12 ga. round ball

[Darkgael]

Hi. I know that this topic has been covered before but searching "round ball" and "12 ga. round ball" gave me 500 posts to read; I started, but that's a lot of posts to sort through.
I'm looking for advice about using round ball in a 12 ga. Navy Arms SXS that just arrived. (Cyl/Cyl). I have moulds for .690 and .715 balls.
Suggestions also for a better search so I don't have to bother the forum with old news?
I am just curious about how a ball load would work.
Thanks,
Pete

 

[No Deer]

Measure your bores and see how big they actually are, then you can decide which mold is better. Better still, try to work up a load with each and see which is better. In my 12 ga. Pedersoli Mortimer I use a .69 round ball. It has taken a couple of deer with that load.

 

[Darkgael]

Thank you for the reply. The muzzle on the Navy Arms measures nearly 0.750". Looking into the barrel, after I slide a little MagLite down, I see a line, very regular, apparently machined, in both barrels, about and inch and a half from the muzzle. This leads me to believe that the actual bore is smaller than .750". I do not have an inside caliper.
More questions - do you patch the ball for your firearm? What do you use?
BPI makes short "brush wads" that I have used successfully with round balls in smoothbore shotsells. I was wondering about loading one of those on top of a 1/8" OP wad. Do you see any flaws in that plan?
Pete

 

[BrownBear]

I had a Navy Arms 12 for many years (still regret letting it go) and tried round balls in it a little. Though I hunted extensively with shot, I never quite got around to hunting with the round balls. Mine liked .690 round balls with pillow ticking patches lubed with Wonder Lube. Best load seemed to be around 80 grains of FF. Heavier powder charges resulted in my right barrel shooting wide of the left, but at 80 grains both barrels pretty consistently plunks the balls into the same spot at around 50 yards.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Hi, I,ve used a 690ball in a Peder Mortimer my self and Peder doubles, a 690 ball alows for a good thick patch. I use olive oil and bees wax to lube the patch. Deer getting accuracy to 50yds should be acheivable but you will have to experiment, also I found that once I found a load I could not rely on it being still a good load as time went by, not sure why prob to do with pulling the barrels from the stock maybe??? So check close to hunting. I have used canvass and linen also cotton patch direct on top of the powder, some say use a wad but never found it any better really- not saying it is not- I just never found it. 690s can fit in certain plas wads and I have found the right one does work very well.
good luck, them smooth bores are versatile :hatsoff:

 

[Rebel]

I used a patched .690 in my Navy Arms SxS over 90-100 grs of Pyrodex RS. Both barrels shot good out to 50 yds.

 

[kayja]

I use a patched .690 ball,80 grns FF powder, greased .018 patch works in my CVA.I have even played around with Buck and ball at the range.

 

[Darkgael]

Well....I'm impressed with what happened at the range with the Navy Arms SXS and .690 RBs.
I took the advice given in this series of posts. I loaded the RBs with tight patches (made from canvas and then lubed), atop 80grs. FFg. Both barrels shot within 6" of each other at 50yds. and just a tad under POA.
I will experiment more; the last shot that I fired, was 85grs. and that shot moved up to POA (unless it was me, but I don't think so this time.)
Pete

 

[dgold]

In my DP 12 ga. slug gun I get dinner plate size groups at 50m. using both barrels. However the left barrel requires 70 gr. of 777 (2f) while the right barrel requires 80 gr. of 777. This mismatch of loads gives the dinner plate groups. Patch- well I don't know how thick it is, they just come from a bunch of cotton pants I--well--got too big for.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Sorry you had to cut those slacks up there but I too have used old clothes for the same project. The bueaty of a .690 ball is you have a wide choice of patching material from the mrs bloomers to your old pants :grin:
Tightness of the ball is not to serious however the same tightness each time is! The balls mass is great and under acceleration it widens some being soft lead.
Yet to try my PD 12g since I regulated the barrels, I,ll remember the different charg weights to get yours to group hmmmm :hatsoff:

 

[Darkgael]

I had a good experience today playing with 12 ga. round ball. That's three in a row.
I wanted to try the 0.715 round ball to see if it would work as well as the .690 ball has been.
I also wanted to try a modern variation on the tight patch - BPI's "Short Brush Wad". The combo worked just fine, putting the shots touching at POA at 25 yds.
I used a H&R "Huntsman". a break open single barrel ML, cyl. The charge was 70grs. FFg and fired by a musket cap. The charge was sealed with a 1/8" OP wad. The BPI wad is, as you can expect from the name, short. There are no petals, just two gas seals connected by the cushion section. Either end goes into the barrel. The .715 ball fits pretty much exactly into the wad cup. I covered all with an OS wad.
Next outing will be 50 yds and Playing with the SXS.
Pete

 

[faw3]

Since Ive never tryed it since I put it together Ive got a CVA full choke barrel on one of my underhammers and have no idea what to try out of it but Im guessing a small ball with this barrel? Fred :hatsoff: