.62 Patch & Ball

[gradog]

I would like to hunt deer with my trade rifle this year. My question to the guys that shoot smooth bore accurately is do you use just powder, patch and ball or do you use any wadding with the patch and ball.

 

[BCarp]

I use an un-patched .610 ball in my 20 ga. with 2 wool felt wads between powder and ball, and a thin card to hold the ball in place...

 

[George]

All my ball shooting in smoothbores has been with 20 ga. I've shot a fair bit with 1) just a patched ball 2) a hard card+.5" cushion wad + patched ball and 3) hard card, cushion wad, bare ball and overshot card. All give reasonable accuracy in my experience, the card+cushion+ patched ball being my most accurate combination.

Spence

 

[Grandpa Ron]

I use a .600” ball in a .620” barrel with a well-greased .020” patch.

In reality patched ball, powder/ wad/ ball/wad or powder/ball/ wad is not as important as your ability to keep you shots in a hunting sized group (say 6” to 8”) at the range you are going to shoot.

See what combination your gun likes and practice until you know how far you can shoot and still keep all your shots in the kill zone.

With traditional gear, bow or gun, it is not about how far you can shoot; it is how close you can get.

 

[BrownBear]

I would like to hunt deer with my trade rifle this year. My question to the guys that shoot smooth bore accurately is do you use just powder, patch and ball or do you use any wadding with the patch and ball.

Whatever combo the gun needs to deliver the accuracy you need at the range you'll be shooting. Mine is most accurate with a .590 ball, .020 patch and no wad needed. Next gun might be completely different.

 

[George]

I'm a little confused. You say you want to shoot your trade rifle, but asked about loads for accurate smoothbores. Which are you shooting? The loads I posted about are for a smooth bore, completely inappropriate and won't work in a rifle.

Spence

 

[BrownBear]

I'm a little confused. You say you want to shoot your trade rifle, but asked about loads for accurate smoothbores. Which are you shooting? The loads I posted about are for a smooth bore, completely inappropriate and won't work in a rifle.

Spence

Same here! Didn't catch the "rifle" in the original post. Since he was asking for smoothie loads, I read it as "trade gun."

 

[satwel]

I shoot a .590 patched ball in my 20 gauge French tradegun with no wads or cards. If I do my part, it will give me rifle-like accuracy out to 50 yards. When I first bought it, I used an over powder card and a vegetable wad behind the patched ball. Groups were all over the place so I tried the patch alone and it tightened up nicely. IMHO the key is a reasonably loose fitting (.015) patch. I can start the ball with thumb pressure alone - no short starter.

 

[roundball]

My .62cal S/B is a true .620"...and a .600" ball with .022" patch is basically like a rifle to the 50 yards I have it zeroed.

 

[hanshi]

With a bare .600" ball on top of a lubed 1/2" fiber wad and card wad over the ball, groups stay around 5" or so out at 50 yards. Switch that to a .590" WW ball, an 018" lubed patch and the groups shrink to palm size or less.

 

[majg1234]

My Carolina style seems to like either a PRB with OS card over powder, or a felt wad over powder and ball. I can't tell a lot of difference except it takes more powder when I patch it to get good groups. Just shoot it and see what she likes.My SM has no rear sight so it's more about maintaining a consistent sight picture than anything else.Burn a bunch of powder and then you'll figure it out :thumbsup:

 

[gradog]

Trade Gun. Didn't mean to confuse. :surrender:.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I use a .600 ball in mine.
I have to use a very thin patching and start with a mallet. Not real handy in the woods.
It is on my Jackie Brown built fowler. I've been looking for a .595 rb mould but none is made. Will probably have to drop to .590 or order from Jeff Tanner.

 

[BrownBear]

I've been looking for a .595 rb mould but none is made.

Tanner will make you one.

 

[hanshi]

I got a .590" mold from Jeff Tanner last year. I cast using WW and those patched .590" balls appear to be just the ticket.

 

[rickystl]

TOTW has .595 balls. You might buy a bag and try it out first? They work just as well in my Centermark, and a bit easier to load than .600

 

[Deadeye]

Of my 3 20 ga smoothies, one is .610, one is .620 and the other is .625. I use .600 balls in all 3 but with 3 different patch thicknesses. they're all very accurate with just PRBs. Deadeye