ball ammo with a sprue

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Im283

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Got some of this but have never ever shot it.

Am I correct in understanding that the stump of the sprue faces directly down in the cylinder, as in facing the powder charge?
 
I always load the sprue straight up, out away from the powder. That way you can see it and get it as centered as possible for better accuracy. Although, in truth, don't seem to effect the accuracy too much from a cap and ball revolver.
 
i dont know i think id pull out the wire cutters and fix that. i guess thats why i like the lee molds. they do not leave a sprue sticking up.
 
Scrat,
That's OK, but don't let the flat cut on the lee ball be there for the lands to engrave. It's an unbalanced projectile even if it doesn't gas cut your ball.
(Liking the Lee molds for C&B revolvers myself)
 
Yep even with the Lee ball mold there will be a flat spot ..load them eaither up or down it doesn`t matter ..never on the side though , the ball won`t seal good ..
 
Swaged round lead balls should not have any sprue at all. Thats a totally different method on how they are made.
 
The store bought swagged balls are made from compressing cold soft lead into a swagging die leaveing no sprue..I`ve seen the dies for sale , might have been Dixiegunworks ...or Track of the wolf ..I don`t remember ..looked like more trouble than I wanted to do .
 
swagging takes a press to press in the lead. its a lot harder than it looks. i looked into swagging bullets before. the cheapest set up will set you back about 300. The only advantage i could really see is that pouring lead will leave an outline where the halves met. Same time you will have some sort of sprue cut. A lot of times this can be avoided on rifle and hand gun bullets it just takes time and experience to get to know your mold. For anyone that is ever looking into getting into bullet casting its a very inexpensive way to save money. You can do it the old way with a pot over a camp stove or use a mold pot. i have a lee IX production pot. its a drop pour pot. Works very good. Now as for molds. Those molds you see that were used in the civil war the steel or brass type of molds that look really good in your display cases. Well keep them there thats about all they are good for. To cast the lead must be around 700 degrees. The Mold also needs to be hot very hot not 700 degrees. this is where experience comes into play. a mold that is too cold will let the lead solidify to quick and will have cracks or just not filling out the mold all the way. a mold that is too hot will take forever to cool down. if you open it up too early the bullet comes out in hot pieces. its a balance that must be met. modern molds have good handles made of wood that are easy to grip when the mold gets hot. i have tried one of those old style ones. i could not hold it with a pair of mechanics gloves once it got hot.
 
I would think that facing the sprue in towards the powder would be better for accuracy. If it is pointing out the barrel, and is just a little bit off center, then you have a little bump moving around in circles on the front side of the ball while it is flying through the air. I would think it would be better facing backwards if you could get it centered good enough. Never tried anything other than swagged balls, though. so I'm just speculating here.
 
I have around twenty lee molds. Not all are BP molds. I cast 45,50 and 54 RB and minnies and REAL bullets.

I love Lee molds. Heres what i have done with some 54 caliber R balls that had a few wrinkles on the side.

I put them in my case cleaner with no media of course and after a few hours the balls have all the wrinkles and spot for the sprue pretty much gone. This is VERY noisy. It sounds like santas workshop on a double Christmas.

I read about doing this in one of Sam Fadalas BP books. He said put the balls in a container and place them in your trunk. Rolling around when driving would smooth them up. This might take a while. A tumbler might be better.

They end up a nice gray color when they are done instead of silver.
 
Am I correct in understanding that the stump of the sprue faces directly down in the cylinder, as in facing the powder charge?
Click to expand...
Sprue up:

As mentioned before, you can see the sprue if it's up, and know your load is symetrical. And the base of the bullet is the most critical part as regards accuracy. The sprue represents an irregularity, so you don't want it at the base of the ball.
 
You should send me any round balls with sprues! :)

Face them up away from the powda'.

Or file them off, and once filed, dump em in a coffee can and roll and tumble them around. You might even stuff the can closed in a dryer with a canvass bag, so they will really tumble. if you do that have lots of jeans in there, too as other wise you will be after a new dryer.

When casting rb thow the first 6 balls back in the pot to heat the mold. before you use the mould candle smoke it black!

When you cast and dip from the top use a stainless kitchen spoon any animal sort of grease to collect the crud.. I use racoon fat, but hamburger grease works too.

It will smoke, so light the fumes for less..

Oh YES! never ever allow a single drop of water to enter a hot pot! Look over head if the roof is metalic for condensation!

One drop of water hitting molten lead will explode the lead everywhere, and if you are with in everywhere, you will get burned BAD!
 
Got it, sprue facing up.

Really dumb question now, If the sprue was faced to the side wouldn't seating the bullet in the cylinder trim the sprue off? Using .454 balls a nice circular piece of lead comes off.
 
The excess could be shaved off if the ball doesn't rotate during the compression. BTW, I never cared whether the sprue was up or down. So long as the ball left the barrel, I couldn't tell the difference.
 
If you got lucky it might trim off the sprue. Facing it up prevents the ball from getting stuck. Probably the in general rule comces from patch ball in long guns, where if stuck ball is a bigger problem.

Not to many of these cap and ball guns ae what I would call tack drivers. A tack driver to me is a gun you can hit a postage stampe with any time you fire the gun and as a reasonable distance.

My six guns are minute of paper plate, but not minute of postage stamp.
 
So am i to believe that the ball will spin on its axis as it goes through the rifling on the barrel? sort of like a top, and the sprue facing the muzzle when loaded will be the first part of the ball to eject from the barrel?

I know this is a ignorant question too.
 
When it comes to this sport, there's no such thing as a dumb question. If there is, I've asked it.
I cast (casted?) a bunch of roundballs a few years ago and some of them weren't perfectly round, but I shot them anyways. Well, I had two double chamber fires, in two different guns (both .36 caliber) and in both guns the caps were unfired. The only reason I can think why it happened is that the irregular shape of the balls allowed a spark to enter the next chamber. Both times, it was no big deal - a little extra pop, some more smoke, but I'm careful now; wrinkled balls don't get shot.
Also, I use a Lee electric bottom pour melter, which has been great, but a few weeks ago I decided to take it all apart to clean it. Good thing I did - the heating coils that wrap around the pot were all cracked and split, and probably dangerous. $14 to replace the coils but I think I might go back to using a melting pot.
 
So am i to believe that the ball will spin on its axis as it goes through the rifling on the barrel? sort of like a top, and the sprue facing the muzzle when loaded will be the first part of the ball to eject from the barrel?
Click to expand...
Exactly right. The spin imparts gyroscopic stability.
 
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