[Konrad]

Tumbling and polishing lead shot, resurrecting steel.

Greetings all,

I put my batch of 8mm lead's thru a home made tumbler like this.

The leads in this video are not shiny and I noticed that other leads on the net are shiny and I looked it up. Firearm forums discussed putting some graphite in the tumbler while processing them. I tried it and it worked very nicely.



From the left 8mm lead untumbled, middle tumbled lead and right tumbled lead with the graphite, very nice.

Cleaning rusty ball bearings for re-use

Right rusty, middle vinegar and soda crystals and left tumbled with graphite.

I have some 8mm steels and they where a bit rusty like in this video and I did what he says, White vinegar with soda crystals. Well that worked out very nicely too. The soda crystals reacted with the vinegar and made a bit of gas, I shaked them and left for 24hours before rinsing them. The steels where rust free but not as shiny as new. It was logical to try tumbling the steel's with the graphite to see what it would do to them. Well they are almost like new now.

I hope someone has found this post informative. I certainly learnt something along the way.

Salutations PK.

 

[Ordo]

Great. I may use a similar set up to paint the ammos. I paint them bright yellow and that makes a sighting difference. Thanks.

 

[Konrad]

I tried, I had too. But nothing shoots like these babies.

click to expand view G10 6.5mm steel



These tumbled steels shoot like the leads, :banghead: :thumbsdown:

It mus be something to do with the chrome plating and the wind resistance or lack of compared to other rounds. This rifle compares to some springers I have been looking at. Oh well you all might have learnt something it was and is like benching a slingshot like a rifle.

 

[Konrad]

Grade tolerances for ball bearing Wikipedia:

click to expand

grade tolerances

• Konrad
• Aug 14, 2020

Ball bearing grade tolerances

As you can see a G10 is much more refined than a G100.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_(bearing)

 

[AUSSIE4]

Nice one Paul!

 

[Konrad]

Thank's AUSSIE4,

I can't find anything on the ballistics characteristics of G10-G100 Chrome plated ball bearings. The way these Chrome plated balls fly is awesome compared to the Lead and old steel. They are pinpoint accurate compared to the others. I tried these leads and Steels (old ones) and the group was out to 10 cm (amazingly bad). As soon as I used the chrome plated ones, right on the button.

The only thing so far I could find was the Magnus effect and the science of curving a ball. If anyone could point me to some information on these seemingly minuscule imperfections on these surface of a ball bearing I would be very grateful. I know from cricket here in Australia, they polish a ball on one side to help create a swinging ball. I guess that is where I will look next.

Magnus effect

Right so I quickly looked up the cricket ball question and my first guess was correct. The Chrome balls have less resistance and the mirror smooth surface passes thru the air without the added variables of these inperfections on the surface.

Swing explained: Why some tamper with cricket balls

Salutations

PK

 

[AUSSIE4]

Thank's AUSSIE4,

I can't find anything on the ballistics characteristics of G10-G100 Chrome plated ball bearings. The way these Chrome plated balls fly is awesome compared to the Lead and old steel. They are pinpoint accurate compared to the others. I tried these leads and Steels (old ones) and the group was out to 10 cm (amazingly bad). As soon as I used the chrome plated ones, right on the button.

The only thing so far I could find was the Magnus effect and the science of curving a ball. If anyone could point me to some information on these seemingly minuscule imperfections on these surface of a ball bearing I would be very grateful. I know from cricket here in Australia, they polish a ball on one side to help create a swinging ball. I guess that is where I will look next.

Magnus effect

Right so I quickly looked up the cricket ball question and my first guess was correct. The Chrome balls have less resistance and the mirror smooth surface passes thru the air without the added variables of these inperfections on the surface.

Swing explained: Why some tamper with cricket balls

Salutations

PK

Yeah that's awesome thanks for sharing!

 

[Konrad]

A grade 25 is accurate to 25/1,000,000 of an inch. Less expensive ball bearings may be grade 300, which are less round, at 300/1,000,000 of an inch.

Edited 19.07.21.

 

[Konrad]

Very strange i measured that chrome ball and it is 7mm and the numbers are identical to this picture bellow. I guess I will have to buy small batches of few grades of carbon, stainless and chrome and see how they fly. The recommendations are between G10 and G100.

8mm steel circumference difference

• Konrad
• Aug 17, 2020

8mm steel circumference difference

Regards Paul.