What happened to 457 balls
- Thread starter sspierce8
- Start date
- Status
dickydalton
Member
Ahem, my Tom Ball modified Rogers and Spencer uses .457 balls too!
Ahem, my Tom Ball modified Rogers and Spencer uses .457 balls too!
Do you buy or cast your own?
I cast my own balls. I have all the equipment and lead for ever. So I can't see buying store bought when a new mold will pay for itself in on casting session.
I use 457 in my Walker too.
Mike OTDP
Member
I'm using .457s in my original Remington, my original Wogdon & Barton flint dueller, and my Hege-Remington (at Worlds, it makes it easier to only have two bullet sizes for five events).
dickydalton
Member
I cast all of my muzzeloading bullets. I do sometimes buy a few of something I don't have a mold for.
sharps59
Member
I also use them. In two Rogers & Spencer’s a Remington and an original colt. But I to cast my own. Along w everything else I shoot.
44 Dave
Member
The Eras Gone Johnston and Dow will work, it has a band that is about .459
whughett
Member
Some folks just prefer .457 in 44 caliber percussion revolvers. With soft lead that .0003 makes little difference in loading the ball in the chamber.
I tend to use range or scrounged lead to cast bullets so the slightly harder lead just adds a degree of extra force required to ram the ball home, so I stick to .454.
The nominal bore diameter is .452 +- which is why 45C works so well with the 44 percussion revolvers.
Nice Revolver you got there DickyDalton.Ahem, my Tom Ball modified Rogers and Spencer uses .457 balls too!
candymancan
member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2021
- Messages
- 210
I managed to get cabelas to deliver 1 box of 457 the other day, but my other 2 boxes ive been waiting 3 weeks for, i finally canceled my order and got my money back. I used up my 300 the other day that i bought a few months ago. I found both of my Pietta 1851 navy both like 457, very accurate.. I havent tried 454 i imagine they will work but id like to stick with what i know works
Too rich for my blood. About 20 cents for ball. 10 cents for cap. Maybe 10 more for powder?
Can't do much about the caps right now. But son bought one of those cap making tool kits. I made some powder. And I cast my own balls. Got over 100 pounds of pure lead. (And hundreds of range scrap and wheel weights lead) I'm going to be ready when the James and Younger gang rides again.
candymancan
member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2021
- Messages
- 210
Oh i agree cabelas wants 25$ for 457 balls.. yet they want 25$ for 530 as well... more lead same price.. i dont get there lricing sceme.. but you gatta di what you gatta do when you cant find anything.
Plus im in the middle of moving.. and i lived in a townhouse prior.. cant just cast and melt lead in my house or outside when you live 2 feet from neighbors
Plus im in the middle of moving.. and i lived in a townhouse prior.. cant just cast and melt lead in my house or outside when you live 2 feet from neighbors
brewer12345
Member
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2015
- Messages
- 2,751
I bought a couple of boxes of 454 balls when I got my revolver just so I could shoot it. About used them up and have not gotten around to casting some up. Once the heat finally breaks, I can see myself sitting down to a long session of nothing but 45 balls and bullets so that I won't have to worry about it for a long time. Then I need to get going on 58 round balls and minies...
Yes, as Jed Clampett said about his mountain cabin, "We are living in paradise.". Life on the family homestead farm with no one remotely near. In a state that's not ran by wackos (yet). Retired so have more time to waste on make vs buy.
whughett
Member
Guess I’ll never know why folks would pay even $10 for 100 lead round balls. About the only purchase really needed to cast your own is an inexpensive
two cavity mold in ones choice of size. A cast off soup pot a source of heat and a dipper of some sort.
I just bought a second two cavity mold for .457 round balls for $24 bucks.
Lead is free if one looks hard enough and isn’t picky about hardness.
two cavity mold in ones choice of size. A cast off soup pot a source of heat and a dipper of some sort.
I just bought a second two cavity mold for .457 round balls for $24 bucks.
Lead is free if one looks hard enough and isn’t picky about hardness.
whughett
Member
You’ll throw off more stink cooking supper than you will melting lead. Kitchen window open with a fan blowing air out will cover it. And an electric source of heat and CLEAN lead there aren’t any vapors at the temperature one throws bullets at. The fumes and obnoxious stuff comes from impurities mixed in.
Maybe have to think out of the box to come up with a place to cast balls. Are you a member of a gun club that would let you set up and cast bullets? Maybe a friend in the suburbs or county you could impose on? Maybe know someone that cast their own that would share, sale or trade?
Blackpowderwarrior
Member
Are you dead set on .457? I'm sure a member here may sell you some. I use .454 in my 58 uberti and my 51 Pietta and 60 Pietta. I only use .456 conical because at the time it was bought it was the only mold available. I've used .457 and really couldn't tell a difference so I stick with .454 ....
Grafs is now sold out of Ler 457 round ball molds.
MidwayUSA still has the Lee 456 conical at $29.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010205589
MidwayUSA still has the Lee 456 conical at $29.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010205589
candymancan
member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2021
- Messages
- 210
Well to be fair ive lived in woodbridge.manassas va for 30 years.. its gone from farm land and 2 lane parkway to 4 lanes. Takes 30 min to go 15 miles in traffic... all the farn land is gone.
The jobs are here as well... This townhouse we got for 375k.. and sold for 495k two weeks ago... lut 75k down.. who wouldnt want to make a 120k profit..
Only issue is living next to people.. no land.. cant even do a fire pit.. no garage... it sucked... hense why were noving... looking for 10+ acres down south now.
candymancan
member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2021
- Messages
- 210
No id try 100 454 to see how they work. I just want tight fits.. so i dont have to worry about moisture and chain fires. I dont use lube or wads because of the tight fit 457 gives. And its dead accurate..
I did make a friend who reloads regular anmo in sure hed be willing to cast lead balls if i got the sruff... but im good.. house is sold... just gatta find a nee one with land and ill be reloading regular ammo and nake my own balls and powder too probably
I've lived on our family farm farm 71 years so far. Started out with no electricity, phone, public water, roads were trails, walked to one room school. About one family per square mile. Related to or related to relatives to every family. Got rural electric (1955), then roads were improved, one room school consolidated into district school(1962) - one hour bus ride away, phones(1965), then district water(1966 indoor plumbing!) , fire protection, dust to dawn lights. Satellite dishs. People started to flood into the country. Every farm sold was broken up into small acre "ranchers" 3-10 acres - one moble home and horses on dry lot. Then apartment complexes closer to town. Suburbs. Now now thousands of people where there were a few hundred. I don't know but a few people. We got it all now. Helicopters looking for marijuana, meth labs, sex offenders, people still out of jail dispite multiple charges over years, house burgers, murders.
- Status
