Factory made roundballs vs cast......

[black_magic]

Which is better?

[Daryl]

Whichever is cheaper for you.  In both the .45 and .50, I've found accuracy to be identical. The swaged balls have minor flats, bit with the ball/patch combinations I use, there is no discernable difference on the target that I could see. Speer balls have gone up to $20.00 per C while the Hornady's are still under $10.00.  Either is a bit much. Using a DC mould, I can cast 100 in only a few minutes.

[T*O*F]

Which is better?

Whichever one will hit the target that you are shooting at.

[Otter]

I could find no difference between them as far as accuracy was concerned. But, since I can cast my own using about 3 lbs of lead (at $0.09 per lb) for 100 - .530 balls, it's been over 10 years since I've used any store-bought round balls. Plus, runnin' ball is a fine mid-winter therapy . . .

[George Sutton]

I use both. I use the cast balls when practising and use the swaged balls for matches. The reason I use the factory balls for competition is I don't have to worry about getting the sprue up. One less thing to think about. I see no difference in accuracy between the two.

Centershot

[Paddlefoot]

You can get away from the sprue issue if you make sure your sprue cutter is sharp at the countersink and reasonably tight. Also you can make a thicker plate that wont flex as much in cutting the sprue. Only cut after the ball has solidified so you dont smear lead across the top of the mould that will harden and force the cutter away from the mould,making the sprue longer.
After all that if it still isn't to your likeing you pan place the cast balls between two pieces of flat marble, glass, or steel and roll them about for a while to equalize any imperfections in them and roll off the sprues.
Of course you can get real crazy and weigh the balls to make sure you don't have any major air pockets inside but once you learn good casting habits you'll find that doesn't happen too often.

[William Worth]

I have no explanation.  I am seeing better accuracy with my homecast balls then I am from store bought cast or swaged ones, in an assortment of calibers; .45-.50 and 54.

[markwi]

I use cast balls because I like the price better. My wife says that I am just cheap, but I call it economy minded. They shoot the same. Mark

[Randy Hedden]

When the first factory swaged round balls hit the market they were great. All in the box the same size and weight and round. As the companies used their swaging molds the molds started to wear and produced balls that were not round and of different size and weights per ball in any single box. At this point guys found they could cast better balls then the factory swaged balls.

Then the companies made new molds and started to produce nearly perfect round balls again. I believe this runs in a cycle as the molds wear and the companies replace the molds so it seems to me that judging the comparative quality between hand cast balls and factory swaged balls would depend on what part of the cycle the factory molds are when you make the comparison.

I think the companies that make swaged balls have a better hand on quality control and and have set a standard for what is acceptable, but they still probably wait until their molds are producing substandard balls before replacing their molds.

Now, all of this probably makes little difference for the casual shooter, plinkers and hunters, but for serious target shooters they might think about checking and weighing any swaged balls they purchase.

Randy Hedden

www.harddogrifles.com

[Evil Monkey]

To decide "which is better" I suggest you try each in your own rifle and then decide. Here's the problem with seeking advice on something like this as I see it. You get a response like 'I use both and see  no difference in accuracy'. Does that mean that they both shoot 6" groups at 25 yards??. "Accurate" means different things to different people. You get an answer like 'I find the swaged balls more accurate'. Well, how well does this shooter cast?. Perhaps he has a worn out or just poor mould. If you get an answer like 'I get better accuracy from home cast'. Well, some people just think that they can do EVERYTHING better than factory so they either unconsciously shoot better when useing cast or THINK their groups are better. I'm not suggesting that all responses are bogus, or that ANY responses are bogus, just that the best answer is found with your mould your gun and you on he trigger. THEN the conclussion you draw is correct (for you) even if some of the above suppositions apply.

[don getz]

Back when I was shooting my chunk gun, we always cast our own balls, and weighed them....kept them all withing a few
tenths of a grain.  If you have ever weighed swaged balls you will find much greater differences in their weight.  I know,
it might not make that much difference, but back then we were trying to eliminate as many variables as we could...Don

[Daryl]

Randy, Monkey and Don - you are all spot-on.  Weighing is the best 'fix' for balls as long as they are all the same size. Accuracy is a subjective thing.  I am reminded of the guy who filled once fired .30/30's with sand, filed the rims down a bit and shot them in his .50 CVA rifle.  He told me they were really accurate.

[northmn]

I use swaged ball now, but do so because of the amount of shooting I do.  When I shot competition casting wasn't all bad.  For a hunting rifle the hassle of casting may not equal the cost benefits.  Also, I have about run out of pure lead and haven't found any good sources.  I can see no benefit in buying pure lead at the prices I have seen it and then casting.

DP

[Ohioan]

whichever is cheapest is my thoughts on the matter.  When I had a .32, I bought hornady's.  I found some at a yard sale for $2 for 3 boxes.  300 balls lasted me a while.  Infact, I just sold the leftovers to a buddy.

I weigh and mic mine, especially with a new mold or new to me lead.

[roundball]

I have no explanation.  I am seeing better accuracy with my homecast balls then I am from store bought cast or swaged ones, in an assortment of calibers; .45-.50 and 54.

Maybe your home cast run a few thousandths larger or something...odd that would be the case with several calibers though

[William Worth]

Whichever you enjoy doing the most.

I don't think I would like casting .32 balls though, #1 Buck (.300) is way too cheap and shoots well enough for me.

I do like to turn on the radio, set a beer within reach and cast away when it's rough weather out.

[BrownBear]

I discovered a whoops in my routine this weekend that has some bearing on this discussion.  I've saved all my empty boxes from shooting factory balls for handy storage of my homecast.  This weekend I grabbed a box of .490 Hornady's for a sighting session with one of my 50's. 

I was well into the box before I noticed a flat spot on a ball I was getting ready to seat.

Turns out I had a box of homecast (Lee mould) rather than factory swaged.  Not only did I see no difference in group size from what I expected, but I also had been doing my shooting with no attempt to orient the sprue on top.  Started orienting the sprues as I "should have" but couldn't see any improvement in groups. 

Remembering this conversation, I searched and found a partial box of factory .490's in the bottom of my shooting box.  Repeated with those, and still no difference.

Shooting was at 50 and 75 yards from a bench with very satisfying small groups at both distances without regard for type of balls or orientation of that very low Lee sprue.  Younger eyes might have found a difference, but I'm guessing it would be so small that it would make no difference at all for offhand shooting.

[Daryl]

Brown Bear- brother Taylor is rather sloppy in orienting the sprue when he's shooting and he's a stiff contender to deal with.  Odd that such a perfectionist in building, is so sloppy when it comes to loading.  He says no difference in accuracy so why bother. He has a point, however there does seem to be a difference in shooting capability when shooting off a chunk or bench - I've done a brief test of comparrison and prefer orienting sprues properly.  It may be if someone else had loaded the rifle, I'd have seen no difference. We tend to skue results when we know the particulars of the load.

[BrownBear]

We tend to skue results when we know the particulars of the load.

That's an impotant insite about life in general!!!! 

[Levy]

I think sprues and their orientation become more important as the bore/ball size becomes smaller.  As the ball decreases in size, the size of the sprue becomes a higher and higher percentage of the surface area of the ball.  True?  If this is so, it would follow that if the sprue is not perfectly aligned, it is more likely to effect a small bore with a projectile of less mass than a large bore with a heavier ball.  It may also be easier for us to misalign the sprue on a smallbore than it is for a larger bore rifle due to difficulty in handling.  In a nutshell, it may not matter as much (cast or swaged) in larger bore rifles as it does in the smallbores.  I hope this makes some sense.

James Levy   

[BrownBear]

It makes perfect sense to me!  Though I have nothing to prove the truth, I've always operated on the same assumption.  That in combination with the difficulty in handling on cold weather has made me a strong advocate of loading blocks for small caliber hunting guns.  It's just a whole lot easier to get all those sprues oriented correctly in a warm house with carpet rather than snow or grass under your feet.