Hornady 000 buckshot

[Billnpatti]

A few days ago, I got into a discussion about using 000 buckshot in a .36 caliber rifle. I remembered doing a study of the variance in weight and size of Hornady 000 buckshot. To make these determinations, I used a precision electronic scale to weigh the balls and a Sterett micrometer to measure the diameter of the balls. Because the scale is electronic and, while quite accurate, it can be subject to drift. For this reason, the scale was watched to see that it returned to zero between each weighing.

I weighed and measured 365 balls. The mean weight was 65.0 grains with a minimum weight of 64.2 grains and a maximum weight of 65.7 grains. The standard deviation was 0.2 grains. 79.54% of the balls fell with in 1 standard deviation of the mean.

The mean diameter of the balls was 0.351 inches. The minimum diameter of the balls was 0.349 and the maximum diameter was 0.355. the standard deviation was 0.003 inches.

My conclusion is that while the deviations are not great, they are a bit more than a person may have thought. The differences are enough to warrant weighting and sorting and selecting those balls that are the same weight when doing bench rest shooting for load development. For offhand shooting at targets or for hunting, I don't believe that there is enough difference in the balls that the average good shooter will be able to tell the difference on the target.

 

[Billnpatti]

A simpler way of saying what I posted previously is, let's suppose that you want to shoot only those balls that are within 1 std. dev. of the average weight of all the balls in your box of Hornady 000 buckshot. That means that you want to shoot only those balls that weigh within plus or minus 0.2 grains of 65.0 grains. That is, you want to shoot only balls weighing between 64.8 grains and 65.2 grains. If you simply reach into the box of balls and pick one ball, your chances are 79.5% that you will pick a ball that meets your criteria. You also have an 11.2% chance of picking a ball that is too heavy and a 9.3% chance of picking a ball that is too light.

 

[Rifleman1776]

All of which only proves the buckshot is pretty consistent. A .36 is no bench rest gun enneyhow. Just use, shoot and enjoy.
However, isn't buckshot somewhat harder than pure cast lead?

 

[Billnpatti]

Yes, it is a bit harder but it doesn't seem to make much difference when it is patched. The ball never touches the rifling so hard or soft, it shoots pretty good. I suppose it would not deform much when it hits a meat target but since you will be using it for only small game through which it quickly passes with no deformation anyway, it is good as a hunting ball.

You say a .36 is not a target gun and you are right if you are referring to using it as a bench gun but I have shot many woods walks using my .36 and it performed quite well with a .350 ball, a .018 patch , spit for lube and 40 grains of Goex fffG powder. Only problem was with the close gongs. It didn't make much noise when it hit the gong and you had to have someone listen for you to tell if you hit it. The distant gongs were not so bad because there was just enough time between the blast from the muzzle an the time the ball hit the target and made a "plink". The same with the knock down targets, they didn't always go down but if I got a good solid plink, I got credit for hitting it. Not every place is that generous. I've also used it for shooting paper targets and done reasonably well. I'm not all that good of a shot but I seemed to make the .36 shoot about as well as any of my .45 or .50 caliber rifles.

 

[satx78247]

As I'm a HUNTER, rather than a target shooter, I never had a problem with 000 buck at "squirrel & rabbit hunting range" (out to about 30M) & have NEVER weighed a single buckshot, in the days that I had a .36caliber Tennessee.
(My 2nd cousin, from Miller County,AR traded me a "long-foot" 35hp OB motor for it, after I bought another rifle. - No way of knowing how many tree-rats & bunnies that he's taken with it, but they are likely numbered in hundreds.)

IF one is "busting targets" or competing in turkey shoots, weighing balls might be a worthwhile thing.
(Up in NE TX, where I'm from, ML turkey/ham/money shoots are POPULAR/well-attended. = Our Noon Lions Club used to make about 700-1,000.oo a weekend on turkey/ham shoots.)

I was present when the MCVFD made over 3,000.oo on a ML shoot for a (donated) fat Angus steer, of over 1500#. - As many shots as you cared to take for 10.oo each.
(NOPE. I didn't win.)

yours, satx

 

[Billnpatti]

I also shot .310 buckshot in my .32 rifle. I don't remember what size buckshot that is. I think it is (0000) but I don't remember. I never did the same study on it so I don't know how much variance there is with it. I may still have some in my storage shed. If I do, I may while away some time doing the same study with it. If I do, I will post those results for anyone who is interested. Anyone not interested can just ignore it. Who knows, you may luck out and I may not have any of the .310 buckshot left and you will be spared. :haha: :hatsoff:

 

[Alden]

0000 is .38 caliber. There is no .31 buckshot; there is .30 #1 Buck and .32 #0 Buck as far as I know.

Is it labeled and do you have a micrometer!?

 

[Billnpatti]

Yeah, thanks for catching that. I think you are right about those sizes, I must have been shooting single 0 buck. I know it was not #1 shot. It was designated by an "ought" size and that would have had to be single ought. It has been a while since I had that rifle (a Pedersoli) so I just forgot which size it was. I hope I still have some in the shop so I can tell for sure what it was. I do remember it was Hornady brand shot.

 

[PA16th]

Thanks for the information. I am currently building a.36 cal flint rifle.I may try some. Wonder what sort of deviation you would find with a box of Hornady round balls? :hmm:
Don

 

[Billnpatti]

Why not give it a try? Do you have a scale that measures in grains? If you do, be sure to post your results. I am pretty sure I have a box or two of store bought .350 balls in the cabinet in my shop but I don't know who made them. I'll have to check. I have jars of balls that I have cast ranging from .310 to .570. plus boxes of store bought balls and conicals in the same range.

 

[Don Steele]

Thank You Bill. I don't even own a .36, but I enjoy reading these kind of posts. For the 50 cal RB's I cast,I weigh every ball. I accept a +/- 0.5 gn range. Everything outside that spread goes back into the pot.
I weigh EVERY cast bullet I produce for all calibers and all uses..but that's just me. Heck, when I shot 30 cal. NRA High Power competition..I weight-graded Sierra 168 Matchkings. :shocked2:
Does it matter...???? PROBABLY not one bit, but I prefer not depend upon what is "probable" when a variable can be limited or eliminated altogether.

 

[Billnpatti]

Good thinking. If you want to cut those Xs, you must control every variable that you can. Occasionally, you will run across a variable that you either cannot control or some that you do all that you can to control but in the end, they make no measurable difference. It's like someone once said "You win some and you loose some, but you suit up for every game." :thumbsup:

 

[Billnpatti]

Well, you're in luck......sort of. I found some store bought .36 cal. (.350) balls, but.......they were not in a box. I don't know what I did with the box but I can look at them and tell that they are store bought as opposed to some that I cast. Since they could possibly be buckshot, I am hesitant about weighing them and saying that they represent Hornady balls. However, in my search, I found an unopened box of Hornady .40 cal. (.390) balls. I could weigh all 100 of them and do the same statistical evaluation as I did on the 000 buckshot. Since they are close in size to the .36 cal balls and made by Hornady, I think the statistics could be expected to fairly represent those from a box of Hornady .36 cal. balls. What do you think?

I do have one other place to search for an unopened box of Hornady .36 cal. balls. I'll look there today.

BTW the price tag was still on the unopened box of .40 cal balls. It was $5.95. Does that tell you anything about how old they are?

 

[Billnpatti]

As I told you in the PM, I did not have any Hornady .36 cal. balls but I did find three boxes of Hornady .40 cal. (.395) balls. All three boxes had the number 6025 on it even though they all had different batch numbers. I suppose that might have been the mold number or, possibly, Hornady's code for that particular size ball. I don't know. Two of the boxes were new unopened boxes of 100 balls each. The third box had been opened and contained only 89 balls. Each box had a different batch number, so I treated each box separately.

The partial box was marked as being from lot number 99-011. The balls in that box ranged in weight from a low of 94.0 grains to a high of 94.6 grains, a spread of 0.6 grains. The average weight of the 89 balls was 94.3 grains and the standard deviation was 0.1 grains.

The balls in the second box were marked as coming from lot number 2050259. They ranged from a low of 95.0 grains to a high of 96.0 grains, a spread of 1.0 grains with an average of 95.4 grains and a standard deviation of 0.3 grains.

The balls in the third box were marked as coming from batch number 02-241. They ranged from a low of 94.4 grains to a high of 95.5 grains, a spread of 1.1 grains. The average was 95.1 grains with a standard deviation of 0.3 grains.

While these were not the .36 caliber balls about which you were asking, they are close in size and should give you an idea of what you can expect in a box of Hornady balls.

Based upon my findings in a previous test using Hornady 000 buckshot and on the findings in this most recent test using Hornady balls made specifically for muzzleloading rifles, I would expect to find that the balls in a box of Hornady .36 cal. (.390) balls would weigh an average of 65.0 grains with a spread of 64.2 to 64.9 grains with a standard deviation of 0.2 grains.

 

[Mike 56]

I have a TC 36cal Seneca It does not shoot Hornady buck shot well at all. Hornady buck shot is pretty hard it does not load very well. I like Track of the Wolf or home cast .350 balls much better.

 

[Skychief]

I also shot .310 buckshot in my .32 rifle. I don't remember what size buckshot that is. I think it is (0000) but I don't remember. I never did the same study on it so I don't know how much variance there is with it. I may still have some in my storage shed. If I do, I may while away some time doing the same study with it. If I do, I will post those results for anyone who is interested. Anyone not interested can just ignore it. Who knows, you may luck out and I may not have any of the .310 buckshot left and you will be spared. :haha: :hatsoff:

I'd be interested :thumbsup:

 

[Pete44ru]

.

Not all .36cal rifles were created equal.

My .36 H&A underhammer was VERY resistant, when I tried loading a .350" patched ball, with a normally-sized (thickness) patch - only swallowing the ball when I patched it with a very old (thin) t-shirt, sopping wet with lube.

I then bought some .340" balls from TOTW, and the smaller diameter made all the difference in the world, loading/shooting like a dream.


.

 

[Billnpatti]

Alden brought this fact to my attention "0000 is .38 caliber. There is no .31 buckshot; there is .30 #1 Buck and .32 #0 Buck as far as I know." It has been a few years since I owned that .32 and I have forgotten exactly what size buckshot I was shooting. The #1 would probably have been too small and not have worked very well. The 0 buckshot would have been awfully tight but if the bore had been just a bit oversized, it would have worked. I looked in my stash of bullets and balls and I don't have any more .32 ammo. I must have given it all away after selling the rifle or else I melted it down and recast it into balls for other rifles. In any event. I don't have any buckshot that size to work with. If you will note my postings on the Hornady .40 cal. (.395) balls, their consistency is very good with standard deviations of plus or minus less than 0.5 grains

 

[stude 283]

11/2 buckshot http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Super-Buck-Lead-1-1_2-8-lb_jar-310/productinfo/SBK15/

 

[Billnpatti]

I just got an email back from a friend who bought the same Pedersoli rifle as mine at the same time as I got mine. He and I used to buy buckshot together and split it. He still has part of a box that we split back when I had my .32 and he said it was 0 buckshot We used well greased .010 cotton patching. He didn't say what the grease was but I remember that it was Bore Butter that we bought from Rebel Arms in Pasadena, Texas. That place has been closed for several years but before Ronny White went out of business, it was the best place in the Houston area to buy muzzleloading rifles, powder and gear and had an excellent range.