Originally Posted by
tacfoley
1. H&N balls are not cast, they are swaged and are therefore more uniform than cast.
2. Naturally it matters if there is a difference in weight - H&N balls do not have a sprue that will inevitably differ from one to another. Remember that you are only shooting a light charge - not for velocity but for accuracy. Even a very small deviation from a common weight will make the ball fly differently, as will having the sprue not exactly centered every time in the bore on loading. With a swaged ball, there is no sprue, hence the increase in accuracy.
3. H&N claim that their balls are cast from pure lead - who knows what the composition of your scrap lead sheet might be? How much cr*p did you skim off the top when casting from it?
4. A couple of manufacturers make a simple point-impact lead hardness tester - not a lot - maybe around $2025 or so. In any case, this SIMPLE test will do well enough -
a. if you can scratch the ball with your thumbnail - it is soft enough.
b. if two balls roll together and make a dull sound on impact - they are soft enough. Thud = soft and clink = too hard.
There should be absolutely NO alloying of lead shot from a single-shot pistol of this design.
tac