45 or 50 caliber balls in a 10 gauge

[cordite]

I have an old heavy duty 10 gauge percussion shotgun. I'm just starting to see all the different possibilities it offers. I want to play with buckshot and also some big round balls. Has anyone tried anything in between like 45 or 50 caliber round balls? I'm thinking that about four or five 50 cal balls would be equal in weight to 1 big round ball. Kind of a super buckshot load I guess. Maybe a dumb idea but thought I would see if anyone has had any success with it.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Well, a 10 gauge shotgun has a NOMINAL bore size of .775". You are not going to be able to fit two .50 caliber RBs side by side in that barrel. Even .45 RBs will not fit. If you use balls that are so large that they stagger, you will need to find a very light weight filler to use to fill the voids between the balls, to keep them from being mishapened when the gun fires. Puf-Lon was the product available from Ballistic Products, but I am not sure its still being sold.

You can use a light corn flower, like the corn bread mix you buy in a box, but you need to be mindful that such a fine powder will absorb water from the air, making the use of it on damp days doubtful. Using such a mix as a filler could result in a tremendous increase in chamber pressures, and damage to the gun and shooter, IF IT TAKES ON MOISTURE. Tht is why a synthetic filler like Puf-lon is preferred: It won't soak up anything.

The 10 gauge will shoot 00 buckshot, and probably even O buckshot. 3 pellets should be able to fit in the bore in one tier, or row, with another three pellets fitting on top of these first three, but off-centered to rest in the arcs between the underlying balls. 9 or 12 pellet are typical, but I have seen shooters load as many as 15 and 18 buckshot in these large guns. The recoil becomes rather sharp, and bruised shouders are the norm, with these heavy loads. But out to 30 yards, depending on whether the barrel is choked, they throw a pretty good pattern.

 

[bingo1952]

000 at .36 caliber is about the largest size buckshot that 10 bore will handle well.

 

[Zoar]

I shoot 000 and 00 buck frequently in my double barrel 12 gauge (.725 bores): I shoot nine 000 buck or twelve 00 buck per shot. In a 10 gauge I would think you could add two more balls easily of each caliber. But to play safe I would start with "the 12 gauge loads"... :thumbsup:

I would also think you could load up three or four 45 calibers instead as an option. Dixie slug company (in FLA) makes a TriBall load in modern shotshell ammo that is (if I recall correctly, but it can be verified by going to their website) which is a three ball load that has three LARGE round balls that are much larger than 000. They make this shell for 12 gauge shotgun use. Again as stated above 000 is about 36 caliber, so while 45 cal is larger, the fact that Dixie makes a big round ball load for 12 gauge this strongly suggests larger round balls could be used in 10 gauge tubes. I would also try to find out what they use for filler. You may need to buy a box and disect one.

I intend to get a 77 Cal (10 GA) Blunderbuss and experiment with what you are intending to do. But until I actually find one I like and buy one, I guess I'll just have to play with handloads of my little 12 gauge doube barrel boom boom.... :grin:

 

[Zoar]

Okay---I just researched that Dixie Three large Ball load I mentioned above for 12 gauge shotgun, and this is what I found--- "Dixie Slugs Tri-Ball II! This load consists of 3-.600" cast alloy round ball/buckshot. We have the best patterns from .685" down to .665" chokes and sights help! These loads pattern well within any buckshot patterns we have seen, in fact most loads are inside 7" at 40 yards!. The velocity is 1100'/" with a combined muzzle energy of 2539 ft.lbs.......truely a powerful load for heavy and/or dangerous game in close quarters! The 3-.600" buckshot are completely inside a thick walled plastic wad and buffered. It is loaded only in 12 ga-3" Mag, 5 rounds per box, at $7.50 per box, plus shipping".

So, they are .60 dia or 60 Caliber balls. Three of them! Wow.

Indeed this laod is for modern shotguns but the balls would work in muzzlelaoders with black powder as long as you use the right buffer as sagely advised above.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

"Dixie Slugs Tri-Ball II! ... The 3-.600" buckshot are completely inside a thick walled plastic wad and buffered. ...

Indeed this laod is for modern shotguns but the balls would work in muzzlelaoders with black powder as long as you use the right buffer as sagely advised above.

Part of the reason for their success is that thick-walled wad - it keeps the balls more-or-less in line and off the bore walls. The smaller the balls are compared to the bore, the more they tend to deform each other asymmetrically, and the more they tend to wedge each other into the bore walls, exacerbating bore scrub (of bare shot or through the shot protector and into the shot), until they are small enough to stack in even layers, and the more shot in each layer, the better for lessening deformation and scrub. I doubt buffer alone will align the balls and keep them aligned, both on loading and in coming up bore.

You can make a usable shot cup for your use by making a "coin-roll" type of heavy paper or light card stock (business cards, phone-book covers, etc.) with only one end folded closed, then cut the open end into 2-4 petals.

I'm experimenting with a variety of home-made shot protectors and I have both .50 and .58 balls, so someday, I'm going to try this in my 16ga (2*.58 or 3*.50). (So many projects, so little time!)

Joel

p.s. - anybody ever try some version of the old .45-70 "guard load" with 3*.45 RBs over whatever FFFg the case would hold under them (20-30gr??)?

 

[Zoar]

quote---"You can make a usable shot cup for your use by making a "coin-roll" type of heavy paper or light card stock (business cards, phone-book covers, etc.) with only one end folded closed, then cut the open end into 2-4 petals."

I think this is a great idea and far superior to a PLASTIC (ugh) shot cup.

Yet it serves the same purpose and hopefully will get you great results "without blowdin yoursef up".... I think with black powder there is an additional advantage of lower pressures which reduces the risk further I think. My buddy just disecting one of those tri-ball loads from Dixie and he said he had everything he needs to make his own, the only ting he did not know for certain was which modern powder they used, but obviously, we are all using real BLACK.

(NOTE: I do have a 50-90 and I use sharps brass cases. For that endeavor I was thinking of using a 3 ball load, obviously it is modern compared to the flintlock stuff we nromally talk about here)