Shooting undersized balls

[Thomas.bill92]

I know it's possible, however not ideal. What I want to know is has anyone had any luck with hard(ish) lead? I have about 300 pounds of wheel weight lead which I know is too hard for the usual sized balls in a rifled gun (.490 or .495 in a .50, etc) as I have tried and broke a ball starter and a ramrod on the same day . I'm looking at getting a .40 and I already have a .380 ball mold and the aforementioned lead, thinking I might go find a yard or so of thick denim to see if it will grab the rifling well enough when it gets to shootin' time. Thoughts or concerns?

 

[TreeMan]

Probably be better off molding them into the correct caliber size and using a thinner patch. I know many people that do exactly that with balls molded from hardened #9 buckshot they melted down. A friend acquired a couple 1000 pounds of the shot and shared it with a bunch of fellas I shoot with.

 

[Grimord]

I like the idea of using an undersized mold with a thick patch when using "hard" lead. I have tried the hard lead with the proper sized mold and a thin patch and found that the thin patch did not grab the ball enough to take on the rifling of the bore and patches came out shredded. I would go with a .482 or .480 mold and .022 denim patch in a .50 caliber gun.

 

[biliff]

FWIW, I settled on a .562 ball and .018" drill patch for my .58 even when the balls are pure lead. This is in a Colerain barrel. Loads easy enough and accuracy is good ( 1 1/2" 50 yd groups, a hair over 3" at 100 yds). I'm sure you can find a patching material that will work with your small balls (couldn't help myself, sorry).

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I know it's possible, however not ideal. What I want to know is has anyone had any luck with hard(ish) lead? I have about 300 pounds of wheel weight lead which I know is too hard for the usual sized balls in a rifled gun (.490 or .495 in a .50, etc) as I have tried and broke a ball starter and a ramrod on the same day . I'm looking at getting a .40 and I already have a .380 ball mold and the aforementioned lead, thinking I might go find a yard or so of thick denim to see if it will grab the rifling well enough when it gets to shootin' time. Thoughts or concerns?

So I tried .520 instead of my standard .530 and a thick patch, which allowed me to just be able to start the ball down with thumb pressure. Accuracy went to crap, so stopped trying them.

LD

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I know it's possible, however not ideal. What I want to know is has anyone had any luck with hard(ish) lead? I have about 300 pounds of wheel weight lead which I know is too hard for the usual sized balls in a rifled gun (.490 or .495 in a .50, etc) as I have tried and broke a ball starter and a ramrod on the same day . I'm looking at getting a .40 and I already have a .380 ball mold and the aforementioned lead, thinking I might go find a yard or so of thick denim to see if it will grab the rifling well enough when it gets to shootin' time. Thoughts or concerns?

I’ve shot both .375 and .380 RBs out of my .40 calibre. I’ve only used soft pure lead, but the results have been pretty good.

I have an old .50 calibre CVA Mountain Rifle, that I got as a kid, back in the 70’s. Amongst all the projectiles that I’ve shot out of that gun, I’ve shot both soft lead and hard lead RBs out of it…the Wheel Weight RBs weren’t as accurate as the soft lead RBs…but they were hunting accurate. I’ve killed pleanty of deer using RBs caste from Wheel Weights.

 

[hanshi]

You'll have to use thicker patching or double up what you're already using. I always preferred WW ball for my smoothbore (bare ball) when not patching soft lead ball. WW ball worked fine in my .40 as well.

 

[ord sgt]

As an experiment with some copper jacket .40 cal conicals, I used some denim for a patch and shot those out of my T/C .45. Very poor results.at 50 yards. Chalk it up to a learning experience.

 

[Nuthatch]

Alright, this is an old thread. But in case somebody stumbles on this thread, I thought I’d contribute something. In CA, we have to use non-toxic projectiles — even with muzzleloaders. So I cast bismuth alloy balls. The first mould I got a chance to try out was a .480. So I went with it and it worked out just fine with a thick 0.022 denim patch. Shoots to the same POI as a .490 and a 0.018 ticking patch. So I bought a mould at .480 and started casting lead with it too. It’s no different than pure lead from an accuracy standpoint. But, yes, thicker patch.

I’m sure things would be different with a .35 ball and a leather patch. But slightly undersized isn’t a big deal.

Group from photo was 3 shots at 50 yards off a benchrest. Second photo was 4 shots at 25 yards, benchrest, different rifle.