Round Ball Weights?

[jbide]

I have some .498 RB I ran and am sorting them by weight. For a match grade how close should they be in grams +- to keep them flying fairly close? Jim in SE Iowa

 

[Trench]

My roundball ballistics calculator says 185.3 grains.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Jim : Why would you want the weight in Grams? In the USA, we use weight measure in grains( 7000 grains to the pound). You can find conversion tables to convert grains to grams, if you must. Check Bob Spenser's Black Powder Notebook website. I believe there is also a conversion table published here under member resources. Scroll down, and click on " charts".

When sorting balls, most target shooters want the balls to be Plus or minus one grain, or less. If you are not a target shooter, I don't think you are going to notice the difference in POI if the balls vary as much as plus or minus 3 grains.

 

[jbide]

The reason I am measuring in Grams is I am using a scale from where I work. I am going to do some Chunk gun shooting this year and want to reduce any bad balls I may have pourd in the batch. I make enough mistakes. Jim

 

[paulvallandigham]

Go to Midway, or Midsouth, or Dixie or other suppliers, and you can find a simple balance beam scale from RCBS, or LYman for about $30.00. Sometimes less. These scales are in grains, not grams. A good, simple grain scale will serve you will for all kinds of shooting projects. Its indispensible for reloaders, and for black powder shooters who want to know what their fixed and adjustable VOLUME powder measures are actually throwing. If you shoot the substitute powders, you want to know accurately how much of the powder your measure is throwing, in weight, not just volume. The same goes for sorting balls, as you are doing now.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Here's a link that converts grams to grains.
http://www.metric-conversions.org/cgi-bin/util/conversion-chart.cgi?type=5&from=3&to=17

I usually pass/fail my hunting round balls on 0.4% by weight (I keep 227 & 228 grains for my .54). 226 goes in the plinking can and below that back in the remelt. Heavy balls can mean the mold wasn't fully closed and they're just as bad. They all get remelted.

 

[jbide]

I am looking at some scales for my needs. My Lee mold is .498 and depending on where you measure them run up to.500. I haven't shot any yet. We got some much snow you can't shoot for the snow drifts around here. I got hooked on Chunk guns at the Iowa Chunk Gun Shoot last year.

 

[paulvallandigham]

tomble those cast balls in a case tumbler, without the grit in them. Just put the balls in the tumbler, and let them pound each other for an hour or so. They will gain more uniform dimension, and will have small, almost microscopic divots or dishes in their surface, like a golf ball. But they will be uniform, and you will find fewer balls with voids in them. Do sort them by weight, of you are planning to use them for target shooting. Plus or minus 1 grain should produce good enough groups, unless you put together a Chunk Gun, with international peep sights. Then, you may want to be shooting balls that are all EXACTLY the same weight. Those competitions are fierce. My brother is scheduled to attend the shoot at Pall Mall, Tenn. this March.

 

[jbide]

I will borrow my Friends tumbler and try that. I have a 50 Cal. Half stock with an 1 1/8" GM Barrel I bought from Ohio weights about 15# and I built a 1" copper sight-er tube with saddles that set over the sights. Hopefully it will make for an enjoyable and accurate shooting gun. Jim