Round ball loads

Republic of Alberta

Republic of Alberta

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Anyone cast and load hardened round balls out of their shotguns?

I know that the 12bore was used with such loads on elephant . I am guessing that hard round balls are superior to the average pure lead slug as far as penetration goes. Has anyone tried to duplicate some of the old 12bore rounds? Do any penetration testing? or take any game with one?
 
i make and use round ball in the 12 gauge, both smokeless and in a damascus hammer gun with black powder. The .715" round ball weighs approx. 1 3/8oz., so i use the loads in the manual for heavy 1 3/8 duck loads. i use the same wad, but cut out the petals. I also can roll crimp the plastic hull as it looks much neater. For black powder loads I use more trad. wad column and 90grs. of ffg.Either way I like it much better then slugs or buckshot at close range, say out to 60yds.
 
Do a seach of BALLISTIC PRODUCTS They have the molds and booklets on the loading data. They have a dealer in Alberta.
 
Republic...i have a mold for most ball sizes and over 100 diff. bullets....a .715" ball is too big to use inside a shot cup, the ball plus the petals add up to more then .729" so i wouldn't push it. you could take some measurements and maybe get away with a .690" or so rd. ball. I don't see any advantage to using the cup with petals, it only reduces the size and weight of the ball. Of course all of this is your's to experiment, good luck, I know that a 540gr. .715" round ball smashes all in it's way.
 
I spoke with the owner of Dixie slugs. He was interested in assembling reloading kits for their tri-ball shot load for the Canadian market. This load is 3 balls stacked in a 12ga hull, using a buffer material. Technically it is legal for use in buckshot only zones in the US (where you can't use slugs). If you're interested, google Dixie Slugs Tri-Ball.
 
Ben, do you think that there would be any advantage to using these in a fully rifled barrel or possibly a rifled choke tube over a smooth bore? Or is the rate of twist in the current slug barrels too fast for round ball?
 
Workin man...you got me there....I've never tried them from a rifled 12 Ga. barrel, it may be the same as a muzzle loader, where only a slow twist will work, like say 1-60orso. You may be surprised how well they shoot in a smooth bore if the fit is good. What twist is in those modern, rifled 12ga. barrels?
 
i use 80 grs goex 2ffg and a patched .690 round ball in my navy muzzleloader 12 ga. double it shoots good out to 60 yds , i load one barrel with shot and one barrel with a round ball, deer and grouse set up i love it,so far everything i shot was a complete pass through from any angle ,,,wade
 
ben hunchak said:
Workin man...you got me there....I've never tried them from a rifled 12 Ga. barrel, it may be the same as a muzzle loader, where only a slow twist will work, like say 1-60orso. You may be surprised how well they shoot in a smooth bore if the fit is good. What twist is in those modern, rifled 12ga. barrels?
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I believe most of the current barrels are 1 in 28" or so, but I'm not positive. I'll check my Mossberg 500 barrel later and get back to you. It might be worth trying anyway (you never know for sure till you try).
 
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