Round Ball Cartridge Loads aka Gallery Loads

[38ExtraSpecial]

Anyone making them? Or anyone that has made them in the past?

I just sized some .490 round balls down to .453 and I'm going to load them in my 45 acp. They're light for this cartridge but not super light.

I'm going to mess with some round balls sized down and loaded in 45-70 next.
The should end up around 135 or so grains. Kind of like a collar button.

Just something to mess with.

Here is one seated in a 45 acp case for shits and giggles.



The sizing leaves a flat band around the middle of the ball to give it a little more bearing surface. This was a .490 sized down so it had a pretty wide band. I'm looking to get some .457 balls or a .457 mold to try next.

Good times.

 

[55_grain]

How do they shoot?

I've seen 00 buck shoved into .38 cases before, but never fired any.

55_grain

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Not sure yet.
I haven't had a chance to try them.
I did just size some round balls for 45-70 which I hope to load this week.

I think it's going to make me want a collar button mold.

 

[NavelOfficer]

I came across some lead balls and loaded them in the .45 ACP. Went light, so they didn't cycle completely, but they shot okay. Only fired from about 25', but they hit where aimed, at least well enough. Figured it would be a better use than melting them down; which I can do now after finding them in the dirt.
They weren't reliable feeders, but I only had a dozen or two to blow off.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Sweet. What size round balls?
What powder and charge? I'm going to load 50 in some auto rim brass tonight with a light charge of bullseye. (Not sure how much yet) the other 50 are sized bigger for 45-70 experiments.

These actually weight about 175 grains

I would like to run a 451 round ball because they're around 135 grains I think.

 

[NavelOfficer]

I didn't weigh them, but they were loaded as is (~.451" dia.). I didn't even write down the load, maybe 4.3gr Clays...? I went under the starting load for the lightest cast bullet and didn't expect 100% functioning. To be honest, I was tired of having these few round balls sitting around the bench and just pushed them into the flared case and taper crimped them and shot them to get rid of them.

I do know that fired with the primer only, it doesn't clear the barrel. Tried one just for ha-hahs.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

I loaded just shy of 50 last night into some 45 auto rim brass.
Loaded in half grain increments from 3 up to 5 grains.
I should be able to shoot them on Wednesday.
I'll report back after that.
If the 3 grains works I might drop it down a little more to see how low I can go.

I can't wait to see how they shoot from the 45-70

 

[TrashcanDan]

Interesting.
Was just searching for double or triple roundball loads for .357 mag in a levergun, because why the hell not, and this thread pops up.

 

[Picton]

I'll report back after that.

LIAR!!!!



Unless it's just a really extended range trip.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Well now just got back from the range. Damn things have changed a lot in 8 years.

Ok so they shot pretty good from what I remember.

 

[gerrycaruso]

I've used .451 meant for a a .44 cap & ball revolver in .45Colt with 4 grains of Unique and a .433 in .44Magnum with 3 1/2 grains of Titegroup.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

I've used .451 meant for a a .44 cap & ball revolver in .45Colt with 4 grains of Unique and a .433 in .44Magnum with 3 1/2 grains of Titegroup.

Do you ever stack multiple balls in one case?

 

[gerrycaruso]

No I haven't. My objective was not performance. It was to find a very quiet load that I could shoot without pissing off the neighbors. A single ball load has almost no recoil and is so quiet that the neighbors can't even hear it. The only down side is that it hits much lower.

 

[gerrycaruso]

I tried a double ball load just to see how t would work. I put 2 .451 balls in a .45 Colt case with 7 grains of Unique. Noise and recoil were the same as a regular load. I made 6 rounds and shot them at 10 yards. All 12 balls went into the black with a 6 o' clock hold.

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

I tried a double ball load just to see how t would work. I put 2 .451 balls in a .45 Colt case with 7 grains of Unique. Noise and recoil were the same as a regular load. I made 6 rounds and shot them at 10 yards. All 12 balls went into the black with a 6 o' clock hold.

That’s awesome. I’ve hear stories of guys using these are 2x4 shoots and such. Cheat and put twice the bullets out there. I guess it would give a pretty good advantage when cutting a 2x4 in half.

 

[Broc]

@Michael J. Spangler when you stack balls, do you let the bottom one rest on the powder?

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

@Michael J. Spangler when you stack balls, do you let the bottom one rest on the powder?

No you don’t want them to have any space in between them.
That’s why go with a .460” ball so there’s enough tension to keep them all together.

Some guys push them down deeper but the taper of the case will squish the bottom ball down undersized.