Weight sorting cast lead balls.

[JDBraddy]

I find this very monotonous and time consuming. But it does make a difference eliminating fliers.

What if anything have you guys found to expedite this process?

How tight do you keep your acceptable ranges? 1.0gr, 2.0gr, 0.5gr ?

I tumble to eliminate the sprue, do you weigh before or after tumbling?

What else if anything have you found to improve consistency/ accuracy?

 

[ETipp]

I find this very monotonous and time consuming. But it does make a difference eliminating fliers.

What if anything have you guys found to expedite this process?

How tight do you keep your acceptable ranges? 1.0gr, 2.0gr, 0.5gr ?

I tumble to eliminate the sprue, do you weigh before or after tumbling?

What else if anything have you found to improve consistency/ accuracy?

Hello JD.

What type of shooting do you do?

 

[Grimord]

For me, I have a +/-1.0 grain tolerance for balls .45 caliber and greater. For calibers smaller than .45 I go to +/- 1/2 grain tolerance. I set my electronic scale for the theoretical weight of the caliber ball to determine tolerance levels.

 

[JDBraddy]

Hello JD.

What type of shooting do you do?

NMLRA matches, mostly paper targets and metallic sillhoettes. Use mostly T/C Hawkens.

 

[dave951]

Caliber will dictate your tolerance. For anything .50cal and greater, +-1gr. Under .50cal- +-.5gr

 

[Eric Krewson]

I used to weigh my cast balls but I found my rifles will shoot the same with about anything that I put in them. Once I got the loads worked up I don't get fliers except for an occasional one with a clean barrel on one of my guns.

I got rooked on a mold trade, the mold casts a ball that is .535 on one side and .528 on the other, I was expecting this ball to be all over the place but they shoot will a cloverleaf at 50 yards consistently which surprised me.

All that said; I am only a paper puncher until deer season comes in, no competition so I don't have to be too precise.

 

[ronaldrothb49]

I started shooting competition back in the 70's and I have never weighed a ball. I cast all my balls using single cavity molds which eliminates the possibilities of having different size cavities which can happen with multiple cavity molds. Each ball is visually inspected when cast. If it has a hole in the sprue or is wrinkled it goes back in the pot. I primarily shot Cross stick and light bench which require a high degree of accuracy if you want to win. This is a system that has worked very well for me over the years.

 

[ETipp]

NMLRA matches, mostly paper targets and metallic sillhoettes. Use mostly T/C Hawkens.
View attachment 340686

For competition shooting, I’d definitely want everyone to be very close in weight. For just about any big game hunting application, I do not see where a difference of even 2 grains would make one bit of difference in your success rate, for round ball. I still have some testing to do but my guess is that for small bore and hunting small game such as squirrels, it’s not likely I would want more than a 1 to 1.5 grain spread.

 

[longcruise]

If it has a hole in the sprue or is wrinkled it goes back in the pot

That's exactly the extent of my quality control.

I have weighed .224 and .277 bullets and found up to 1 grain variations in weight but they still shot with excellent accuracy.

 

[Sparkplug]

I like precision, especially when hunting. As said before, mine are tumbled, then measured to within .001 diameter, then weighed to within 1 gr for over 50 cal, and .5 gr for under. Also for hunting, my powder is weighed. Any oddball bullets are either recast, or used for plinking and practice. Powder is measured by volume for this also.

 

[leadhoarder]

If I will ever get to the point where I shoot good enough for that to make a difference I will be a happy man.

 

[JDBraddy]

Excellent Accuracy is a subjective thing, many black powder shooters think 2.0 MOA is excellent Accuracy, many factory centerfire shooters think 1.0 MOA is excellent Accuracy, many benchrest shooters think 0.2 MOA is just marginally acceptable at best.

Below is a 2.4 MOA target I shot in a match last weekend.

 

[ETipp]

Excellent Accuracy is a subjective thing, many black powder shooters think 2.0 MOA is excellent Accuracy, many factory centerfire shooters think 1.0 MOA is excellent Accuracy, many benchrest shooters think 0.2 MOA is just marginally acceptable at best.

Below is a 2.4 MOA target I shot in a match last weekend.

View attachment 340911

My guess is, it’s because many black powder hunters know that a 2 MOA will kill big game very well IF the POI is where it should be. Considering the average shot distance is 30 to 50 yards for the thick hardwoods east of the big muddy river, they would be correct in saying so. Personally, I do not consider anything over MOA to be excellent for any application.

Competition shooting is a different animal.

 

[45man]

Cast properly and there will be zero rejects and weight varience will be nil.
If a mold casts out of round it is way too hot. Slow the rate a little. A mold does not expand evenly like a hole in a block, it is two pieces.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Not a lead heat problem with my off-center mold, I have been casting for 50 years and know the process well, my mold is really off center, I have seen in reviews of Lyman molds that others have ended up with a poorly cut mold as well.

I have around 1 dozen molds of different sizes, this mold is the only one that throws a cockeyed ball. I find the new CNC lee molds to be as good as any and cast a very consistent ball. The best mold I ever used was a .395 Rapine mold that I borrowed from a friend before I bought that size for myself.

 

[LME]

Excellent Accuracy is a subjective thing, many black powder shooters think 2.0 MOA is excellent Accuracy, many factory centerfire shooters think 1.0 MOA is excellent Accuracy, many benchrest shooters think 0.2 MOA is just marginally acceptable at best.

Below is a 2.4 MOA target I shot in a match last weekend.

View attachment 340911

How far were the shots? At a hundred yards it is excellent to me. If you can keep five shots in a tight group like yours anyone would be pleased.

 

[JDBraddy]

How far were the shots? At a hundred yards it is excellent to me. If you can keep five shots in a tight group like yours anyone would be pleased.

Was only 50yds not 100yd, am not that good yet! 1.2" at 50yds works out to roughly 2.4 MOA. This was my first 50 of 50 target, so got the patch, to explain the three ribbons, it won high score on that target, highest scoring target for the match, and I finished second place overall aggregate for the match.

 

[JDBraddy]

Not a lead heat problem with my off-center mold, I have been casting for 50 years and know the process well, my mold is really off center, I have seen in reviews of Lyman molds that others have ended up with a poorly cut mold as well.

I have around 1 dozen molds of different sizes, this mold is the only one that throws a cockeyed ball. I find the new CNC lee molds to be as good as any and cast a very consistent ball. The best mold I ever used was a .395 Rapine mold that I borrowed from a friend before I bought that size for myself.

I bought mostly Lyman two cavity molds, and on some each cavity casts a slightly different size, am slowly going to using just one of the cavities, using single cavity molds, or going to the less expensive CNC cut Lee molds.

 

[LME]

Was only 50yds not 100yd, am not that good yet! 1.2" at 50yds works out to roughly 2.4 MOA. This was my first 50 of 50 target, so got the patch, to explain the three ribbons, it won high score on that target, highest scoring target for the match, and I finished second place overall aggregate for the match.

i've never shot M.L. match. I have shot a lot of them with modern rifles. I congratulations on your win! Not many shooter could keep that group. Out of five shots it isn't strange to hear a shooter say ,"dang a flier!" !

 

[longcruise]

Was only 50yds not 100yd, am not that good yet! 1.2" at 50yds works out to roughly 2.4 MOA. This was my first 50 of 50 target, so got the patch, to explain the three ribbons, it won high score on that target, highest scoring target for the match, and I finished second place overall aggregate for the match.

Well, I have guns that can do that but for me I doubt I could shoot that target at 50 from the bench.

And coming in second shows that you are shooting with people that are very good and that's a big factor in improving skills.