Amount of rbs from 1# lead

[ashtar13]

I was wondering how many roundballs can be made from a pound of pure lead? I have a .45, but any kind of comparison would do.
You can tell I never cast lead before, but I would like to learn.

 

[roundball]

I was wondering how many roundballs can be made from a pound of pure lead? I have a .45, but any kind of comparison would do.
You can tell I never cast lead before, but I would like to learn.

Well...there are 7000 grains weight in a Lb...if you were using .440 RB's which weigh 128grns, then you should get approximately 54 balls from a Lb of lead

 

[halfstock54]

Weight of Round Ball (Short Method) A short-cut method of determining the weight (W) of a roundball when the diameter is known involves the use of a constant.

W = 1502.6 x (Diameter x Diameter x Diameter)

Example for a .395 roundball: W = 1502.6 x .395 x .395 x .395 = 92.6 gr.


if you were shooting a .440 in a .45, it would be

1502.6 x .085184 (.440 cubed) = 128 (rounded)grains.
There are 7000 grains in a pound, so 7000/128 = roughly 54

if I've done my math right.... :m2c:

 

[BS]

Your short method reminds me of my shortcuts while driving, that sometimes take longer

 

[Tumblernotch]

Ashtar, here is a table made from micrometer measurements of a bore gauge used by a fellow named George Schalk. The figures only show the size of ball fitting the bore without a patch. Example: A rifle gauged at 80 balls to the pound might use a ball 81, 82, 83 or 84 to the pound, depending on the thickness of the patch used with it.

No. of Balls to the lb. Bore Measurement
5-------------------------- 1.15
6----------------------------.954
7----------------------------.900
8----------------------------.861
9----------------------------.823
10---------------------------.790
11---------------------------.760
12---------------------------.748
13---------------------------.727
14---------------------------.708
15---------------------------.695
16---------------------------.682
17---------------------------.665
18---------------------------.647
19---------------------------.637
20---------------------------.628
21---------------------------.618
22---------------------------.609
23---------------------------.601
24---------------------------.588
25---------------------------.585
26---------------------------.575
27---------------------------.572
28---------------------------.559
29---------------------------.549
30---------------------------.533
32---------------------------.530
34---------------------------.519
36---------------------------.506
38---------------------------.491
40---------------------------.485
44---------------------------.474
48---------------------------.463
52---------------------------.453
56---------------------------.442
64---------------------------.416
70---------------------------.400
80---------------------------.388
90---------------------------.383
100--------------------------.364
110--------------------------.350
120--------------------------.340
130--------------------------.332
140--------------------------.324
150--------------------------.318
160--------------------------.310
170--------------------------.305
180--------------------------.298
190--------------------------.292
200--------------------------.290
210--------------------------.288
220--------------------------.284
230--------------------------.282
240--------------------------.280
250--------------------------.278
260--------------------------.274
270--------------------------.271
280--------------------------.269

There are gaps between some of the numbers and I can't explain them, but I think this will cover about any caliber that any of us will shoot. You can see how rapidly the number of balls per pound will grow after you get down to .40 caliber.
:results: ::

 

[crockett]

What we are talking about is gauge, the word gauge being how many round balls to the pound. The reply with the chart has all the information. Gauge was used to describe bore size in rifles up to about 1836-7 and then caliber became the more common term.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

Weight of Round Ball (Short Method) A short-cut method of determining the weight (W) of a roundball when the diameter is known involves the use of a constant.

W = 1502.6 x (Diameter x Diameter x Diameter)

if I've done my math right.... :m2c:

I had to learn it the hard way. 4/3 x PI x r^3 x .41 x 7000

I believe either way will give basically the same answer. I think the variance is in the constant for lead.

 

[roundball]

Gosh...how silly of me to think we could simply divide a balls weight into 7000 grains...
:crackup: :crackup:

 

[Slamfire]

Or divide 7000 by the number of balls. :crackup: :results: