Weighing Swaged Round Balls

[Boomerang]

I found that casting my own .54 cal round balls are cheaper, more consistent and more fun than buying swaged balls.

 

[LME]

I found that casting my own .54 cal round balls are cheaper, more consistent and more fun than buying swaged balls.

When I started shooting muzzle loadersI never thought of weighing and measuring my balls? I bought a box of balls and went to the range and found out how to shoot them. To be honest I could tell little difference in them but after reading these post I weighed my balls and was slightly taken back? The variation surprised me. The average weight of my .530 ball from two different companies was 226 grains. I have had excellent accuracy with them with no noticeable variation ? I haven't done any long range shooting only out to 200 yards. Using iron sights I am happy with how both brands shoot. I do believe the shooter is the biggest cause of poor accuracy more than the weight of the balls? This is if the variation in weight isn;t extreme.

 

[HighUintas]

I think the shooter certainly is the biggest reason for variation in accuracy, except for maybe the competition guys shooting from the bench. They can probably tell a difference. I can't! I just thought it was surprising and interesting.

My biggest reason for using cast balls is due to the larger diameter of the swaged balls. I would sometimes get a ball that was really hard to load to the point of having to hammer that sucker down. I haven't had that issue with my cast balls. It's surprising what a difference 0.005 in diameter can make.