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Do round ball recall warnings happen?

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:17 pm
by PT7
The last couple of months I've been getting some .490 Hornady round balls for my .50cal pistols. Wondering if it's a good idea to keep the 100-round boxes separated by Lot Numbers? I don't know what, if any, might be issues with manufactured round balls? Kind of a new area of ammunition for me in shooting muzzle loaders. ~~PT7
Hornady Round Balls_3466.JPG
Hornady Round Balls_3466.JPG (231.57 KiB) Viewed 3855 times

Re: Do round ball recall warnings happen?

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:35 pm
by Mistered
Never heard of it.
It's not like round balls are a large part of the shooting world overall.
Patch 'em and shoot 'em as I do!

Re: Do round ball recall warnings happen?

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:49 pm
by Vaquero
Nice pic
I wouldn't think there should be any problem.
Could always smelt 'em, buy a mold and recast. :o :lol:

RP

Re: Do round ball recall warnings happen?

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:51 pm
by JEBar
agree .... about the only thing I can think of right off that might cause a recall would be the wrong label being placed on the box .... I've had some so long that they have turned gray .... I do know first hand that an old, oxidized, gray .490 round ball will bring down a buck .. ;)

Re: Do round ball recall warnings happen?

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 11:51 pm
by PT7
Yup. I'm getting similar answers from folk on the muzzleloaders forum which is kind of what I expected. Round balls are pretty basic ammo.

Jim. Other than the label switcheroo, could also mistakenly mix in some different sized round balls in one box. That would be easily noticed when loading it. You mentioned the .490 RB taking a buck. Reminds me of the "perfect wintertime deer hunt" video I posted last July. http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... nt#p101848 That was a successful hunt using a .50cal pistol.

RP. Yeah, you're right. Could melt down RBs and start over. And appreciate the comment about the pic. Like to experiment taking closeups with that old Nikon 35MM.

MrM. Exactly what I plan to do. :)

Thanks, Gents.

PT7

Re: Do round ball recall warnings happen?

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:11 am
by Mistered
Could melt down RBs and start over.
Providing you have some basic equipment such as a melting pot, mold, dipper and a few other things.
I used to cast round balls - and bullets - a long time ago.
Fun at the time but I eventually gave it up.

Re: Do round ball recall warnings happen?

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 2:07 am
by dave77
I still have all my round ball casting equipment. Was doing a lot of shooting back then so I went in with a couple of friends on about a 1000 lbs of pure lead (was stained glass window came someone was selling). We melted it down and cast it into small ingots, my share filled a couple of plastic milk cartons about half full, had to put them in two as I couldn't even begin to lift a full carton.

Was curious and just checked the price of pure lead and my lead is probably worth several hundred dollars, have to find a local buyer, shipping would probably be difficult and expensive.

http://www.zipmetals.com/Certified-999- ... p_155.html

Re: Do round ball recall warnings happen?

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:19 am
by PT7
It would be interesting to see a photo of your RB casting equipment, Dave. Is that doable? I'm curious as to what you used. And maybe a brief explanation about the tools? TIA. I see that MrEd noted some of the equipment he had used, too. Maybe between his list and your photo I'll get an idea on initial RB casting.

One fellow from the ML forum I write on answered my same inquiry, and said it cost him "probably less than $100 to get started...used a small cast iron pot (bought new), ladle, mold and old naphtha stove." What I need to follow up on is that he said this was to "get started." Wonder what else was/is needed?

I did some playing around with numbers for the 1000 lbs of pure lead you all purchased. I might be doing this incorrectly, but the results seem reasonable. 1000 lbs = 453,592 grams. One .490 RB is 177 grams. So I did the division resulting in a little more than 2550 cast RBs. Sound about right? I now have just over 300 RBs in stock to start out the next year, and will see how long it takes to shoot those. Anyway, I hope I got the estimated numbers close and don't end up too :oops: ! Thanks for your comments.

PT7

dave77 wrote:
Tue Dec 03, 2019 2:07 am
I still have all my round ball casting equipment...Was doing a lot of shooting back then so I went in with a couple of friends on about a 1000 lbs of pure lead

Re: Do round ball recall warnings happen?

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:09 am
by Mistered
The upside to casting round balls is they do not need to be lubed and that makes it a lot cheaper to start out.
I would recommend at a minimum an electric melting pot as opposed to some sort of stove system. I originally used a single burner Coleman stove to set my pot on but an electric pot made life easier later.
I don't have any of my molds anymore but I'll post a pic of my pot and what few items I have left.
I'll bet you could find a used electric pot pretty cheaply In your area with a little investigatory searching. Join your local online marketplace websites and post what you are looking for.
Ladles are cheap and you could probably find a used mold as well.
You might want to browse the 'Cast Boolits' forum as well for additional information.

Re: Do round ball recall warnings happen?

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:10 am
by Mags
.
I don't shoot black powder, so I have no balls, round or otherwise. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: