Cast Balls

[mtmeredith]

I went to the NMLRA shoot at Friendship and picked up some cast .54 balls Saturday. They they have protrusions from the casting sprue and are not round. Does this not affect the accuracy of the ball? Is there an easy way to trim/file them off? What did they do before swaged balls?

Thanks

 

[Zonie]

A pair of wire cutters or some side-cutting pliers will work to nip off the sprue.
If the sprue is small enough you could even use toe-nail clippers but NOT YOUR WIFE'S.

If you are shooting them out of a 28 guage smooth bore, no telling where the out of round condition will send them.

The out of round shape or uneven surface will cause the forces created by the balls wind resistance to deflect the balls from the line of sight while the ball is speeding towards the target.

If your shooting them from a rifle they will be surprisingly accurate (although not super target shooting balls).

The whole idea behind rifling and the spinning ball it produces is it causes the uneven forces of the wind resistance I mentioned above to be constantly changing about the line of flight which in effect causes them to cancel out the deflection that would be present with a non-spinning ball.

If you got a good price for your balls, trim off the sprues and have fun shooting them.

 

[mooman76]

There are different ways to get rid of them or not. I have also heard of putting them in a round steel can like cookies come in with enough room to roll around and put them in your vehicle. After a month or two of driving and rolling the nubbs will be gone. You could just leave them. I don't have that problem because I use lee moulds that don't leave that but some say just face the nub up when loading and it don't really make much of a difference.

 

[hanshi]

Once you cut the sprue off just tumble them for an hour or two in a rock/brass polishing tumbler or vibrator. The balls will come out with virtually no surface marks or even a sprue scar. Tumbling also seems to "round" out the ball. They come out very nice.

 

[Stumpkiller]

What did they do before swaged balls?

They loaded the sprue up. :idunno: If you think about it - that's the only way to know where it is facing.

The cupped tip of a metal rammer also rounds the sprue off some.

 

[stone knife]

Once you cut the sprue off just tumble them for an hour or two in a rock/brass polishing tumbler or vibrator. The balls will come out with virtually no surface marks or even a sprue scar. Tumbling also seems to "round" out the ball. They come out very nice.

Would this change the ball diameter?

 

[ohio ramrod]

It would change the diameter only to the extent of "pushing" the high spots into the "low" spots.It is almost magic how well they will"round out ".