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Thread: Weight of Round Balls according to the diameter?

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master


    GregLaROCHE's Avatar
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    Weight of Round Balls according to the diameter?

    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.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    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.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    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.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by GregLaROCHE View Post
    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

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    45 cal is 127g and 50cal is 175g

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    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

  7. #7
    Boolit Master AntiqueSledMan's Avatar
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    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.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master Toymaker's Avatar
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    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.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Dixie Gunworks used to have little interesting tid bits in the back of their catalog. I assume they still do. I enjoyed reading them.
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  10. #10
    Boolit Bub
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    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.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master Maven's Avatar
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    Arrow

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

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    Does beartooth calculators actually work for anyone. I hasnt worked on any device in my house for like a year.

  13. #13
    Boolit Buddy
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    Beartooth calculator doesn't work for me, tried different combinations, but it comes up empty.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master Maven's Avatar
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    Doesn't work for me either on this (borrowed) computer. However, it works perfectly on my machine at home.

  15. #15
    Boolit Mold
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    Thank you!
    Squint

  16. #16
    Boolit Mold
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    round ball weights

    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
    Last edited by Squinter; 02-19-2022 at 10:49 PM. Reason: poor spelling

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    Boolit Grand Master Good Cheer's Avatar
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  18. #18
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    Texas by God's Avatar
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    Wouldn't a bullet that weighs the same as a round ball.......be a round ball? Or hockey puck shape?

    Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Texas by God View Post
    Wouldn't a bullet that weighs the same as a round ball.......be a round ball? 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.
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  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Texas by God View Post
    Wouldn't a bullet that weighs the same as a round ball.......be a round ball? Or hockey puck shape?

    Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk
    Quote Originally Posted by Winger Ed. View Post
    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.

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