shooting lead ball twice

[albert]

I just read an interesting article in an old MuzzleBlasts mag. It was about a story of a guy shooting a panther and digging the ball out and hammering it round again and using it on his next shot to kill a deer. The man that wrote the article did an experiment by taking a hammer and flattening out some balls to resemble retreved balls from game and then hammered them as close to round as possible,without measuring. The target was set at 25yds. and was shot at 15 times and all shots were in the 9-ring. I was wondering if anybody has done this,I am going to try it as soon as I can get a chance.

 

I'd be concerned about roundness - with most any type of reasonable patch, it might turn in the barrel going down and wedge itself before you get it seated.

 

[cayugad]

WOW... that is amazing. It is not something I would do with my rifles. Now I could see remelting the ball down and then casting it again with other lead which is what I do many times.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I own a Minelab metal detector and I have my own recycling program from the woods behind my shooting lane. It is amazing how many I don't find. Maybe 10% are found - the rest too deep in trees or ricochetted into oblivion.

Lead is lead. It all goes back into the pot to be recast.

 

[shmrck1]

I would be concerned about what this mite do to my barrel
not even concidering the patch.

 

No, having used the same balls, but have fired a 5 shot group at 50yds. using the same patch for every shot. The laod was 165gr. 2F GOEX BP with .020" patch and a .684" ball in a .690 bore rifle. The grouve dia. of the rifle was .714 for .012" per side. The combination gave .005 compression per side and the group was a 1 1/4" diameter hole. The group was shot sitting at a table, elbow rest, no bags. It was also 15 years ago. I doubt I can shoot that well today. I can't even see a 1 1/4" hole at 50yds. today. I think it's time to get some glasses.

 

[shmrck1]

daryl
if you think you need glasses then you most likely do!
i put it of for probably 5 to 6 years, but after i got glasses i was a completely different shooter! it really don't cost that much to find out! GOOD LUCK
I am snake-eyes ::

 

Bits of history such as mentioned go back to the early 1700's as best I can date them. I first read a similar story when I was in my early 20's.....and that goes back 3 decades. As I remember a hunter was down to his last ball and kept recovering it from deer, by judiscious choice of shot, and chewing it as round as he could then would kill another deer with the same projectile, (at that point I doubt it could have been called a round ball), and supposedly did so until he got to what was at the time conisdered civilization. I'm sure it would have played the devil with the patch. What all of us must consider is that in those times survival was considerably more important than the effect such a projectile would have on the rifling....which I suspect was none given the softness of lead. At close range I'm confident it was "accurate enough" to keep the fella eating regularly. No one knows what they would do in similar circumstances as those circumstances cannot be duplicated today. Frankly, I find it rather ingenious and admire it whether the legend is true or not.

Vic

 

[albert]

Well,I finally {after wife's knee surgery,and first grandson being born)got a chance to shoot some "hammered" balls. I took 5 balls and flattened them,and then hammered round again. I used a .54 cal.,they are hard enough to hold onto without hitting your fingers. Today was a nice calm, cool day here in northern Mo., I stepped off 25 yds. and used the seat on my ATV for a rest. My load was 60 gr. Goex, .016 pillow tic spit patch. The first five shots were as cast .535 balls and were all touching, the next 5 were the "hammered" balls that I made up for this, the group was only slightly larger. Shooting condition was the same for both groups . Loading the "hammered" balls wasn't difficult at all,they started just a little bit harder than the as cast ones,but loaded just as easy once I got them down with the short starter.I wouldn't want to do this often as making them little things is a pain in the ***,tho, someday I want to do this at 50 yds.my guess is that 50 yds won't look so good.

 

[bdarin]

Why would you want to? Balls are cheap. Gander Mtn. selling box of 100 .50 cal for $1.99/box. Can buy a case of 10 boxes if you need 1000 balls. Just my $.02, since I'm new here.

 

bdarin: I have to pay ~ $7.00 for a 100 .375 balls around here. 100 .50 for $2.00 would be a steal, so I tried to locate them at Gander Mtn. com but there is no way to find lead balls. How do you get yours??? ::

 

[TwoShadows]

To get back on track with the original post....I will offer that my running mate CaptLongfish downed a fat doe with his "bess" a couple years ago and recovered the ball....hammered it back reasonally round with the poll of his hawk....reloaded...and later that day fired it again at another deer....but missed the shot...darned shame...that would have made a good campfire story!

 

[bdarin]

RobW....Was in Gander Mtn. to buy some patches and shotgun shells, came across these 1.99 deals. They're lead with some kind of gold coating (paint?). They shoot just fine. I'm thinking this is one of those "truckload deals" and will one day disappear, so I got 2 boxes for now.:thumbsup:

 

[musketman]

Why would you want to? Balls are cheap.

Someday we may not be able to get lead from stores and gun shops, so we will have to recycle everything ourselves to be able to shoot...

Yep, you could melt them down and recast them as well...

But hammering a ball is just another survival skill, like starting a fire with flint and steel when we live in the disposable lighter world...

The more we know, the better chances we have of surviving...

 

[wurzburger]

Stained glass lead???

I have about 150lbs of lead out in the shop. It's the scrap lead came which I collect from the local stained glass shop. As they build custom windows and trim the came they toss the chunks in a bucket for me to pick up. Happy to have me do it- it's free- they don't have to call the "toxic waste guy" to haul it away.

Over the years I've taken several hundred pounds of excess to the local gun shop where he gives it away- I guess. I have never tried to cast anything with it, but it appears to be clean alloy-free, pure lead. Don't stink like dog pee when melted as Ive heard wheel weights do.

Has anyone ever tried this lead??

 

Don't stink like dog pee when melted as Ive heard wheel weights do.

You think that stinks? Try a piece of 100 year old lead pipe from a toilet out of a Worcester, Massachusetts Triple Decker. Definitely a job to be done on a windy day outdoors!
:shake: :shake: :shake: :shake:
Pheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

 

[Stumpkiller]

:agree: A friend of mine runs a recycling center (aka "Junk Yard") in PA. He gets me some doozies in the line of plumber's lead.

The last batch hurt my eyes - from their bangin together when my nose tried to jump out the back of my head. NASTY!!

Dog pee would smell like a Mint Julip by comparison.

Wonder what it was like two or three hundred years ago when they got to use "original" lead? ::