.600 Lead Bullet - Smoothbore

[cannonball1]

I am about to hit the range with this load organization. 80 grains Swiss 2F powder, overshot wad, fiber wad soaked in olive oil, .010 wonder lube patch and slug in a 20 ga. gun. Seems like a tight seal. So far with 70 grain of Swiss, a light patch on the ball the group has been terrible. A foot and a half at 100 yards.

What might the consensus be? Is there a better loading formula? How about a group at 100 Yards?

 

[Fisherking]

I fought with my both of my smoothbores and tried every possible combination I could come up with. All different patch thicknesses and powder charges and wads and oils and etc. I was pretty much resigned to the idea that they’d shoot shot only. One day, I felt lazy and just wanted to pull the trigger out hunting. I was at the end of a logging road on a non-productive day and found an old hubcap; like the old time ones the just covered the lug nuts. I propped it up and I loaded a powder charge, card, ball and a powder card. Presto. Both of my smoothbores have been really happy since.

I believe they are all different. Just don’t be afraid to try something simple.

My .02

Practically anyone here could offer more experience

 

[IanH]

If you want groups at 100 yards, buy a rifle.

A smooth .62 is can make decent groups at 35 yards and some people manage to get loads tuned up enough to take deer at 60 yards but much past that and groups fall apart. Nature of the beast. I was quite happy to get mine to turn in ~3" groups at 50 yards from a rest using .018" ticking, water-based patch lube, and 70 grains of 3F or 85 grains of 2F.

The most important thing I learned to help make consistent groups in a smooth bore is paying very close attention to being consistent with the pressure used to seat the ball. A range rod and bathroom scale is your friend.

 

[Britsmoothy]

I think your 100 yard grouping is acceptable for a smooth bore.

Personally I would ditch the wet wad behind the slug.
Secondly I would try what Fisherking did. No patch!

 

[cannonball1]

I plan on hunting deer with it and I know it has got to be around 50 yards or less. Never the less, I want the best group shooting paper at 100 yards I can get. A lot of mule deer hunting is long distance, but I am getting older and sitting water in a blind, in an easy chair is more my speed. Now 35 to 50 yards would look good and shooting a buck with a smoothbore would be a hoot.

 

[Bushfire]

I've finally got my fusil shooting around 4" groups at 50 yards, albeit about 4" high (but that I can handle). In no way do I expect that to equate to 8" at 100 yards though.

Took me a fair bit of fandangling to sort out. Mine likes about 90gn Swiss 2F, olive oil soaked felt wad, bare ball and a olive oil lubed patch over the top. I never intended to try that combination but the patches I had were too tight to thumb down so I just rammed them down on top and voila! she works.

My end goal is to get it to a 75 yard gun on red deer/sambar (elk sized game).

I know there was a member that is no longer on the forum who has shot some impressive groups with a smoothbore at 75-100 yards. So it can be done.

 

[tenngun]

Try upping your powder charge, 110 or so. Some folks get better hundred yard accuracy with that.
That fat heavy ball will retain velocity and this stoking power on a par with 320 grain conical. So if your on a hunt a hundred yard shot will be devastating
Howsomever I tray my smoothies as fifty yard guns, at such a range a smoothie is on par with a rifle. Beyond that is where they really start to loose accuracy.
But think about your target
If you put it on a deer sized target chances are good each would be a killer
I understand there are some smooth rifle shooter that get groups on a par with rifles. And Veinna had a shooting contest with a four foot bull at about 250 yards

 

[Togo]

100 yards is tough for me with my trade gun, 50 not so bad. This is .600 ball, .022 pillow ticking lubed with Mr. Flintlock and 60gr of 3F Schuetzen offhand.

 

[Brokennock]

Slug? As in parallel sides, or a conical?
How do you plan to stabilize it?

Try a looser patch/ball. Try no patch, just wads/cards before and after.
I'm loading powder, thin card, lubed wadding, ball, thin card for one gun and it far exceeds the performance of a tight patch/ball in that gun. The other gets powder, dry felt wad or folded paper, lubed wad, ball, thin card. I'm not posting pics here because I have just recently on another similar topic..... As well as on several other similar topics.
I don't shoot 100 yards, not much chance of my getting a 100 yard shot at a deer here. You will probably need to also up your powder charge... or buy a rifle.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

For smoothies ... more powdah ...

I use 100-grn paper cartridge loads of 1Fg in my big 60" barreled 75-cal and have yet to bench it at 100-yards, but offhand at woodswalk events I'll often be in top 3 when competing against rifles. Some don't like it though ... as the load breaks some of the smaller targets, LOL!

 

[Yewbender]

For smoothies ... more powdah ...

I use 100-grn paper cartridge loads of 1Fg in my big 60" barreled 75-cal and have yet to bench it at 100-yards, but offhand at woodswalk events I'll often be in top 3 when competing against rifles. Some don't like it though ... as the load breaks some of the smaller targets, LOL!

I can see why they don’t like it, its like a dump truck hitting a deer!!!

 

[brushblind]

100 yards is tough for me with my trade gun, 50 not so bad. This is .600 ball, .022 pillow ticking lubed with Mr. Flintlock and 60gr of 3F Schuetzen offhand.

I'd be happy with that at 25yds. Good shooting!

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I never fooled around at 100 yards. There is no spin on the ball so it's inherently unstable. I killed a lot of deer at 50 yards or less. I considered 75 yards to be maximum range.

 

[11th corps]

Duelist 1954 opines that higher powder charges surround the ball with a cone of gas that stabilizes the ball in flight.
He seems to get good results with this method. And he does not patch.

 

[Brokennock]

Duelist 1954 opines that higher powder charges surround the ball with a cone of gas that stabilizes the ball in flight.
He seems to get good results with this method. And he does not patch.

There is someone on ALR that espouses this same b.s. "cone of gas" theory,,,, he is also someone who never provides supporting evidence or documentation for anything he says. He won't explain how a flat surface the same width as the diameter of the bore becomes a "cone" which would imply that the trailing end is smaller than the leading end. If the powder starts like this, |, how does the gas from its combustion become this, < inside a tube with parallel sides?

No doubt there is blow-by of hot gasses around the ball when using no wads or patch, these might help keep the ball more centered, but are also wasted energy and why most of the loads I've seen posted that, people consider to shoot well, that don't use wads or a patch, use a lot more powder than patched or wad loads.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

There are so many ways to load a smoothbore that every possible combo would be impossible to try in a man’s lifetime.

 

[hanshi]

My .62 (20ga) flintlock smoothbore shoots 3 shot groups under 3" at 50 yds. I don't patch it tight as I do with my rifle so a light .012" patch works well. Anywhere from 60 to 75 grains of 3F hit about the same but I settled on 70 grns. One thing that helped me was the rear sight that came on the gun; I just aim it like a rifle. The rear sight helped me drop a running deer once, and with the gun and shot hitting only 2" below poa I pretty much have it covered.

Bare ball loads are similar but instead of a patch I put a felt wad under and over the ball and seat the combination as one unit. Groups at 50 yards are good (IMHO) with 5 shots going under 5". I feel confident with either load up to that distance but could probably add another 15 to 20 yards with a patched ball.

 

[Rob M.]

For smoothies ... more powdah ...

I use 100-grn paper cartridge loads of 1Fg in my big 60" barreled 75-cal and have yet to bench it at 100-yards, but offhand at woodswalk events I'll often be in top 3 when competing against rifles. Some don't like it though ... as the load breaks some of the smaller targets, LOL!

Funny.... " breaks some of the smaller targets ...." reminds me of a funny and a good day of shootin my trade gun . I was at the Sons of Liberty rendezvous near Jackson Ohio . ...and they have a really nice range there . I was hitting g the spinning tent pegs st 25 yards , round steels at 50 , the deer steels at 100 and ....ye ole ground hog target at 75 yards. , it was my favorite . It was a steel cut out of a standing " whistle pig " and it was spring loaded , the base was a giant spike , pound into the ground . When hit with a .50 cal . it would move a little and ' PING " . I was shootin , as I always do , 60 gr. and patched ball ,.595 in that Zornes barrel , man ! They are accurate smooth bore barrels ! Any who ....when I hit that target it sounded like I'd beat it with a splitting maul and it smacked the ground behind it sounding like a thump of thunder ...I was hooked ! and this was at 75 yards ! I couldnt believe I was hitting it so regularly off hand and the reaction was great . So .... I had shot it so many times that the hog was half pulled out of the ground , was now at an awkward 45 degree angle with half of the base spike pulled out of the ground . It now presented a bit tougher target and a couple buddies came over and was watching me hammer the hanging sideways hog . We were chatting about my gun , how well it was shooting and my new favorite target and I heard someone holler my name ... It was the range officer ... " Rob ! ....stop shooting the ground hog , its taken enough abuse already .... " .. LOL ! Man ! Those 20 ga. balls knock the he// outta things ! I shot one deer and when the smoke cleared all four legs were in the air ! LOL ! Like the one feller on here always says " It hits like the hammer of Thor ! " ....Well said.