Roundball pistol loads

One of my friends just gave up reloading and moved into "the Towers", and I got to buy some of his reloading gear. Among the bulllet molds are ".357 Round Ball" and "452 Round Ball".

I am going to cast a bunch of these, both in pure lead and in "hard" (92-2-6, Lyman #2) alloy.

Yeah, for pistol, and maybe multiple ball in 357 cases. Has anybody else any experience with roundball loading? What powder and charge have you used.

So, if you have any experience in loading roundball for pistol, share?

Thanks,

Flash

Bearing surface is very small, so velocity needs to be kept low. You lose a whole lot of case volume with multiple ball loads, so you can't use even starting charges for "equivalent weight." Be careful. A good place to look for more info would be here:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com

I tried to load some .452 roundball for the .45 ACP some years ago...I don't remember the powder brand or weight so in the interest of safety i won't guess. The biggest problem was getting a bit of crimp so the ball wouldn't push into the cases while feeding. I did get some to fire...naturally, they were too weak to cycle the slide. If I were to try again I'm thinking a bulky powder like Trailboss might work....if you could find a load that would not leave any unused space in the case, the balls couldn't set back.

In my 44 spl. I use a light charge of Bullseye for a single .433dia RB accuracy was exc. for double ball loading I used a charge of Unique slightly under min. for a regular 240 gr cast bullet the round balls weighed 120 grs each. The older Speer manual I have lists RB loads.

38 spcl cases may hold double for you, depending upon manufacturer. 357 cases are usually tapered thicker internally, so will bulge if you try to multiple. i used to shoot triples of 60 grain wadcutters in 38 cases with about 4 grains unique. usually had 6" spread at 10 yards.

on a related note, buckshot of double 0 size is correct for 30 caliber applications, IIRC.

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Originally Posted by justashooter

38 spcl cases may hold double for you, depending upon manufacturer. 357 cases are usually tapered thicker internally, so will bulge if you try to multiple. i used to shoot triples of 60 grain wadcutters in 38 cases with about 4 grains unique. usually had 6" spread at 10 yards.

on a related note, buckshot of double 0 size is correct for 30 caliber applications, IIRC.

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Yes, I have used them (00) before. Thirty-couple years ago I actually shot two squirrels with the 30-30 and round ball. A small dab of Unique worked there. It took a lot of practice, and more than two misses until I got two on one afternoon. Once done however, it no longer seemed worth the effort.

Flash