Moulds has a good reputation and will make whatever size you want.

https://www.ballmoulds.com/

You will be good with 0.735" (Lyman) or Mihec makes 0.732" double cavity moulds as well. With your 0.732" groove I'd go with 0.735" (Lyman or Ball Moulds) or up to 0.740" (Ball Moulds).

I don't know of any other sources except maybe Dixie Gunworks who may have sizes in the range you're looking for.

Longbow

I've shot .732", .736" and .743" all through both smooth and rifled barrels in 12 gauge. They are mostly around .730" bore or groove diameter. I can not honestly tell one bit of difference between them as far as accuracy from a rifled barrel. I have also fired .778" and .783" in a smoothbore 10 gauge with a .775" bore, no difference there either.

My advice is that as long as you are a little bigger than the bore (or groove if rifled barrel), then they are good. I suggest a .735" in 12 gauge, as that offers a lot of leeway in both directions. If you want to use the biggest possible, .743" is about the biggest that will chamber in my guns. I'd say .740" is about the biggest you could use and be sure of no problems.

Thank you for the information Longbow!

I was hoping to find some round balls between .734 and .744 to try out, without having to purchase several molds just to see which one offers the greatest accuracy potential.

I guess if it came down to it, I could go .005 and .010 over bore diameter, but that still means having to purchase an extra mold.

I'd have to double check, but I believe I still have all three molds if you want to try a .732", .736" and .743". The .736" is my choice, and I need to do another run of those anyway.

magasupermagnum,

lot's of good information there, thank you!

I can limit the maximum ball diameter to .740 and work down from there.

Considering the barrel that I am using, what size round ball would you recommend?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by megasupermagnum

I'd have to double check, but I believe I still have all three molds if you want to try a .732", .736" and .743". The .736" is my choice, and I need to do another run of those anyway.

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I would like to try your .736 if you are offering.

I can send you all three if you want. It looks like the high is -6 today. I've got a handful of small lakes I'm going to check for fish, but I doubt I'll stay out all day. Seems like a good day to fire up the casting pot. I got myself a torpedo heater just for this, but it seems Kerosene will not ignite at -20, else I'd be out casting right now. I've got it sitting in the basement now, so hopefully it will fire up tonight.

Reminds me of building a fire under the motor so it would get warm enough to turn over.

Don’t forget that if you’re using shot to cast, those RBs are probably going to be pretty hard.

msm... what make are your uncommon size ball moulds?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by longbow

msm... what make are your uncommon size ball moulds?

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The first I got is a JT ball moulds. When I bought the first one, I did not realize they make them to CAVITY size. As such, it drops a ball about .732". I also have a Dixie mold that drops at .716", but that size serves no real purpose in a cartridge 12 gauge. I do have another JT mold that drops a .680", which fits great in a wad, but does not shoot that spectacular. It shoots better as a full bore ball in 16 gauge. The bigger 12 gauge sizes are both Marty's Arms molds. I asked for a mold that drops a .737" ball. The first one dropped at about .743", and he actually sent me a second one free of charge. That second one drops right in that .736" to .737" range depending on alloy. Both are 4 cavity molds. I also have another JT mold that drops at .783". Depending on what you consider uncommon, I also have a 6 cavity Lee mold from Track of the Wolf that drops a .520" ball. One I almost forgot, I have another JT molds (I apparently have more than I thought) that drops about a .631" ball.

I shoot the .520" Lee in all 54 caliber TC muzzleloader rifles

I shoot the .631" JT in my NEF Tracker II 20 gauge rifled barrel (oddly large .627" groove diameter)

I don't use the .680" JT, It's decent in 16 gauge, but they Lyman sabot slug is way better in 16 gauge. It's not that great in 12 gauge, but not bad.

I have not used the .716" Dixie in a while, but it is good in a muzzleloading 12 gauge.

I only use the .736" Marty Arms in 12 gauge now, and it works well in all of them since 12 gauge is so much more consistent on bore sizes overall.

I use the .783" in my Ithaca Mag10 with 22" rifle sight barrel. It has a .775" bore. Not a great shooter, but if you ever wanted a semi-auto to stop a rhino, this is it. I really should try this on a deer next year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by megasupermagnum

I can send you all three if you want. It looks like the high is -6 today. I've got a handful of small lakes I'm going to check for fish, but I doubt I'll stay out all day. Seems like a good day to fire up the casting pot. I got myself a torpedo heater just for this, but it seems Kerosene will not ignite at -20, else I'd be out casting right now. I've got it sitting in the basement now, so hopefully it will fire up tonight.

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From everything that I have read, I would like to try just the .736, and with it being a couple thousands over bore diameter, I think it should work great!

Not as cold as where you are for sure, but 14 degrees here is a little on the chili side, especially since Christmas day was over 60 degrees!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GregLaROCHE

Don’t forget that if you’re using shot to cast, those RBs are probably going to be pretty hard.

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Thanks for the reminder!

That explains it!

I was meaning the 0.732", 0 736" and 0.743". None being common sizes though 0.735"/0.736" are within tolerance of alloy changes.

Lyman has dropped their 0.678" but still lists the 0.735". Not sure about 0.715".

My 0.735" Lyman casts about 0.738"... in fact all my Lyman RB moulds cast about 0.003" oversize with wheelweights.

Yeah, I tried cloth patching the 0.715" with old cotton shirt mic'ing about 0.011" and it is a perfect fit to 12 ga. bore. I plan to try patching them into a hull. I would have figured the patch would strip leaving the hull or in the forcing cone but have read that cloth patching into hull works. So, I'll add it to the list!

My 0.678" is a good fit in some shotcups but a bit loose in my Winchester wads. I get better results cloth patching 0.662" RB's into shotcups. Cloth thickness can be adjusted to suit wad petal thickness. I've been curious about how that would work in a rifled gun.

Anyway, this is a full bore ball thread so I should leave this here.

Longbow

megasupermagnum,

PM sent.

My .662 round balls measure .727 in the waa12 clone wad with the 1/4 felt wad under. As the felt wad compresses at firing the ball is driven deeper into the Tapered Wad Petals and the measurement comes up to .730+ accuracy at 50 yards has been good enough to hit Steel Targets from 35 to 50 yards and loaded into my normal Trap Load, the Recoil is minor.

I just got a Bore Gage from a friend of mine who got me started in the machine shop business. He used to sell them on Trapshooters.com but that site has now been ruined by a Trap Nazi who is impossible to deal with !!! He has a bunch of parts left over and put one together for me.

So I went about measuring all the bores on my shotgun barrels which was an enlightening experience. Both my Vang Comped Barrels are nearly .750 in the back bored portion and then .730 right at the muzzle. The Monkeyberg is .730 thru to the choke tubes and the Browning Barrels are all perfect with the two field barrels at .700 and .710 (Full & Mod) and the Buck Special barrel at .730 until the muzzle which chokes to .720 (IC).

I found the part of the Monkeyberg barrel that I cut off and it is .730 choked to .710 (Mod) right on the nose

The bore gage is a pretty nice device and he sold hundreds of them over the years. He got me started in the business and gave me the method of how to figure out a new product.

He said "Make something you like, and then put it out there and see if anyone else likes it?"

Since him and his wife were avid Trapshooters, he needed a Bore Gage. And since he was a Highly Skilled Machinist, he made one.

The Bore Gage is nice and if anyone wants one I can fix you up as he has got a bunch of parts left to assemble as needed.

Randy