.454 lead roundball national shortage?

[Darto]

I just tried to buy Speer or Hornady soft lead roundball .454" (44 cal cap and ball).

Tried at : Natchez, Midway, Cabelas, Basspro, Dixie, Track of Wolf, and two or three ammunition online shops.

All were out.

I think the shortage of guns and ammo nationwide is spilling over to the cap and ball area. I would guess folks are buying a .44 cap and ball as a last resort, pending new gun laws. And then they need ball. And hence the shortage.

Both brands out of stock seemingly almost everywhere (in that size). Including local brick and mortars around here.

I went to gunbroker dot com and grabbed some at auction.

I do believer other sizes might become rare too.

The safest way is to have a mold in the size you need for home casting.

[woodsrunner]

Your last statement is pinging on target. Those of us-me included-who are heavily into black powder will have our own moulds and several hundred pounds of lead in reserve. In my case almost everything is flintlock, so I don't need those "new fangled cappy things"! Include a LOT of 2,3 & 4f powder on hand, too!

[Uncle Fester]

While there might be some switching to .454 like you speculated, don't forget the supply side. Lets say you are a bullet, powder, case, ammo manufacturer, you have all your people/equipment cranking out all the high volume cartridges/product that you can make. As a result, I suspect that very little new stuff is being made in less popular calibers.

Bottom line: if I had any unique caliber guns, I would stock up to my needs for the next year.

[tennmike]

Checked a few other places and they are ALL out of stock. Some of them were also out of all sizes of percussion caps, too. Kind of odd seeing as how hunting season is still going in some places. Like Woodsrunner said, a mold and a supply of pure lead will get you through times like this. Scrap metal dealers are a good place to get pure lead scrap.

[Jim Tom]

Saw some .454 roundball in SW Virginia today. I guess they're not a hi-demand item right now; as a matter of fact, I've seen the same couple boxes there for years (old style boxes). Try to find ANYTHING relating to .223 rem though and your just .

Except for primers they still had a pretty good selection of other components.

You live close to South-West Virginia, Darto?

[sarg1c]

I was in Ashland,Ky Sat.(Jim Tom knows where I'm talking about) went to a Large LGS .asked to buy some .22 The clerk said only two boxes but all she had was CCI standard velocity's I didn't want them . Only shoot them in my old H/S H-B so didn't buy. Got plenty of them. Realy have plenty of all kind .22's.

Jim Tom, you from around Knott Co. or a little farther So. Near the VA. border. You hunt any bear yet?

[Jim Tom]

Hey sarg1c, I live in Letcher County where bear hunting is legal, but I do most of my hunting in Harrison County where my two brothers own a farm. Good places to hunt in Letcher County are kinda limited if you don't own much land; the public hunting areas get kind of scary during short firearms seasons, if you know what I mean.

[10 AC]

Darto you might try Missouribullet.com.

[JLDickmon]

Missouri's run a little on the small side.
A .45 roundie comes .451 from them, where it's .454 everywhere else..
I shoot a .50, and his are .487 vs. .490 from most anywhere else..
easy to fix, get .015" pillow tick instead of .010"..

Might want to order online today though..
Last I knew, he was +4 weeks out on orders..
he said he hired a bunch of guys to run the casting machines..

then the sizing crew got bottle necked..

so he hired a second shift for the sizing room
and then the shipping dept. couldn't keep up..

so then he hired a second shift for the shipping room..

now, the freight companies can't get in and out of there fast enough..

[Razorbacker]

I dug through my possibles bag and found an old package of .54/.530 round balls from CVA. It looks like there's maybe 10 or so. I realize that's only a few. But I'll never use them so if someone wants them lemme know. Otherwise I'm going to just throw them out.

[Varmintmist]

Roundballs run with the seasons. If it isn't right before flintlock season here, you will have to search. Oct through mid Dec, good to go.