hand cast .562 vs. mass made .570

[rhwestfall]

I have a .58 perc. that, according to literature was recommended to shoot .562 w/ .020 patch. The only .562 balls I have found are hand cast through TOW. They state they have a projection on the ball and to load this against your short starter. Will this be an accuracy issue in comparison to a swaged RB? Its too late to cancel my shipment, but I am asking if anyone has any experience with this "shape" of ball.

BobW

 

[Russianblood]

Hand cast balls from TOTW are just as round (if not more round) than swaged balls. You'll have nothing to worry about quality wise. It's up to your gun which size ball and what patch thickness it likes best.

 

[silverfox]

BobW. If its cast balls they will have a sprue on them. All cast bullets even modern ones will have a sprue mark, that is where the lead was poured in the mold and them cut off. This sprue mark has always been centered in the patch if patched and has never been any worry as far as accuracy with a round ball. I would guess if you got it way off center and was shooting over 200yds it might cause some problems. You shouldn't have any problems.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[rhwestfall]

TOW says centered on patch, sprue up. Is that what you are describing in your post? Or sprue "down" toward the powder? :hmm:

BobW

 

[Rebel]

I do sprue up. It is hard to see if the sprue is centered if it is down.

 

[flintlockmdj]

I shoot hand cast balls in my .36cal flintlock and have tried both ways of loading. I fired 10 shots being very careful to load the sprue up and centered and 10 shots not paying any attention where the sprue was and found both grouped the same at 50 yards with 1 point difference in score. All shooting was done offhand. I know that this was not a scientific test but it was good enough for me. Although I do try to load sprue up and centered when I have time. :winking:

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Both hand cast and swaged round balls CAN be very accurate, or not. It depends on the quality of the work. In this case, you are speaking of a commercial, mass produced cast ball and often the quality of such balls is not up to the standard of what a careful caster would produce. I've gotten cast balls from TOTW and other sources that showed many imperfections.
When I sort Hornady, Speer, or Buffalo swaged balls I often cull out 20% or more due to weight variation of more than one grain. My own cast balls show less variation, but that is after I have visually inspected and remelted any with visible defects. No such inspection is given to the mass produced cast balls and of those I have purchased, I find visible defects in nearly all.
In short, just grabbing them out of the box or bag without weighing or inspecting them, I'd expect better groups from the swaged balls.