Weighing RBs?

[Eutycus]

I don't, because I view ML shooting as a fun activity that doesn't require slavish routines. I'm not a tournament shooter, so a 9 or an 8 rather than an X or a ten won't upset me. If you're really into shooting, do you avoid all caffeinated drinks and alcohol, get at least eight hours of sleep every night, dry fire daily for an hour or more, etc., etc.? If you do those things, that's great, but there's a life to enjoy as well and I don't think that a thin patch or a ball a few tenths lighter or heavier will make much of a difference. For me, at least, it doesn't.

Let's not forget the stretching,some of
us pro athletes got to stretch them muscles first.

 

[Ohio Rusty]

I weigh mine after casting. The light ball obviously have a void or air bubble in them so those go back into the pot.
Ohio Rusty ><>

 

[stikshooter]

Been doing this for around 45 years and have never weighed a ball. Over 99% of my shooting has been in competition or in practicing for competition. Over half has been for cross sticks or light bench. In the early days I used commercially made balls but since I started casting them myself my accuracy is much better. I use only single cavity molds so I don't have to deal with the variation in cavities. I look at each ball as it comes out of the mold. If it has a hole in the sprue, looks wrinkled or dull it goes back in the pot. I have won my fair share of matches over the years.

So basically your visually sorting ,taking the place of weighing ,so only thing missing is voids caused by your

improper casting temps/cadence or impurities in your lead . So I guess you took out some of the obvious defects ,weighting removes the rest /Ed

 

[French Colonial]

As in many different subjects on this forum it depends on what discipline of this sport you shoot.

Weighing roundballs does it matter.
Hunting, nope
Smoothbore matches, nope
Rifle offhand matches, nope
Casual benchrest, probably not
Competition benchrest, maybe

99% of the people on this forum will never benefit from weighing roundballs, however if it eliminates a doubt that you have regarding your casting abilities weigh them until you realize the futility.

 

[User_Dan]

I weigh minies because I find it easy to have hidden air pockets. Others, not so much.

 

[Howard Pippin]

Yes, I weigh mine. I don't have a lot to do and when I make round balls I might only make 50, perhaps 25 survive the weigh in and then I use them. Generally I strive for accuracy and I can eliminate the ones that don't weight right and then that's one more thing that I can say did not cause my problem. Gong shooting is one thing, target shooting is another. I also shoot at rocks, little clumps of grass and whatever catches my fancy sometimes, but paper punching from a good rest is what I do to see whether it's me, the rifle, the Lube, or the bullets.
Many years ago I started telling my hunter safety kids that's the difference between a sportsman and a slob hunter were the sportsman used 20 shells to sight in and one to get his game and the slob hunter used one to sight in and took 19 to get his game. Both used 20 shots, does that matter?
Squint

 

[French Colonial]

I used to cast thousands, that's right thousands, of lead projectiles each winter so I would not have to during the heat of summer.

I weighed them when I first started but after I knew what I was doing (preheat mold, ladle pour with a constant temperature lead pot) I realized there so few rejects that it was a waste of time.

Other people may need to weigh, I don't.

 

[oldwood]

There are a couple stories of desperate hunters trying to survive on the early Ohio River frontier invoving running low on balls , and after shooting game for emergency food , retrieving the once fired lead ball then chewing the lead ball round again for reuse. Guess sacrificing a tooth or two was better than starvation in the woods.

 

[ronaldrothb49]

So basically your visually sorting ,taking the place of weighing ,so only thing missing is voids caused by your

improper casting temps/cadence or impurities in your lead . So I guess you took out some of the obvious defects ,weighting removes the rest /Ed

The majority of my shooting is in competition where the match is often decided by string measure. I have never weighed a ball, I don't use a false muzzle or a sealed ignition and I don't have a fancy adjustable stock or expensive sights. I also used a set of Lyman sights for several years before I got a set of Redfield sights. Over the years I have won just as many matches as the people who have all that. So that tells me all that is unnecessary and irrelevant. One of the best cross stick shooters I have shot against had an old Douglas barrel duct taped in a Hawken half stock with a drum and nipple, didn't even have a butt plate so he could make the weight and he was hard to beat.
I was sighting in the new rifle that I just finished recently. trying different loads. Had 8 shots in one hole at 5 o'clock about an inch out of the black. used all the powder in that can so decided to adjust the sights just to get it in the black. Got a new can of powder out and shook it good before opening it. Fired 10 shots and it looked like I was patterning a shot gun they were all over the target. The only thing that I changed was a different lot of powder.

 

[Rifleman1776]

when I make round balls I might only make 50, perhaps 25 survive the weigh in

Howard, a 50% failure rate sounds to me like you do not have the best casting technique mastered yet. Your keeper rate should be near 100% if you are consistent. Try raising your lead temp a bit.

 

[tenngun]

Nothing wrong with them that weigh, or them that don’t. I inspect and reject visible flaws.
Consistency will pay off. Your best bet is the same powder load, same lube, same weight of ball, from a rest preferably same ambient temp ant humidity.
Well you have to sacrifice something or only shoot on perfect days.
Still, since days aren’t always perfect you keep as consistent as possible.
Or not
These are poor guns after all. Jack har weighed ball and premesured charges in little tubes, Bob tosses a charge in a measure that this shot is a little full and that shot almost.
Both have too much fun

 

[Relic shooter]

Do any of you weigh your cast RBs and group them for shooting?
Do you find that it improves accuracy?

If your casting your own round balls or projectiles & are interested in obtaining the best accuracy weighing each is only way to avoid those with air pockets that will ruin your group or a long range shot at game.
I've found commercially purchased swaged round balls & bullets to be free of any weight variances.

 

[Howard Pippin]

Howard, a 50% failure rate sounds to me like you do not have the best casting technique mastered yet. Your keeper rate should be near 100% if you are consistent. Try raising your lead temp a bit.

Thanks for the comeback. You could be right, I'm quite particular when I weigh, and I allow myself half a grain over or half under. My lead pot is pretty hot, I use a bottom pour pot, I used to do the dipper method but this seems a little better. Biggest problem is, if I go too fast my aluminum die gets too hot and of course balls get a little heavier. Now that's taking an average of the weight of the balls that weigh the same. Sometimes I'll have just as many good balls that are of one grain heavier or one grain lighter and I will keep them separate and not remelt them and use them instead at whatever I wanna shoot at. Haven't really shot at anything alive for a couple of years. I try to maintain about 176 grains or 177 as my target weight but I don't buy pure lead, I do have a lot of roofing lead and quite a bit of lead pipe that I have reclaimed. Neither one seemed to be exactly the same identical makeup. I could take the time to melt them together and they would probably all be the same but that seems like a lot of wasted effort too. Actually, wheel weights that weigh about 173 grains seam to shoot just as accurate as pure lead, and I do have lots of that, but I did buy some pure lead to make mini balls but I couldn't tell much difference. I don't load heavy, roughly 1 grain per caliber, .50 takes 50 grains or 55 and a .45 takes 45 or 50. I use a 13 thousands patch and Mr. Flint locker seems to be the best patch Lube I have found, I have tried at least 25 different patch lubes. I have patched all the way up to.030, which were blue jeans, and all it did was make the rifles load awful hard. I play around with either percussion or flintlock, I like to use my flintlock where we have plank turkey shoots, but trail walks I like the percussion because I got one that weighs 5 and three quarter pounds and that really is a plus. It's a short barreled percussion with a synthetic stock that I bought especially for offhand.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I don't buy pure lead, I do have a lot of roofing lead and quite a bit of lead pipe

That might be a clue. But, I used to buy pure lead in large quantities to both use and resell. In later years I have used pipe, electric cable casing, roof flashing, etc. I cannot see a difference between those and the pure ingots I used to buy. But, to me, the idea of using wheel weights is just plain naughty talk.

 

[BP Addict]

I started after subscribing to Dutch Schultz's Accuracy program. I can't say that there's any difference.

The only reason I still do is because I have a two-cavity mold that throws two different weights, 177 and 178 for a .490 RB. If I could find a way to separate them when they come out of the mold, that would save time. However, if I were to purchase a single cavity, it might take me longer to cast 100 balls but I wouldn't have to weigh them after.

I don't really shoot competitively other than the friendly club matches. A wise person once told me to control the variables and keep everything as consistent as possible. Throw in my little bit of OCD and there you go.

Walt

 

[45man]

If you cast properly, balls will maybe varie by a few tenths of a gr. I am retired but will never put a ball on a scale.
One time I had little to do so I weighed powder charges and found the measure shot better then weighrd charges.

 

[stikshooter]

If you cast properly, balls will maybe varie by a few tenths of a gr. I am retired but will never put a ball on a scale.
One time I had little to do so I weighed powder charges and found the measure shot better then weighrd charges.

Whatever works for you ,I weight everything cause consistent weight is one less thing to go wrong! You must really be skilled to overcome a variable that I will never contend with , I have enough drawbacks in competition without another one not added , conicals especially benefit long range . Why most (not gifted )stack odds in their favor . Winning or eating meat on a regular basis is why/Ed

 

[The Miner '49er]

Let's not forget the stretching,some of
us pro athletes got to stretch them muscles first.

I do stretch those muscles. Every evening I try to do a few recliner presses and 12 ounce hops and malt curls. I wholeheartedly recommended this following a day of shooting.

 

[bpd303]

If I could find a way to separate them when they come out of the mold,

I have no problem keeping the balls separated from 2 cavity molds. The way I do it is to use a large shallow tray lined with old towels as padding. When dropping the balls from the mold I hold it close to the toweling to open and tap to release the balls or bullets. The ball from the farthest cavity gets pushed away while I check for flaws and the closest ball gets rolled to me while inspecting it. Then the balls get put in separate containers. If both cavity's throw the same weight ball I don't worry about where they go. That's the only time I weigh balls is when I get a new 2 cavity mold. Most of mine are Lee molds and I have never found one that throws two different weights. The secret to not having internal voids is to adequately fill the mold with a pool of lead at the top of the sprue and temperature control.

 

[Sam squanch]

I was given a box of .490 balls and decided to weigh them ( hornady swaged) out of a box of 100, 15 were lightweights. Did some experimenting with shooting groups. The lightweight balls definitively were flyers. This was at 40 yards. Not horrible flyers though, they were all in a deer killing zone on my target. But I’m after cloverleaf groups at 40 or 60 yards.