Today I shot my Pedersoli Brown Bess at 50 yards for the first time. Up until now I stuck to 25 yards. I was shooting a patched 69 cal RB under 80gr of 1.5 swiss. My first shot was great. My second shot was okay, but went down hill fast after that. Should I be cleaning the barrel between shots? I'm trying to find a good load for deer hunting
Clean the barrel between shots?
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red grizzly
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IMO I would clean it between shots because you are going to carry it in the woods clean.
That's a good point.
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Do as you choose, but why are you shooting a 69 cal in a 75 cal smoothbore? Pedersoli to my limited knowledge does not make a 69 BB.
Just curious.
Larry
If your first shot had good results, why worry about repeat shots while hunting deer?
Wiping between shots was common historically, unless in a fight.
Wiping between shots was common historically, unless in a fight.
Because .69” ball was historic in the BB.
69 is biggest I mold I have. If I cannot get the accuracy I want. I will get a bigger one.
Very good point. I'm very new to serious muzzleloading. So I'm still learning
It will work fine. Just find fabric heavy enough to remove the windage
.69 should work fine, Like Clark said, find some patching that will make the ball fit tight. Patch that sucka with cut blue jeans if you have too.
Historically the British lost
The winners were probably armed with many BB too. That being said. This comment did make me laugh!
Yeah, and they really only lost to us. Both times there were lots of BBs in our ranks. The early Marines preferred them.
But deer hunting wasn't a historical practice. Use a 0.735" ball in a nest of tow, jute or hemp strands.
The paper patched 0.690 ball was the regulation load for the 18th century and was way undersized for multiple loadings as the bore fouled in a line of battle.
You first shot at the deer will be with a clean barrel. Develop your load for hunting accuracy with a clean barrel. Wipe the bore before loading the second shot.
Deer hunting was a historical practice. They were almost hunted to extinction east of the Mississippi. Now how much the BB was used to drop deer is up for debate.
My response was to Larry who seemingly didn’t know that the .69” ball is for the BB historically.
69 was the nominal size for a bess… in paper cartridge, the 69 Charley shot a .64 ball
A .715 or .735 might be more accurate
But in my .76 I get deer hunting accuracy to fifty yards with a .690 patched
I never cleaned mine between shots, what a waste of life.....
With PAPER cartridges. If you’re going to use patched round ball, it needs to be much bigger.
