any way to size a .69 roundball?

[Dan Greketis 4914V]

I have a lyman mold that I thought would work for my new armi sport smoothbore. Wrong, the balls are too large. Is there any way to size them?

[Joe Plakis, 9575V]

A while ago I had asked a member of my team if this was possible. Their answer was no, their reason was that you would turn the round ball basically into an egg. In the event that one edge would catch you could possible bulge the barrel, or seriously hurt yourself.

This is what I was told so I never tried it! I would suggest buying the proper mold in this case.

[Dan Greketis 4914V]

That's what I figured Joe. I guess I'll be ordering the RCBS mold.....

[John Holland]

Or a Jeff Tanner mould?

JDH

[Dan Greketis 4914V]

Or a Jeff Tanner mould?

JDH

Could you provide more info?

[Wayne Shaw, 1985V]

Dan John was talking about Jeff Tanner in England. He makes round ball molds to the size you want and very reasonable to boot. Go to www.jt-bullet-moulds,com.uk for his web sight. Good luck with your smooth bore. Wayne Shaw Harlans Light Cav

[Jim Brady Knap's Battery]

I shoot soft lead in a close fitting ball with an 80 gr 2F GOEX charge. I have found my balls in the home range backstop and they always have a slight band around them which it telling me they are upsetting into the bore and coming out like a piston and not bounding down the bore getting a bunch of "English" put on them. This leads me to think that a small amount of sizing wouldn't hurt on a soft lead ball. Of course producing an egg may not shoot as hoped and may well be able to produce keyholes which is an alibi I try and use for an operator induced bad shot which of course no body believes. The only glitch I can envision is getting the sized band of ball lined up with the bore in a hurry during a team match.

I know we can argue about hard or soft lead, a close fit or a .660 in a .690 bore and whether to rasp them up or not, whether to lube with hazardous chemicals that require gasoline and thermite genades to clean , monkey sweat and African elephant ear wax which are both costly and hard to get :roll: , or edible ingrediants which clean with water based solvents (my personal choice) but I will say this, I ain't changing anything on my ammo and if what I am doing isn't the right stuff please don't tell my musket because it seems very happy with what I am feeding it.

Respectfully Submitted

Jim Brady
2249V
Knap's Battery

[Dan Greketis 4914V]

Wow, Jeff only wants $35 plus $5 shipping for his. Are they high quality and what are they made of?

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

They're nice. Made of brass. No sprue cutter though. I bought a curved toe-nail cutter to cut off my sprues.

[Dan Greketis 4914V]

I placed the order. Kinda curious how quickly it will arrive from Jolly Ol England......