I have read somewhere that a round ball can be loaded into practically any bottle neck cartrige and if memory serves me correct they are primer powered? The author said they were fun to use and used them to good effect on rabbits,turkey etc... I really want to know if this can be done and any loads you might have. I have some free time and feel like experimenting with my 7x57. Thanks

I tried round balls in my .375. They don't shoot too well. It was WITH powder. Albiet a very small amount of Unique. Get yourself a pellet gun.

For a very low velocity load in my 7x57 I use 11.5gn Red Dot behing my 160gn cast bullet and get 1500fps and hours of fun on my "steels"

Von Gruff.

geez that takes me back years. as kids we would use 5 gr of red dot with a bit of toilet paper for a wad and then stick a )) buckshot in the case mouth. sure was devastating on blackbirds. i would think the same thing would work in a 7, just using a smaller buckshot

Hmmm . . . roundball or buckshot in about .284"? That sounds like a great recipe for my little 7x33 Sako! Powered by nothing but the primer, the smaller case would produce a higher velocity. I've been looking for bullets short and light enough for it, and roundballs might fill the bill.

Sorry guys I am not familiar with overseas made powders, are you gents using pistol powder? I load MS 200 in my shotgun which is also a pistol powder.

Red Dot is an Alliant powder.

Stonecreek, would it not be possible to drill out the primer pockets to accept a shotgun primer, might give more oomph?

Obviously, this is done with GREAT care.

The old standard was the 00 buckshot (about .31 cal) in the '06. Tight necked resized case will swage it down. Then on top a lube. Crisco. Bullet lube. Bees wax. Something. Primer is awful light. Small powder charge. Bullseye, 3 to 5 grains, was mentioned. Bullseye is Alliant today. Formerly Hercules. But any "fast" shotgun/pistol powder should serve.

Obviously, since you are using a distorted round ball for which the rifling twist is not correct... Yes, great fun popping small pests up close and not too loud. Some barrels foul badly. Accuracy sucks at any distance. Your call. Standard velocity long rifle out of a full length rifle barrel are about as loud as a pump up air rifle... Remington nmodel 550 with CLEAN "power piston" will semi auto CB caps. (Production ceased in the 1950s, made from steel and wood, no plastic... but common and cheap used in USA.) Luck.

Sounds like a good way to get a lead fouled bbl to me..

I found this, http://www.castpics.net/LoadDa.../IdealHandbook38.pdf
A PDF of an old Lyman book. There is a load for round balls listed for 7x57.

Mark

A very light coat of LLA on the RBs is al that is needed. Many do not have very good results as they use Unique or a lsower powder and the RBs are driven too fast. Use Bullseye preferably or Red Dot and keep the velocities under 1150 fps and excellent accuracy can be had to at least 50 yards.

Larry Gibson

One word of extreme caution...if you get the velocity TOO LOW these things can have a habit of ricocheting BACK AT THE FIRER!

My advive would be to get a cheap Lee mould and cast a true, shaped, bullet with a point. Doesn't have to be 140 grains, but at least a point or SWC shape.

But even so these things will still ricochet down range after passing through said pigeon if striking a stone or rock...or water.

lal

According to Somchem's manual, Red Dot and MS200 are very close to one another in terms of burning rate.

Sounds like you need a silenced .22 with a good scope, Boet!

OK, Where is a person gonna get .284" round balls? I've looked and haven't found anything close.

Using just a primer will stick a ball in the
barrel. You can get more bearing surface by
running an over sized ball through a neck sizer.
All if this isn't worth the bother unless the
TV is bad that night.

I don't know if can get these shipped to SA, but I've had great luck with the Hammond Game Getter. They have been accurate in my rifles. Here is a link
http://www3.telus.net/gamegetter/
They use a sized buckshot as the projectile and use a 22 rf blank for a nail gun to power them.
Bfly

quote:

Originally posted by enfieldspares:
One word of extreme caution...if you get the velocity TOO LOW these things can have a habit of ricocheting BACK AT THE FIRER!

I can confirm this....I once had a very slow loaded .45 Colt load bounce back at me from a hard wood fence post....it hit my right leg.....didn't draw blood but stung like hell.

A hit to the head/neck area might be very serious!