My balls are too small

Boolit Mold Join DateMar 2013Posts1

I've been a long term stalker of these parts, but have not had to post for information up to this point. I usually load up 12ga shells with .678 round balls, and think that I have a pretty good system going. The other day, my buddy found a big 'ol bucket of round balls and sent them my way. They are assorted size, but they all seem to be in the area of .53. I don't want these to go to waste, so I was thinking of loading them into 12ga shells, seeing as the only two guns I own are a 12 gauge and a 22 (that's all I've ever needed on my farm). I would like to bounce around some ideas about what may be the best way to accomplish this, while still maintaining reasonable accuracy. If I just threw in a gas seal and some wadding with the ball in it, I don't think I would observe very good accuracy. Can anyone suggest any wads that might hold this size projectile well for a 12 gauge? Would I be best off trying to attach the ball to the wadding via a screw or some glue? Or would it make more sense to try filling the space between the wadding and the ball? I also don't know where to find data for this kind of scenario or how much powder to use. For a projectile this much smaller than the bore of my gun, is it safe to just start trying things (within reason)?

Thanks for the help, y'all.

be better off getting a mold and casting them the right size

If I had that problem I wouldn't tell anyone. LOL

My first thought would be to paper wrap the small balls to where they fit into the wad and then adjust the height with corn meal filler. My concern would be the amount of wraps it would take to make it fit. Something that thick would not come off the ball well and would disrupt the flight path.

I've been playing with pressing paper pulp to make a single piece wad for .690 balls. If you made a wad/filler that centered the ball the wad might fall away leaving the ball to fly true. maybe try to make some sort of 'round ball sabot' to launch them. Who knows

"A person cannot exercise their right to speak freely if they have been stripped of their ability to defend themselves and repel those forces who would seek to quell their speech." Me

FarmerRando:
Welcome to the CastBoolits.
As wgr stated, you will be a lot further ahead to get a mould of the proper size and cast. What you are suggesting, is far too much effort and time. You could sell or swap the balls you have. Someone will surly want the lead, or that size ball for something.
Where are you located? Put them on the Swappin and Sellin site.
Reguards
Jack

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