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12g SXS using Round Ball?
- Thread starter Nailcreek
- Start date
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I have a Pedersoli SxS 12 ga, which I think is the maker of the SxS shotguns marketed by Cabela's. Mine has fixed chokes, Imp Cyl and Mod.I too would like to load up a patched ball and see what it will do. Our pheasant season here in Nebraska runs with the firearm deer season. I hunt pheasant with the front stuffer shotgun most of the time. I would like to load up the Imp Cyl side with a ball, for those times that I see the buck of my life well within the effective range of the ole smoke pole, while out hunting pheasant. I'm thinking that I should be OK if I use a .690 ball and then a lubed patch of a thickness yet to be determined. I would appreciate any input on this topic as well.
The double 12's are fun to shoot with round ball. Have had reasonable success with .690" ball and lubed .015" patching. Found 80 grains of FFg will sometimes blow out the patching but Fg almost never did. Using a thin card wad under the patched ball usually kept things together but sometimes even that didn't stop the blow-by. Would recommend you try to find some Fg, it really helped.
That is a big pluss for the SxS double. You can load a tradegun for anything you may encounter but you have to know what you'll encounter before you load. A double gives you two guesses!
I've found proper wads under the ball to be far more important than the patch. Ball loads are the only time I bother with a "cushion wad". A thin card wad under the ball is useless as the gas pressure just wraps the thin card around the back of the ball, making the card too small to seal the bore. Load a .125" nitro card or two, followed by a thick fiber cushion wad, then the ball patched in anything thick enough to hold it snug. The cushion helps to keep the roundball round and to keep the over powder cards flat so that they seal the bore. Buy REAL wads from Circle Fly, not those wimpy little "wonder" things. The patch only needs to hold the ball down snug atop the wads and keep it centered in the bore with no "shake, rattle and roll" as it rapidly departs. Both the patch and the cushion wad can carry lube.
Since the smoothbore ball has no rotation it is of prime importance that the ball be as near perfectly round as can be. Cast them of hard alloy so that the force of acceleration does not flatten the back side and file the sprue off the front as neatly as you can.
The ball weighs about 1 1/8 oz. so you can just use the same powder charge as your shot load, at least for starters.
12Ga. balls pack a whallop, on both ends of the gun! :m2c:
I've found proper wads under the ball to be far more important than the patch. Ball loads are the only time I bother with a "cushion wad". A thin card wad under the ball is useless as the gas pressure just wraps the thin card around the back of the ball, making the card too small to seal the bore. Load a .125" nitro card or two, followed by a thick fiber cushion wad, then the ball patched in anything thick enough to hold it snug. The cushion helps to keep the roundball round and to keep the over powder cards flat so that they seal the bore. Buy REAL wads from Circle Fly, not those wimpy little "wonder" things. The patch only needs to hold the ball down snug atop the wads and keep it centered in the bore with no "shake, rattle and roll" as it rapidly departs. Both the patch and the cushion wad can carry lube.
Since the smoothbore ball has no rotation it is of prime importance that the ball be as near perfectly round as can be. Cast them of hard alloy so that the force of acceleration does not flatten the back side and file the sprue off the front as neatly as you can.
The ball weighs about 1 1/8 oz. so you can just use the same powder charge as your shot load, at least for starters.
12Ga. balls pack a whallop, on both ends of the gun! :m2c:
wilded
40 Cal.
Make sure the ball and patch are tight enough that the ball in second barrel does not shift forward from the recoil in the first. I use a .690 ball and a thick patch. Place 4 over powder wads under the ball. I use a charge of 75 grains of 2F and have killed feral hogs with this load out of my Terrys Ranger model pedersoli. This load is safe in my gun but you must work up your own. Some times I load one barrel with buckshot and one with ball. Makes a heck of a gun to chase hogs in the brush. :m2c:
Fun subject. Depending on the bore diameter at the choke, you might even try a .710 ball from a Lyman mould. Seems I read somewhere else about a shooter who likes to patch with denim over a cushion wad for this particular application.
I have a Pedersoli 10-gauge coming. Guess it would like a .75 patched ball.
I have a Pedersoli 10-gauge coming. Guess it would like a .75 patched ball.
brian turpin
36 Cal.
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I made a .700" mould for my CVA double. Both barrels are cylinder bore. I use .015 patching soaked in a 25% cutting oil 75% water solution. After soaking the patch material I lay it on a flat surface and allow the water to evaporate leaving the oil behind. I use 90 grains of 2f. The patches stay together and both barrels will hit a hand sized target at 25 yards.
I have a Navy Arms double barrel .12 ga. I have tried it with .690 rd balls and was quite happy with the results at 25 yds. Haven't had a chance to try it at longer ranges yet. I used 80 grs of Pyrodex RS an over powder wad, cushion wad, and then the patched rd. ball. I was able to put 4 shots, (2 from each barrel), in to one large hole at 25 yds with that load.
