Shooting steel ball bearings out of a Pedersoli Bess

[MC One Shot]

Just looked up ITX round balls. .54 cal round balls 10 for $11.99. Equates to 44.15 per pound or 119.90 per 100. Ouch....The ball weight is 190.1 vs the normal 230 grains. The balls are not spherical but have a flat band around them.

 

[Britsmoothy]

http://www.rgpballs.com/en/overview...4lLR67tpgMhe_mYB0Gc6cJrdyUi6fIOClwaAiMo8P8HAQ

 

[tenngun]

How do they preform. In a round ball and lighter wt, I would think velocity loss would even be worse then a lead ball. How soft are they? Do you have much expansion with them?

 

[coloradoclyde]

Just looked up ITX round balls. .54 cal round balls 10 for $11.99. Equates to 44.15 per pound or 119.90 per 100. Ouch....The ball weight is 190.1 vs the normal 230 grains. The balls are not spherical but have a flat band around them.

I posted them for reference.. I'm not endorsing them....I wouldn't shoot them.
What I would do is get registered, and make my own...out of tin or some other non lead metal.

 

[Zonie]

Just looked up ITX round balls. .54 cal round balls 10 for $11.99. Equates to 44.15 per pound or 119.90 per 100. Ouch....The ball weight is 190.1 vs the normal 230 grains. The balls are not spherical but have a flat band around them.

I posted them for reference.. I'm not endorsing them....I wouldn't shoot them.
What I would do is get registered, and make my own...out of tin or some other non lead metal.

That's the point I was trying to make.

I don't think any Tom, **** or Clyde can get his/her name added to the list of "approved suppliers".

I think your home made "non lead metal" balls would be illegal for hunting in California.
They aren't on "The List".

edit: This is the reason I urged the muzzleloaders in California to get an exception added to the law that would allow the use of lead roundballs for muzzleloading rifles only.

The logic behind this is there are so few people who hunt with patched roundballs, the small amount of lead that would be shot would be next to nothing on the grand scale of things.

It's the same logic that got motorcycles exempted from having their emissions tested in California (And Arizona). There are so few of them and they emit such a small amount, testing them isn't worth the bother to the environment or the State.

 

[Historian]

Gentlemen, I have been making my own Bismuth round balls/conicals and Bismuth shot for about 2 years now. Yes you can make a 75 cal round ball for your Bess. You need to alloy your bismuth with about 5% tin. It is not very hard to do as far as making your own roundballs or conicals. Bismuth shot is another matter. Bismuth needs to be alloyed with tin as it makes it much more similar to lead with about 5% tin added to the bismuth. Bismuth melts at about 522F and Tin at about 450F. One thing you must understand about Bismuth is that it does expand about 3.3% upon cooling. For a Bess I would use a .74 or .73 cal mold. If you need help please PM me.

 

[BrownBear]

Gentlemen, I have been making my own Bismuth round balls/conicals and Bismuth shot for about 2 years now. Yes you can make a 75 cal round ball for your Bess. You need to alloy your bismuth with about 5% tin. It is not very hard to do as far as making your own roundballs or conicals. Bismuth shot is another matter. Bismuth needs to be alloyed with tin as it makes it much more similar to lead with about 5% tin added to the bismuth. Bismuth melts at about 522F and Tin at about 450F. One thing you must understand about Bismuth is that it does expand about 3.3% upon cooling. For a Bess I would use a .74 or .73 cal mold. If you need help please PM me.

Wow! Knowledge and experience trump all speculation. Well done.

Thanks for the valuable info.

As for CA, dunno about the regs. But I can tell you that USWS enforcement folks carry some kind of test kit they can use in the field to test for lead. Haven't seen it or experienced it myself, but buds who have been checked said it looked quick and easy. Might be a worthwhile addition to any proposals to include home-cast on the list of acceptables in CA. Just googled field testing for lead and came up with this link. Seems like it would be simple and cheap.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I don't think any Tom, **** or Clyde can get his/her name added to the list of "approved suppliers".

I think your home made "non lead metal" balls would be illegal for hunting in California.
They aren't on "The List".

WHY?

Did you see something written in the statute?

Who is James Gilmore on the list?

Either way it seems a simple solution.....Start a business.

I do agree that muzzleloaders should be exempt.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I don't think any Tom, **** or Clyde can get his/her name added to the list of "approved suppliers".

I think your home made "non lead metal" balls would be illegal for hunting in California.
They aren't on "The List".

WHY?

Did you see something written in the statute?

Who is James Gilmore on the list?

Either way it seems a simple solution.....Start a business.

I do agree that muzzleloaders should be exempt.

OK! Hopefully we can settle this once and for all!....

According to the registration application private individuals can register their own projectiles.

Here is the form. https://www.google.com/url?q=https...ds-cse&usg=AFQjCNHzMx0ohWyQS4V6YOMG4X7qUIjVMg

 

[coloradoclyde]

OK! Hopefully we can settle this once and for all!....

According to the registration application private individuals can register their own projectiles.

Here is the form. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHand...[/quote]

Might be a good idea to make this a "sticky" or something so we don't have to re-hash it every couple of months.

 

[Historian]

What the feds use in the field should be the Hot Shot detector. Bismuth is easily picked out from lead. Yes, I do foresee some starting the business of offering no-tox projectiles in larger qty's than what you see now. Cartridge guns can always use copper projectiles or bismuth/tin. Ballistic Products sells ITX roundballs too. Look them up. Copper melts at a very high temp and a home furnace may be out of the question for most people. :v

 

[Rockthrower]

Speaking of shooting ball bearings in a smoothbore, as a youngster, I opened up a 12-ga. tube, poured out the shot and filled the space with 25-caliber ball bearings.

Shot it through a Stevens single barrel. Opened up the breech and just happened to look down the barrel. The ball bearings dimpled down the forcing cone and then did the nicest job of straight rifling that tube you've ever seen.

Ah to be young and innocent again!

 

[Britsmoothy]

Gives me an idea.
If I turn the gun as it fires it might give me some rifling.
B

:hatsoff:

 

[jefair1]

Roto- metal sells bismuth ingots. I think they are about $20/lb.