Round ball in the 56-50?

[Dakota Widowmaker]

I thought I read somewhere and saw this on an episode of "Mail Call" where the re-enactor took his Spencer and was reloading rounds at a picnic table.

He was using what appeared to be big round lead balls instead of conicals like what I cast. It looked like center fire loads, but, I could not be certain.

Anyhow, this was a while ago.

Does this ring a bell for anyone?

[mtmarfield]

   Greetings!

I believe that I was watching something on cable... I want to say that it was "Tales of the Gun", but I could be wrong. A CW Reenactor was pouring powder into a primed case, and seating a lead ball with a pair of large channel locks!
Perhaps a lead RB could work O.K.; personally, I would drop-tube the powder, seat a thin card wad, add a lube cookie {or smear RB with lube}, and press in a RB of around .515".
With the light charges of a Spencer, you might get some accuracy; but you will need to contend with the fairly fast rifling twist coupled with the minimum bearing surface of a RB. Single loading will also probably be necessary.
If reasonably successful, this would be a fun, bare-boned, cartridge that could be assembled in the boonies with minimal tools: Loading Block, Decapping Rod, Mallet, Dowel to seat a new primer, Powder Scoop {or BP compatible Powder Measure} & Drop tube. Assemble the round, and press the RB down on the Loading Block to "seat" it; this woulb be the biggest variable, as you'd have little control over seating depth/powder compression. This could be overcome by drilling a hole in your loading block tight enough for your cartridge rim to "headspace" on, and drilled to a satisfactory depth to uniformly seat the RB. The pressures involved would more than likely eliminate the need for sizing the brass.
This is the kind of "reloading" I did as a kid, and for up-close stuff, it works suprisingly well. Hell, I may try this with my Spencer!

                       Be Well!

                                             MTMarfield
                                              11-27-05

[Harve Curry]

I used round ball to fire form cases in my 44 Evans long. The rifle slugs .436 so I used .440" because I had them. Also lubed the barrel with shot of WD40 or it leaded up. I used 8gr Unique.

I don't see why you couldn't do it in the Spencer, just use a slightly over size ball, otherwise there's not much bearing surface.

[Lars]

I tried some round ball loads in a 50-70 and they shot quite well. The balls were commercial 0,530 balls. The seated nicely if the cases were well belled. Seating and crimping reduced the soft Pb balls to suitable diameter. Load was 70 grains volume of 777 FFG, soft fiber wad, some borebutter. No leading.

Lars