Are all RB created equal?

[GrizzlyBear]

Edumacate me. Is one 50 cal RB the same as the next? i'm talking across mfgrs and comparing commercial balls only.

 

[renovato]

Swaged balls are generally rounder and more consistant in weight and size than cast balls. As to who's swaged balls is best, well I'll let the others debate that. I've tried Hornady and Speer and as long as they mic close to the same size, they shoot close to the same groups for me.

 

[Snuffy]

The Warrens balls I see at[url] thunder_ridge_muzzleloading.com[/url] claims competition championships. My guess is that these Warren balls are hard lead.

The Hornadys are the most popular/best seller because of price and availability.

The Speers are supposedly the most weight consistent among 100 weighed.

The Buffaloes have the softest lead/most expansion. When Remington chose Buffalo for their store-packaged roundballs, they tried controlling expansion by painting those balls gold.

I am huge on Buffalo Bullet products. I use a Buffalo sabot in one ML .... Ballet HP in another - roundball in a 3rd ML. But I never hunted with roundball gun. So no hunting report follows. Sorry!

 

[shortjack]

I have shot Hornady and speer RB in my 50 cal and found no difference in accuracy, but every gun is different so you will have to try both to find out which is best. I now cast my own and I get just as good accuracy as I did with factory RB's.

 

:blah: I beg to disagree! I have weighed speer 50 cal and found them wanting in consistancy, never had one float tho.

 

[bullofthewoods]

I've shot a about 300 speer and was happy with the groups. I made one change, to hornady balls and was extremely happy, the groups seemed to tighten just a bit more, very happy. I have not miked or weighed but they work better in my gun.

Bull

 

[roundball]

Life is complicated enough as it is...I started with Hornady balls because I'd used Hornady relooading products for decades and knew of their quality...and their balls have done everything I could want a round ball to do...tried a couple boxes of Speers now and then if I found them cheap at a gun show or something, shot the same as Hornadys...but they're normally more expensive, so I continue to enjoy Hornady's.

(besides, the red Hornady boxes goes real well witrh the red Goex cans :grin: )

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Grizz,

I've recently weighed Speer .490 swaged balls and found a 5 plus grain range in a box of 100. I weighed 50 of my cast balls and found little more than a 1 grain difference. Of course, I had already culled the balls that weren't perfect after casting.

I've seen some cast balls for sale that were pretty crude. It could be these that give cast balls a bad rap.

IMHO home-cast balls from a good mold are more consistant. Whether or not the difference will matter to most of us powder burners is up for discussion. :hmm: GW

 

[Landngroove]

I have used Hornady, Speer, and Remington round balls. Hornady is the most available in my area, so I use them most. All have shot well, and I would not hesitate to use any of the three brands, although, I think Remington stopped selling roundballs.

 

[shortjack]

If it didn't float you need a bigger bobber.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Swaged balls are generally rounder and more consistant in weight and size than cast balls.

Ill put my cast balls that I spin in media against these swaged balls anyday.