Ball Roundness

[feyx0006]

Heck, and I was worried about cutting a ring into the ball with my short starter....

 

[Saint]

I don't think that anybody is arguing that the roundness of the ball makes any difference for general shooting. Quite honestly I have done the comparisons myself and even at 200 yards I still can't be sure whether it really makes a difference, the biggest benefit for me is not having to worry which direction the sprue is pointing when I am trying to load in a hurry. I am not a hunter but I imagine that this could mean precious seconds when you don't quite hit the sweet spot with your first shot. I shoot a c&b most of the time and it is a pain in the butt trying to keep that sprue facing up while loading.

 

[50cal.cliff]

I am going to throw out a question to you about tumbling those balls to achive roundness.
Have you measured diameter before and after tumbling?
Are you tumbling into roundness or in affect wearing away to achive the roundness? :hmm:

 

[roundball]

I don't think that anybody is arguing that the roundness of the ball makes any difference for general shooting. Quite honestly I have done the comparisons myself and even at 200 yards I still can't be sure whether it really makes a difference, the biggest benefit for me is not having to worry which direction the sprue is pointing when I am trying to load in a hurry. I am not a hunter but I imagine that this could mean precious seconds when you don't quite hit the sweet spot with your first shot. I shoot a c&b most of the time and it is a pain in the butt trying to keep that sprue facing up while loading.

I'm not saying this to rain on anybody's parade...and I don't mean for the thread to spiral off into debates of whether or not spru alignment is important. For those who do believe there's value in aligning them I want to pass on a comment I read in past years about tumbling away the spru mark so we don't have to worry about spru alignment.

The writer's comment was to the effect that:
"...maybe the raised portion of a spru mark goes away with tumbling...BUT...sometimes with cast balls there's a void / air pocket UNDER the spru...so if tumbled, not knowing where the spru was located the ball's void may be placed in a less than desirable location..."

I don't have a clue if it matters, and I also read the Bevel Brother's Muzzleblase report that spru position made no measureable difference that they could tell...but it's[url] funny...in[/url] spite of their test results, my own tests at the range, and the years of saving my pulled Hornady balls after a hunt and using them perfectly at the range, I still load spru up...go figure.
:grin:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Never underestimate the placebo effect. If you believe it helps it truly might. You're not thinking "I wonder if this shot will be off" as you focus and concentrate on the target.

 

[Saint]

I am sorry that was not meant to sound defensive. More than anything I was agreeing with the fact that the increase in accuracy is minimal if any. Originally I did believe it increased accuracy significantly but never bothered to test it. I kind of got away from shooting my rifles and moved on to a Kentucky percussion pistol and a cap and ball revolver and unfortunately I have a really hard time finding pure lead so even though I know it is a big no no, I cast from wheel weights. Even after beefing up my rammer on the C&B it is still nearly impossible to get it started with that darn sprue. On the Kentucky if I load with the sprue to the side I get some really nasty blow by that seems to put some flat spin on the ball and steers it significantly in the opposite direction the sprue was facing. Fyi on the ball size, I have measured before and after and it seems that the tumbler method only seems to round off the sprue but the overall size of the ball does not seem to change in any measurable amount.


P.S. I relaly hpoe taht you are ubnale to raed tihs bceasue if you atclluay are albe to you sohlud pbroalby get yuor haed emaxnied. :hmm:

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I don't have a clue if it matters, and I also read the Bevel Brother's Muzzleblase report that spru position made no measureable difference that they could tell...but it's[url] funny...in[/url] spite of their test results, my own tests at the range, and the years of saving my pulled Hornady balls after a hunt and using them perfectly at the range, I still load spru up...go figure.

In a rifle so do I, from force of habit. But, in my smoothie, I insert a lubed wad just below muzzle, then seat the bare ball sprue down centered on wad to ram home. With my less than sterling abilities, likely makes no difference, but I get just as good accuracy this way as patching the ball sprue up.