"Glassing" cast round balls

[jtmattison]

I throw mine in a case tumbler without the media.

However, I have not seen any difference in accuracy with tumbled balls. Just don't have to be concerned with location of the sprue when loading.

HD

 

[Blackpowdersmoke]

I'm with Rifleman here, don't much matter a hoot if the ball is just left alone after casting and shot that way.
IF there's been any consistancy at all when casting and the spure is cut clean and straight, loading sprue up is all that's needed.

However, if it makes the shooter "feel better" doing further prep work it certainly causes no harm and does lend a confidence factor.

Rifleman & necchi...I agree with both of you. I was taught by MY MENTOR 38+ years ago to load em' SPRUE UP (because you can see it to center it) and also taught by others later on to load sprue down, so it will act as a "tail" and aid in accuracy. Well, I don't care how anyone does it, but for some reason "sprue up" stuck with me and that's how I load them. As far as the question I originally posted about "glassing" round balls, I was just trying to get a general concensus of who rounds, trims, peens, or whatever and who doesn't. If I can find a cheap and easy way to round, peen, or eliminate the sprue and save me from even looking where it's at... I'll go with it. Otherwise, I'll keep on loading them sprue up as I was taught. My intention was not to create class warfare, just gather some info....BPS

 

[kbuck]

Yep. One more vote for "sprue up".

 

[necchi]

I didn't think it would be a spliting of the ways BPS,

There's alot to be said about the confindence factor in all shooting and especialy target stuff.

When I cast, if the sprue plate is a little loose or if it's not lubbed proper an the sprue cut is a bit tipped the ball is scrapped. I actually weigh ball to tighter tolerance than most do.
Is it needed? Probably not, but I know it's not my ball that causes any error.
I tried several times tumbling ball in my Thumblers to remove the sprue mark, kinda noisy but it works.
In the end I found it didn't matter for my shooting, that I actually felt better being able to see the sprue and put it up,,

 

[Larry Pletcher]

I like swaged balls but also shoot quite a bit of cast. I load cast balls sprue up as most of us have been taught. I have a thought about voids connected to the casting process.

I was told that many cast balls have a void just below the sprue - I've sliced through a few and found them. If the ball is loaded sprue up, the void is located on the center of gravity and the center of rotation. If the void is off center, then the center of gravity of the ball moves to the side. (I assume that we want the center of gravity located on the center of rotation.) So, my reason for loading sprue up is because I want the void as close to the center line as possible.

If the sprue is removed, do any of you worry that a void may now be anywhere around the ball and not on the center line? I haven't run any test and really don't know if an off-center void can be seen in a target. If it does make a difference, then removing the sprue means I can't tell where the void would be. There are a lot of "don't knows" here. I wonder what you think.

Regards,
Pletch

 

[jamesthomas]

Did'nt the Bevel brothers do a test for Muzzleblast at one time and decided it did'nt really matter? I don't know what ranges they shot at. I think it might make a difference if you shoot over a 100 yrds for competition but any closer than that I don't think it would make much difference unless the sprue was real prominant. I shoot cast rbs from a Lee mold and after rolling around in a canvas bag you can't tell where the sprue was, does't affect my shooting out to 75yrds which is about as far as I can see a target

 

[VEARL]

I dunno about removing the spru or not too. Never heard of a need to do so.
Will it affect my score at the next club shoot? :dead:

 

[David W.]

I dunno about removing the spru or not too. Never heard of a need to do so.

Me either.

Will it affect my score at the next club shoot?

I doubt it. Quote from the Sgt. York movie "There's some mighty good shooters agin ya, Alvin".

They must have been able to squeak by WITH the sprues.

I'm going to stick my neck out to ask how many HC'ers tumble their balls?

 

[longcruise]

I'm going to stick my neck out to ask how many HC'ers tumble their balls?

What's an HC'er?

While there may be no historical documentation, I'm sure we could speculate till it was so! :shocked2: :rotf:

 

[Richard J.]

Been shooting flintlocks for more years than I care to remember. Had this discussion with my brother on the swaged, and cast. Shot 1,000 of each and you couldnt tell the difference. Loaded spruce up, down, sideways. All shooting off of a bench at 100yds. The cast still killed deer just the same. Now we just load and shoot. Found out it takes a long time and a lot of targets to shoot 1,000 rounds each. Lots of fun.

RJ

 

[Billnpatti]

I've never tried rolling my cast balls between plates but I have tumbled them in a rock tumbler for 30 to 45 minutes to remove the sprue. It works quite well and upon weighing some 100 balls before and after, I could find no difference in weight after the tumbling. After about 30 to 45 minutes, they come out looking like black ball bearings. Too long and the striking together will result in a frosted appearance. It doesn't appear to effect the shooting quality but they are just not as attractive.

 

[leslie]

Consistent weight of cast roundballs is important for accuracy.The location or presence of a sprue doesn't mean much.

 

[tg]

Over the years I have tinkered with various ways to make cast balls "better" and found no noticable difference in performance. With a well made target gun with high quality modern target sights weighed powder loads and weighed/modified balls one might gain a bit but for the average person for hunting or target work it probably is a non issue IMHO.

 

[David W.]

I'm going to stick my neck out to ask how many HC'ers tumble their balls?

What's an HC'er?

While there may be no historical documentation, I'm sure we could speculate till it was so! :shocked2: :rotf:

Guess I should have spelled it out. Historically correct persons.

 

[troutabout]

In dealing with vicious target paper I've found the time lag between the end of my barrel to the target is measured in 1/100th of a nano second with a sprued or un-sprued ball.

Whether it flys true or not depends equally on which side of my hat the feather is worn !

 

[Dphar]

I have never been offended by the spru. :idunno:

Its handy for hunting ammo. I seldom bother removing them and would prefer a sprue when shooting for money.
:grin:
Dan

 

[Dphar]

I'm going to stick my neck out to ask how many HC'ers tumble their balls?

What's an HC'er?

While there may be no historical documentation, I'm sure we could speculate till it was so! :shocked2: :rotf:

Guess I should have spelled it out. Historically correct persons.

They used to round off the sprues. Somewhere there is an order for a rifle unit in the Rev-War to have a specified number of balls "well rounded" in their pouch. If I were in a shooting war I would not want to worry about a sprue and the moulds of the time did not cut a sprue like Lyman mould does. I suspect they were scrapped/cut off with a knife blade.

Dan

 

[Dphar]

I like swaged balls but also shoot quite a bit of cast. I load cast balls sprue up as most of us have been taught. I have a thought about voids connected to the casting process.

I was told that many cast balls have a void just below the sprue - I've sliced through a few and found them. If the ball is loaded sprue up, the void is located on the center of gravity and the center of rotation. If the void is off center, then the center of gravity of the ball moves to the side. (I assume that we want the center of gravity located on the center of rotation.) So, my reason for loading sprue up is because I want the void as close to the center line as possible.

If the sprue is removed, do any of you worry that a void may now be anywhere around the ball and not on the center line? I haven't run any test and really don't know if an off-center void can be seen in a target. If it does make a difference, then removing the sprue means I can't tell where the void would be. There are a lot of "don't knows" here. I wonder what you think.

Regards,
Pletch

I cast carefully and weigh within one grain +-.
This will not eliminate problems totally but it helps. This is based on machining down through cast BPCR bullets .010 at a time and looking at the various internal "variations". Trust me, if its light by more than 1 grain, its not fit for serious shooting.
There are issues other than actual voids.

Dan

 

[David W.]

I'm going to stick my neck out to ask how many HC'ers tumble their balls?

What's an HC'er?

While there may be no historical documentation, I'm sure we could speculate till it was so! :shocked2: :rotf:

Guess I should have spelled it out. Historically correct persons.

They used to round off the sprues. Somewhere there is an order for a rifle unit in the Rev-War to have a specified number of balls "well rounded" in their pouch. If I were in a shooting war I would not want to worry about a sprue and the moulds of the time did not cut a sprue like Lyman mould does. I suspect they were scrapped/cut off with a knife blade.

Dan

This is not meant to argue, but couldn't that be that many round ball moulds were out of round or the two halves of the mould did not meet flush? Is there any evidence they were in fact referring to sprues? Just asking.

 

[VTdeerhunter]

What about an off-centered sprue? One interesting thing that I have seen, although rare...is a mold cavity cut off-center, or more into one side of the mold half than the other.

As the mold was cut with its cherry, if the maker did not use a vice that closes both sides equally (unlike the standard bench vice that only moves one jaw)it will skew the location of the cavity...personally I don't pay any attention to where the sprue is when I load, never saw any change in POI no matter where it was...but the previous comment on the quality of how the mold closes made me think of this, thought it might be worth throwing out...