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.69 Smoothbore Question

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Kentuckywindage

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Guys i have a smooth bore pistol with a bore that measured .691 What size ball/patch combo would i use?
.690 with .010 patch?
 
Try a .672 RB. You can buy them at Track of the Wolf, and other suppliers. They also have .675, and .678 diameter balls.

YOu want a ball that is .015 to .020" smaller in diameter than your bore diameter, and you will use a patch that is .015 to .020" thick. Remember that patching material will compress to 1/2 the dry thickness, when you lube it, either with a wet lube, or a oil lube. Those large diameter balls will upset fairly well under a good size powder charge to fill that barrel.

Don't expect much in the way of accuracy from a smoothbore pistol. They usually don't have any sights at all, or just a small front sight. The barrels are in the 9-12 inch length range, so you can't get much help from the barrel in pointing at distant targets. This is a 15 yard gun, basically, unless you are shooting at a target the size of a man. Then you can double that range.

These guns were carried in pouch holsters on saddles, in pairs, and used to supplement a sword in fighting. The pistol would be fired at a rushing cavalry soldier, and if hit, would take him off his horse. That would upset the horse, and in turn the chaos would block the patch for other rushing cavalry troops. The smoke from the pistols would also obscure the view of the soldiers being attacked, giving them time to shoot several such pistols at the rushing enemy before resorting to their swords. Any kind of hit with these large balls would usually result in a fatality, simply because the balls carried with them a lot of road dust and dirt, which infected wounds. The ball might pass through, but the patient more often than not would die from infections. There was NO penicillin or any other anti-bacteria drugs in those days. Its not amazing how many men died of wounds, in those days: its amazing at how many survived wounds.
 
Kentuckywindage said:
Guys i have a smooth bore pistol with a bore that measured .691 What size ball/patch combo would i use?
.690 with .010 patch?
If I had that smoothbore pistol I'd be wanting to use .675" balls and .018" pillow ticking...never been a fan of paper thin patches.

PS: And you're not going to be able to "lean" on your ramrod to seat a tight fitting PRB combo in that pistola... :wink:
 
Oh no...TOW has these...

.675" round balls, pure lead, hand cast
.678" round balls, pure lead, hand cast

And...give Eddie a call...if he happens to make any that size, they'll be cheaper than TOW...I use his .395s and .600s...Birddog6 put me on to him.

Eddie May Round Balls
159 Ridley Rd.
Chatsworth, GA. 30705
706-581-8225
“Best Quality Round Balls, Minnie, Rifle Bullets and Modern Cast Bullets”
Please Call or Write to place Order
 
Check with Dixie. They used to sell their scissors molds in these heavy calibers.

In the Tower Flintlock Pistol we had when I was a kid, we settled on 60 grains of FFFg powder to push the ball down range with enough authority to hit a 2 foot square paper target at 25 yards. No sights, and smoothbore. The also gives enough recoil that you know the gun went off, but not enough to hurt you, or the gun. The trigger pull on our pistol was GODawful, and if I still had the gun, that is the first thing I would fix.
 
I would use a .680 round ball. You can get a mold at Track Of The Wolf for about 39 bucks. You could use a common .010 lubed patch for that PISTOL. You'll be all set.

.680 balls or molds for .680 you can buy from a number of sources with a little bit it searching. I spent 45 seconds looking on the web and found one. .680 are common for 69 caliber or .690ish bores (your's at .691 is close enough to be called a .69) :grin:
 
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