Roundballs

[CraigThompson]

I cast a bunch of .600” and .690” roundballs today . Precision Reloading sells some rather stout and thick steel compatible wads for the 10 and 12 gauge . Anyway the .600” ball fits nicely inside the 12 gauge and I’m hoping the .690” will fit relatively well in the 10 gauge wad . A fellow on the www.castboolits.com forum turned me on to this . If I can get them to shoot as well as the slugs in my old doubles I’ll try them on deer . Hopefully I’ll be able to fit two .600 balls in the 2 3/4” 12 wad , pretty sure the 12 3” wad will handle them . The fellow that told me about this was shooting three of the .600 balls in a 12 gauge 3 1/2” . I’m afraid in the 10 it’ll be a single ball only deal .

[Rick Losey]

a lead .600 round ball is 3/4 oz-

so an ounce and a half for two will be a stiff load - hope its a stout 12 ga Charlie

[Harry Collins]

One point to remember is that if the bullet is too fast or too light the bullets will cross. If too heavy or too slow they will shoot apart from one another

[Dean Romig]

In the two ball load how will you cushion one ball from the other?





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[CraigThompson]

In the two ball load how will you cushion one ball from the other?





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I’ll see if they’ll fit in a 2 3/4” Hull first and if there’s room a felt or cork wad in between .

[CraigThompson]

a lead .600 round ball is 3/4 oz-

so an ounce and a half for two will be a stiff load - hope its a stout 12 ga Charlie

I will most likely use a 2 and or 3 frame . If I do it with 3” hulls it’ll be a Superposed Mag or A-5 Mag .

[CraigThompson]

One point to remember is that if the bullet is too fast or too light the bullets will cross. If too heavy or too slow they will shoot apart from one another

You mean right vs left or the two balls in a single load ? I’ll give it a try and see what happens , I suspect it’ll do well enough for my 25-30 yard parameter . If I do hunt with these things one barrel will have the double balls while the other barrel carries buck or slug .

[charlie cleveland]

i figure the 2 ballset up will work fine my dad use to shoot 2 45 caliber balls out of his muzzle loader it did well....i too like the round ball loads especially the old 8 ga i shoot a 2 ounce ball in it....charlie

[Harry Collins]

I should have said the barrels. If the bullets are too light or too fast their paths will cross. The right barrel will shoot to the left and the left barrel will shoot to the right. If the bullets are too heavy or to slow the bullets will shoot apart. That is the right barrel will shoot to the right and the left barrel will shoot to the left.

[CraigThompson]

I should have said the barrels. If the bullets are too light or too fast their paths will cross. The right barrel will shoot to the left and the left barrel will shoot to the right. If the bullets are too heavy or to slow the bullets will shoot apart. That is the right barrel will shoot to the right and the left barrel will shoot to the left.

A prime example of the crossing affect . Our VHE 20 shooting factory loaded Brenneke slugs at 25 yards two from the right barrel are left and vice versa .

[CraigThompson]

Incidentally I plan to eventually plunk a deer with the VHE 20 shooting the Brenneke slug and another time with my home cast and loaded Lyman Sabot Slug that’s 300-350 grains . Also got a decent buckshot handload for the 20’s .

[CraigThompson]

Kinda hard to see but they’re pretty decent #2 Buck loads in my Fox and the little Parker does about the same at 25 yards .

[Harry Collins]

I sold John Davis a 45/70 double rifle at the Fall Southern a few years ago. With factory ammo the gun was shooting apart. Even with factory 350 grain bullets. I needed a lighter bullet and faster. I went with a 300 grain Bullet and started bumping up the speed until the bullets were shooting side by side at 50 yards. I shot this group at 100 yards and open sights. The deer fell to one shot at about 125 yards.

[CraigThompson]

That's great !

I've yet to have the pleasure of trying to make a double rifle perform .

But I am sure one of these days I just might .

Heck I've got 4 drillings I've yet to kill a deer with . Strangely I was chomping at the bit for a drilling but after messing with the ones we have I'm not as wound up as I was . The neatest one is a hammer Kettner that's 16-16 and 10.75x65R Collath . I have a pair that are 7x57R ones a Kerner with 16 gauge shotfun barrels and the others a JP Sauer from the eastern block days that's a 12 gauge double over 7x57R and lastly I have a hammer guild gun that's 16-16 x 8x46 RWS I believe it is . Used to have a Antonio Zoli combo gun that was 12-7x57R but I sent that one packing as I never really cared for it .

[John Campbell]

One aspect that I don't noticed addressed here is choke. I would personally be very apprehensive about shooting a solid round ball through anything tighter than half choke (modified). Most British makers would mark their barrels "not for ball" if half choke or tighter.

Also... the balls should be cast of pure lead, not an alloy. This will reduce strain of compression through any choke.

Just my perspective.

[Dave Noreen]

Back in the day before rifled slugs, our U.S. ammunition companies loaded a one ounce ball in 12-gauge, 7/8 ounce in 16-gauge, 5/8 ounce in 20-gauge and 82 grains in .410-bore. All well smaller than the choke would be.

[CraigThompson]

One aspect that I don't noticed addressed here is choke. I would personally be very apprehensive about shooting a solid round ball through anything tighter than half choke (modified). Most British makers would mark their barrels "not for ball" if half choke or tighter.

Also... the balls should be cast of pure lead, not an alloy. This will reduce strain of compression through any choke.

Just my perspective.

All three of my W&C Scotts have the "Not for Ball" stamp on the underside the tubes as well as the 10 gauge fluid steel barreled Greener I had . IF memory serves the muzzles on my 10 gauge Scott measure .720 ish . It never was great with buckshot but I killed one deer with it and went on to another gun . If I ever quit adding 10's I'm quite sure my 10 gauge buckshot and slug gun will be my EH that's factory 28" unless of course I find a factory original EH that's 24 or 26 inches .

[Harry Collins]

I have a GH 12 with factory Vulcan replacement barrels. For day to day shooting I lament relieving the left barrel choke to improved cylinder/.010. The right barrel remains untouched at .012. The good news is that 1oz slugs print side by side at 25 yards.

[CraigThompson]

I have a GH 12 with factory Vulcan replacement barrels. For day to day shooting I lament relieving the left barrel choke to improved cylinder/.010. The eight barrel remains untouched at .012. The good news is that 1oz slugs print side by side at 25 yards.

Only one I’ve ever had opened is a WW Greener D40 12 gauge I bought when I was 14 . Took it to Clark Brothers I n Warrenton VA after I bought it and they told me the chambers should be lengthened a 1/4” it was 2 1/2” and I had it done think it cost me $40 in 1976 . Later I had the left choke opened to MOD the gun was light IC and a bit xtra F .

[CraigThompson]

I was able to cast more both sizes of the roundballs today and I finally remembered to order the Precision Reloading steel shot wads that I was instructed to use . I however ordered both 12 gauge wads ones for 2 3/4" and the other is for 3" as well as the 10 gauge wad . And felt 20 and 28 gauge wads for cushioning .

Hopefully sometime next week I'll be able to get some idea whether this is going to fly or not :whistle:

In hindsight I wish I'd looked to see if they made a 16 gauge wad of the same description as these and I'd have ordered a bag of them . Incidently a bag holds 100 wads , so I should have enough to get me thru all the 12 gauge stuff for perhaps 7 or 8 guns in 2 3/4" and 2 in 3" . I may however need more 10 gauge wads :cool:

[charlie cleveland]

i just read a note of the nitro shell reloading company they say there loads of buckshot will put all the buckshot load in a 24 inch circle at 70 yards....this beats my handloads hands down.....charlie

[CraigThompson]

Took three presses to the shop today ! Started out loading 10 gauge 2 7/8” with the .69” roundball and they came out looking pretty decent although a slight bulge in the middle , I’m using a rather thick Precision Reloading steel shot wad with these round balls . Then I loaded some 12 gauge 2 3/4” with a solid base version of the Lyman sabot slug nestled in the CB WAA12 wad and as expected they came out just like the HB version of the same slug . Then I loaded some 12 gauge 2 3/4” using another Precision Teloading steel shot wad Nd two .600” roundballs , they also did relatively well during the loading process . Finally I loaded some 12 gauge 3” with a triple ball load and a different Precision reloading steel shot wad specifically for 3” hulls and they settled very well except I was 100% satisfied with the final crimp on some but time should remedy that if they shoot anywhere near what I’m
Hoping for !

[charlie cleveland]

hope these round ball loads work out for you i m a fan of the round ball load...i killed a deer with my 8 gauge lifter with a round ball load...my round ball for the 8 ga weighs 2 ounces....that deer never even moved a twitch when hit with that load...i bet your 3 ball load will be awesome.....charlie

[CraigThompson]

The single 69 cal roundballs in the 10 gauge using the SP-10 wad worked pretty well , using the Precision steel wad they were to tight . The double 60 cal balls in a 2 3/4” shot okay but they need a little tweaking . The tri ball 60 cal 3” loads shot very well group wise . Shot all the 12’s in a Benelli semi :cool:

[CraigThompson]

Found a new (to me) mold manufacturer earlier this week and ordered a pair of molds . One for the 10 gauge and a second for the 12 gauge . These things are actually molds for .69 caliber muskets . But they’re adaptable the .695-535 is good for a 12 gauge nestled in a CB WAA12 wad and the .715-535 will work well nestled in a REM SP-10 . They come with a pin to cast with hollow base , I was able to get them to make me a second pin for each so I have solid base slugs as well . I imagine I should recieve next week some time . https://moosemoulds.wixsite.com/mm2013/wadcutter-hb