cast or swaged round balls

[tenngun]

I’m 64, last time I hunted with a breechloaders was seventeen. I’ve shot just enough for personal protection with breechloaders since. Fell in love with ml with my first puff of smoke.
Near fifty years
Guess one of these days I will have to weigh a ball
Don’t remember seeing jewelers scales in rendezvous or trading post manifest.

 

[Erwan]

Hi, Teengun,

I’m 64, last time I hunted with a breechloaders was seventeen. I’ve shot just enough for personal protection with breechloaders since. Fell in love with ml with my first puff of smoke.
Near fifty years
Guess one of these days I will have to weigh a ball
Don’t remember seeing jewelers scales in rendezvous or trading post manifest.

I'm shooting BP and ML since 64 years (I'm 74 old) and I can tell you that for the round balls a little scale like (for example) a little Frankfordt Arsenal or something like that is largely sufficient...
But for only hunting I never weighed a round ball....
Someting, like this : https://tecmagex.com/media/catalog/...d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/r/frankford_ds750_3.jpg

 

[tenngun]

In the early 19th century the British government spent a shad load of money on machines to swage musket balls (and belted rifle balls) and they were renowned tight ar*ses who would not spend a farthing that they could avoid but trials showed that all cast balls had small erratic voids and swayed balls were measurably heavier as they eliminated the inevitable void in casting and much more consistent.

Now how much more accurate I do not known but the b*gers made large careful trials before they spent the money on very expensive machines so it would appear that swaged balls are superior. I am sure there would be a queue of posters to say that they outshot the universe using cast balls and well they might, but I strongly doubt that anyone on the forum has done as much testing of swaged versus cast balls as the British Ordnance. Smooth bore and rifled.

I don’t know anything about this test. But if belted ball is part of the story I would date this too the napoleonic wars. Lots of ball being bounced around at this time.
Was a British company eighty men? Ten companies to a regiment? I don’t know British military set up.
But let’s just take an eighty man company each with sixty shots, that 4800 ball. I doubt I shoot two hundred ball a year. I don’t get to the range but every couple of months, and twenty shots is a big day.
Outfitting two or three companies is probably a life time of shots for me.
The brits (frogs,dons,yankee doodles et al ) used big gang molds. With steam and good water mills I spect it wouldn’t be surprising that swaged would be faster and cheaper, while turning out more consistent ball then gang molds.
I don’t know if that’s applicable to a careful home casting one at a time

 

[tenngun]

Hi, Teengun,

I'm shooting BP and ML since 64 years (I'm 74 old) and I can tell you that for the round balls a little scale like (for example) a little Frankfordt Arsenal or something like that is largely sufficient...
But for only hunting I never weighed a round ball....
Someting, like this : https://tecmagex.com/media/catalog/...d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/r/frankford_ds750_3.jpg

Ive not hunted with any thing but a ball since I took up ml

 

[Sidney Smith]

I doubt our forefathers weighed their balls and I don't either.

 

[SDSmlf]

I doubt our forefathers weighed their balls and I don't either.

And our forefathers purchased their swaged roundballs from WallyWorld…… and their patch material from Joanne’s Fabric…..

 

[Art Caputo]

I have seen no difference in accuracy between staged or cast LRB’s. I do make it a point to weigh all LRB’s used for hunting or serious target work within 2grs. Hornady is getting better. On average, I will get less then 5 LRB’s/100 that fall out of this range over the past 5 years or so.

 

[Sidney Smith]

And our forefathers purchased their swaged roundballs from WallyWorld…… and their patch material from Joanne’s Fabric…..

I'm sure if there were a wallyworld or Joanne fabrics back then they would have. So what's your point here?

 

[SDSmlf]

I'm sure if there were a wallyworld or Joanne fabrics back then they would have. So what's your point here?

I doubt our forefathers weighed their balls and I don't either.

Could ask the same question. OP was about accurately difference between cast and swaged balls, not if our forefathers weighed their balls.

 

[Eterry]

which is more accurate or does it matter ? The cast balls have a sprue, how doe it effect accuracy ?

As in most questions, the answer is it depends. Are you the average shooter who gets occasionally and shoots a dozen rounds. Then I don't see enough difference between the two.

If you're a bench rest shooter or chunk gun, then you'll try every variable to gain a tenth of an inch in your group.

On top of that every gun is an individual. No 2 will shoot the same load to same poi or group.

I bought a box of .440 balls in 1980, then was given a mold by dad. I think that's the last box of swaged balls I bought, just do to being poor country folk.

 

[SDSmlf]

I bought a box of .440 balls in 1980, then was given a mold by dad. I think that's the last box of swaged balls I bought, just do to being poor country folk.

Those poor country folk bring home a lot of game and win a lot of matches.

 

[Whughett]

I’m always amazed at the shooters that can tell the difference in such small matters as that. The propellant it self doesn’t lend itself to that unless your weighing it out on a scale like smokeless.

 

[Bergmann]

which is more accurate or does it matter ? The cast balls have a sprue, how doe it effect accuracy ?

I like casting my balls but I have used swaged! I can't tell any difference. But one thing I do to my molds is to file a small "V" notch somewhere in the pour hole. This makes a mark on the finished ball which I index towards the ramrod channel when I load the ball! It may not do anything, but it gives me peace of mind that I'm loading the ball the same way every time.