Suggestions for round ball purchase

[Dancy]

Could anyone suggest a good source for pure lead round balls for sale at a good price?

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

If you're looking for a good price on quantity. Don't bother. Buy a mold in the size you want and hunt down some lead and cast your own. You can buy lead on ebay for $1 per pound, other cheaper sources can be found. If your shooting .50 cal you'll get about 40 balls in a pound. On average cast round balls are going to cost you $12 per hundred or 12 cents per ball. Cast your own balls is about 2-1/2 cents per ball in 50 Cal. each caliber will work out to a different price per ball.

If you can find lead at a better price OR FREE if you get lucky. you can do the math. LOL The only time to buy balls is if your working out a new load or gun barrel and don't want to invest in a mold just yet. As long as you can mark the lead with your thumb-nail it will work fine in a patched round ball scenario. I just got a 34 lb. box of soft lead on ebay for $40 including shipping. I check there regularly and have several hundred pounds stocked ahead.

I cast up about 50 pounds of lead a year ago and still have a few pounds of .50 cal balls left.  That's about $50 vs. $240 not much of a contest.

Shoot more but shoot more cheaper.

[SCLoyalist]

Check with Eddie May, Chatsworth GA
Eddie May
159 Ridley Road
Chatsworth, Ga. 30705
706-581-8225
Price varies with caliber desired and cost of lead, but I've known several folks who were happy with both product and price.

[Dancy]

I let my supply get low and need some soon, talked with Eddie and sending him a check Monday!

For the long term, self cast sure sounds like the way to go, what brand mold do you guys suggest?

The small bag molds look nice, but not sure how easy to use they might be? I am not a large volume shooter, but do enjoy all aspects of the sport.

I'm shooting my 54 the most now, but will eventually need 45, 50 and 62 also.

[WadePatton]

I plan on using Eddie May until i find the size ball my bbl prefers.  I think he casts quite the assortment of diameters. 

I have casting equipment and have been saving lead for centuries. 

[SCLoyalist]

, what brand mold do you guys suggest?

The small bag molds look nice, but not sure how easy to use they might be? I am not a large volume shooter, but do enjoy all aspects of the sport.

My choices of molds are Lyman, followed by Lee (but think the last couple of Lee molds I've bought have been more finicky about the blocks aligning correctly on closing and cutting the sprue off cleanly).     I have one of Larry Callahan's bag molds in .600RB.   It makes good ball, but after about 10 casts you have to slow down to give the mold time to cool down.   I think if I needed a mold size in the future that Lyman didn't offer, I'd try a Jeff Tanner mold.

[LH]

Like wuz alredy sed,  it don't take much shootin to pay for a Lee 20lb pot and a couple of moulds.  I use two RCBS double cavity .395 moulds for most of my shooting. About January or February when it gets dark at 5:00 I get set up and turn on my pot every day about sundown and cast two or three 45 minute sessions nearly every night for a couple of weeks til I get enough to last me the year.  With two iron double cavity moulds,  my cyclic rate is up around 400 balls per hour.  After about 45 minutes of casting,  I need to add lead to the pot so I take a break while it heats back up. I throw the sprues back in as I cast.   With two iron moulds, I never have to wait for them to cool down. I have an old Rapine .530 double cavity that I use for my Musket balls.  I'm not sure how many it is,  but three quarts is what I cast every winter and thats more than I shoot in a single year.  Since March this year I've shot just shy of 5000 .395's.   Those alone would have cost about $450.  Using scrounged and scrapyard lead,  my cost is probably about $10 or $15 plus about 20 hours of my time.

[FRJ]

I use lyman molds in .445" and .535". I just couldn't justify buying the Hornady rb's that I was shooting till then. Besides I like casting my own. FRJ

[moleeyes36]

The brand of mold you use for round balls is mostly a personal preference.  Lee molds are a lot cheaper than the others, about 20 bucks apiece including the handles, but being aluminum they more careful handling.  I have Lee, Rapine, RCBS, Lyman, and a custom mold by Jeff Tanner in England.  They all get the job done.  Hollow base minie balls is a different matter.

[Maven]

On the off chance that someone may need it, I have a 2 cavity iron Lachmiller (pre-RCBS) RB mold that casts @ .447" - .448" with pure Pb for sale.  PM me for details if interested.

[William Worth]

I would also suggest shooting into logs/cants/chunks of wood or other suitable bullet trap to recover as much of the shot balls as you can.  Lead is too valuable to only shoot once.  It used to be the prize for winning an old time shooting match.

[Dancy]

5000 since March! You guys shoot WAY more than me! As always a lot of good suggestions and ideas on here, thanks much!

[LH]

shootin is fun and roundball shootin is cheap too

[Dphariss]

Could anyone suggest a good source for pure lead round balls for sale at a good price?

Pure lead is hard to cast well in a production setting, apparently, as previously stated I buy a mould. Swaged balls are OK for most purposes but are generally less accurate than good cast balls.
I would also point out that some barrels shoot harder lead as well as soft lead so don't get too hung up on "pure lead" until you do some experimenting with harder lead and some different patch materials/thickness.

Dan

[T*O*F]

Rush Creek Roundball has very good prices.  They cast all sizes and give a discount for purchasing 10 or more packages.  They have a booth at Friendship every year.  You can mix and match sizes and shipping can be done via a USPS flat rate box.

I don't have their address, but I'm sure someone here does.

[Robin Henderson]

Check with Eddie May, Chatsworth GA
Eddie May
159 Ridley Road
Chatsworth, Ga. 30705
706-581-8225
Price varies with caliber desired and cost of lead, but I've known several folks who were happy with both product and price.

^^^^^^^^^^
This.....While I usually cast my own, I have used some of Eddie's balls and for the price they are quite satisfactory. He ships using USPS flat rate boxes so that cost won't eat you up.

[mikeyfirelock]

Just as an additional remark:  make SURE you have adequate ventilation when you cast.  Lead, like everything else, volatilizes when heated to liquid, and you are absorbing it if you are breathing the air over the pot. It is absorbed through the lungs and it is toxic: it is eliminated from the body very slowly.   A bathroom fan and some 4" vent hose will make a big difference in the air quality.
Mikeyfirelock ( retired pharmacist, and been casting over 50 years)

[William Worth]

The arrangement I work with ventilation wise, is a box fan at it's lowest speed, sitting off to one side of the work bench in my car port, pulling air into the passage way between the porch and car port so as to allow the air flow from the car port to take fumes away.  This gives me good cross flow ventilation of the work space directly in front of me.

It warrants mention to that the more elevated the temperature of the melt, the more volatization of the lead occurs.

[Dancy]

I didn't think to ask Eddie if he used pure lead, anyone know? Don't really care if it's 100% pure, but don't want hardened ball either.

[T*O*F]

Volatile......something that evaporates readily at normal temperatures and pressures.  Lead is not volatile, gasoline is.

Water is a liquid until it reaches its boiling point of 212 degrees F, at which time it starts to vaporize.

Lead does not become a liquid until it reaches 621.43 degrees F.  It doesn't boil (vaporize) until it reaches 3180 degrees F.  Thus, there are NO lead vapors given off at casting temperatures and you will not be breathing in any lead.  Why this fallacy keeps being perpetuated, I have no idea (well, I do but won't say anything).

There may be other reasons for providing ventilation, but lead vapors ain't one of them.  Oxides are formed which may or may not be harmful.

[Dogshirt]

I buy my .535 balls from Aardvark Enterprises. $28.00 for 500. I like them and so does my rifle.
He IS in Polsbo, Wa, so I don't know what the cost of shipping would be for you. But here is a link to a PDF of his products. He has no website that I know of.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/52983401/Aardvark-Enterprises-Custom-Cast-Bullets