What's your go-to round ball?

SlowFuse said:

Is there a coating on Hornady balls or is this white-ish residue from age? These have a price of about 6 dollars and the box looks old. Not sure how old exactly... Quite opposite of Speer, they're dark almost black.

View attachment 884706

Click to expand...

Oxidation. Uncoated pure lead will eventually develop a white coat covering the entire bullet.

Ive actually rolled my balls/bullets that i cast in different black powder compatible lubes and oils just to coat them and keep them from oxidizing. Ive used a light coating of canola oil, shea butter, mutton tallow, etc. And i mean light coat...you dont want them to be soaked dripping. It works to keep the lead sealed from being exposed to oxygen that causes the oxidation. I also keep them in ziplock bags and stored in sealed containers. Ive even just kept the uncoated lead in sealed air tight containers and it kept the oxidation away.

With regard to oxidization, I find a quick zap with WD-40 eliminates it. I also find the problem to be entirely cosmetic, so if the appearance doesn't bother you, it will do no harm.

SlowFuse said:

Thanks for the replies!

So, it seems like the general answer here is pick a size that shows good results and buy whatever is available/cheaper with less focus on brand. And the other side... seems like a lot of people that are into black powder also cast their own? And BP shooters are maybe more DIY types (just from my perspective in the short time i've been browsing this section). I have a little bit of casting equipment and have tried casting 45 and 32 cal tumble lubed bullets using a borrowed pot and my own Lee molds, they were just ok. Just not sure if I want to dive all the way in! That said, I understand the need for dead soft lead if I were to get a round ball mold.



How long ago was that? First time i've heard of a drugstore selling guns! I've heard the stories of auto part stores or hardware stores back in the day. I'm too young to have ever witnessed it.

Click to expand...

Well it happened twice! The local pharmacy was kinda like an everything store with a fully stocked gun store inside. Great place. They were purchased by a large chain from back East and they were anti gun so they told the manager to just dump it all and dump it he did. Huge discounts to his regular customers. This was in the 80’s and I shot a lot of hi power rifles and pistols back then. The new owners eventually found that the investment wasn’t so great without the gun store so they opened it up again five years or so later. Then, maybe ten years later, history repeated itself, it was sold again, and they had another huge discount sale, tho’ not as good as when Barney ran the joint... good times. We were still a little wild and woolly back then...
“Where bikers stare at the cowboys who are laughing at the hippies who are praying that they’ll get out alive”

There’s only one local gun store in that town now, and it’s not much on inventory and no black powder at all. Too many of the hippies survived apparently, they’ve outlasted and outnumbered the cowboys and the bikers both.

woodnbow said:

Well it happened twice! The local pharmacy was kinda like an everything store with a fully stocked gun store inside. Great place. They were purchased by a large chain from back East and they were anti gun so they told the manager to just dump it all and dump it he did. Huge discounts to his regular customers. This was in the 80’s and I shot a lot of hi power rifles and pistols back then. The new owners eventually found that the investment wasn’t so great without the gun store so they opened it up again five years or so later. Then, maybe ten years later, history repeated itself, it was sold again, and they had another huge discount sale, tho’ not as good as when Barney ran the joint... good times. We were still a little wild and woolly back then...
“Where bikers stare at the cowboys who are laughing at the hippies who are praying that they’ll get out alive”

There’s only one local gun store in that town now, and it’s not much on inventory and no black powder at all. Too many of the hippies survived apparently, they’ve outlasted and outnumbered the cowboys and the bikers both.

Click to expand...

Now that is funny! Well, in a way...

SlowFuse said:

Is there a coating on Hornady balls or is this white-ish residue from age? These have a price of about 6 dollars and the box looks old.

Click to expand...

That's lead oxide...happens over time. It was the primary pigment in the "lead based paint" years ago. The lead oxide oil based paint was great as a white paint, as it was one of the first that would "cover in one coat", and easy to add other pigments to change colors, so it was used a lot in schools and in rental properties. Except that when it flaked and toddlers ate the paint chips, they got lead poisoning. The white stuff is the stuff to avoid..., not so much any dark lead residue on hands when handling lead ball, though you should always wash hands before eating etc even when not shooting lead bullets, eh?

That's why when they dig up old CW bullets, they are often quite white....


LD

Loyalist Dave said:

The white stuff is the stuff to avoid..., not so much any dark lead residue on hands when handling lead ball, though you should always wash hands before eating etc even when not shooting lead bullets, eh?

Click to expand...

I've read that it's better to wash off lead that's on the skin with cold water than hot so that lead isn't absorbed through the pores.
Hot water can open the pores.
Also, drinking orange juice and other citrus juices that contain vitamin C can help to leach accumulated stored lead out the body.

I met a gunsmith who had severe lead poisoning from cleaning guns in a bath of dirty solvent.
He said that the lead had absorbed through his skin.

rodwha said:

Now that is funny! Well, in a way...

Click to expand...

A comic tragedy, I guess... although in the short term I did all right, I sure miss the place.

I have some Lee moulds that are 35 years old and they cast good projos. While I do have an assortment of Hornady, Speer and others when I found them cheap. I prefer to shoot my own because I can weigh and sort them for max accuracy if needed, just re-melt the culls or save them for plinking.

arcticap said:

I met a gunsmith who had severe lead poisoning from cleaning guns in a bath of dirty solvent .

Click to expand...

Right but what folks miss is the "lead" in that solvent contained lead oxide.... Lead by itself in the body that isn't oxidized does very little damage, well apart from when it enters by traumatic means. Which is why they don't go after bullets, or shot, when it's deep in the body. It doesn't poison the person. Once any infection is ruled out, pellets or bullets are often carried around by the "victim" for decades until they pass from other natural causes.

I know of a couple more guys, who were told by their doctors that they were being poisoned by lead, one was like your example, told it was from cleaning solvent, and the other was from handling pipe as a plumber's assistant. Turned out they were actually both going to the same indoor range, where only lead alloy projectiles were allowed, and when these hit the backstop at the back of the range, the bullets splattered. The splattered lead would then become lead dust and oxidize. So when anybody swept up the range, lead oxide dust was tossed into the air, and when either of these fellows helped to sweep up at the end of an evening range session, they got lead dust on their clothing. The were breathing in the poison from the range, not from skin contact to non-oxidized lead.

LD

SlowFuse said:

For those shooting 44 cap and ball revolvers, curious if you go back to a certain brand of lead balls that works better than others for you.

I have .451 Hornady, .454 Speer and .457 Hornady. Wish I had Hornady .454's right now as well to compare back to back with the Speers. That size seems like it will be the most promising.

Are there any other brands out there worth trying? Not really wanting to buy molds to make my own at this point.

Pictures make everything better:

View attachment 884570

Click to expand...

Can't help you. I don't buy rb, it's far far easier to cast them.

in the North East we Cable splicers and lineman for the phone company were given a bi-annually lead level blood test. If one failed it we were reassigned to eliminate working with lead sheathed communication cables.

The line man were more likely as pulling old lead cables and reeling them would release the surface oxidation. Prevention was simply a rig that wetted the cables as they were pulled onto the reels.

Loyalist Dave said:

Right but what folks miss is the "lead" in that solvent contained lead oxide.... Lead by itself in the body that isn't oxidized does very little damage, well apart from when it enters by traumatic means. Which is why they don't go after bullets, or shot, when it's deep in the body. It doesn't poison the person. Once any infection is ruled out, pellets or bullets are often carried around by the "victim" for decades until they pass from other natural causes.
LD

Click to expand...

Yup, I can vouch for that. I'm carrying 3 slugs around inside and they aren't causing any lead poisoning. Most issues I have from the event is scar tissue causing problems. I also cast quite a few bullets and handle lead. Just wash hands before eating or drinking, drink OJ, no worries.

A friend of mine worked at an indoor range and he had no lead problems till he started there. Not only is there lead dust from the bullets hitting the backstop, there's also lead in the primer compound used in a lot of centerfire ammo and it vaporizes and goes out the muzzle as the gun is shot.

Loyalist Dave said:

Right but what folks miss is the "lead" in that solvent contained lead oxide.... Lead by itself in the body that isn't oxidized does very little damage, well apart from when it enters by traumatic means. Which is why they don't go after bullets, or shot, when it's deep in the body. It doesn't poison the person. Once any infection is ruled out, pellets or bullets are often carried around by the "victim" for decades until they pass from other natural causes.

Click to expand...

There seems to be some anecdotal evidence of the absorption of powdered lead through skin, however small.
What's unknown is how much of any absorbed lead is actually stored in parts of the body such as in the bones and tissues.
Testing was done with different types of lead including that type in lead paint which is water soluble.
And some of the test subjects were rats.
The minute amount of metal powder absorbed through their skin was detected in their urine as proof that it was being absorbed.
But you're probably right that it's not the same as actually being poisoned.
I only searched for skin in this US Dept. of Health document by skimming through to pages 261 - 262 where some of the test results were mentioned. --->>> https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp13.pdf
The next section p. 263 mentions autopsy studies of children and adults about where lead is stored, in bones and soft tissue.
Apparently most people come into contact with much less lead today than during previous decades.

The gov't also claims that:
"Washing skin with standard soap and water is not enough to remove lead residues. NIOSH researchers have developed wipes that can remove 98% of lead residues from skin. ... Shower and change your clothes and shoes after working around lead-based products. " --->>> https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/lead/safe.html

I wear thick latex dish washing gloves when I ckean my revolvers in almost scalding soap & water.
Not because of the lead which never really occurred to me, but because I don't want to burn my hands.

I'm old enough to remember when gas had lead in it. IIRC, it was only after a number of refinery workers making leaded gas developed serious health issues that the gvt seriously started looking into it. Now we have unleaded gas. That same lead came right out of the car exhaust too.

While I'm not a scientist, I'd bet that lead absorbed through breathing and ingested is the source of most lead issues today. Go to an indoor range and look at how they go about air handling. If the air isn't constantly moving to the inside as I open the range door, I'm probably not going back cause they have major ventilation problems.

Thats some nice shootin

Mr. Slowfuse are your chambers chamfered?

I use the lyman chamfer tool. Works great and is done slowly by hand. Although its so sharp you could do it fast. Only 12-13 bux

I'm not sure about if or how chamfering chambers affects gas cutting of the cylinder pin.
A small circle of gas cutting can develop on the exposed portion of the 1858 cylinder pin as hot gases are directed downward from the chambers when fired.
It doesn't usually go beyond a surface depth but IDK whether or not chamfering affects the depth along with the amount of cylinder gap and size of the powder charges [perhaps].
Some companies such as Euroarms chamfered their chambers while others don't.
That's for the experimenters to decide if they want their balls swagged or cut when rammed into the chambers.

Another potential issue could be the amount of residue being directed toward the cylinder pin in the same fashion as the gas cutting.

I do the chamfering to swag my balls/bullets so that i have more lead that can obturate to fill the bore grooves. Ive actually noticed better accuracy and also felt theres more pressure built up behind the projectile. I think the pressure also comes from the grooves being filled out a bit more

For me chamfering the chambers is about eliminating the lead rings. I don’t like digging them out or having them pulled into the chamber.

TheOutlawKid said:

I do the chamfering to swag my balls/bullets so that i have more lead that can obturate to fill the bore grooves. Ive actually noticed better accuracy and also felt theres more pressure built up behind the projectile. I think the pressure also comes from the grooves being filled out a bit more

Click to expand...

I can understand the theory.
The balls can also obturate when fired.
Here's some balls that were fired from an ASM Colt Sheriff that was stored loaded and lubed for a long time that resulted in weak powder and which were basically like weak squib loads.
I recovered them after being fired through a paper target into foam target backing.
The portion of the balls that contacted the rifling seems to be fairly substantial.
I don't recall if this ASM's chambers were chamfered or not.
Can you tell if the balls were cut or swagged when loaded?
I didn't load it but from the deep ramming rings on top of the balls they look like they were slightly over-sized.
Perhaps every gun or brand has slightly different barrel and chamber dimensions.

Mr.rodwha...yes! I completely forgot about that! Them lead rings can definately get in the way but also i dont like dropping them lead rings on the ground or going out of my way to try and save them to keep my loading/shooting area clean and to add to my lead hoard. Also i dont like losing ANY grain weight off my balls/bullets...when i shoot a projectile weighing 140 grains i want the full amount to hit my target, also helps me know how much, if any, was lost durring the shoot. I sometimes weigh my bullets after theyve been shot to see how much was lost.