.715 ball in .730 bore?

[damron]

All i have is a .715 ball mold and want to try my 12ga NW trade gun this weekend.Any suggestions?Is a thin .008-.010 patch and some 1/2 lubed wads a good way to go?
Also with no rifling and patched ball can i use wheel weight rather than pure lead if the diameter casts what i want?
George

 

[rabjr]

I use a .715 ball with .015 patch in a .735 bore so you may get away with a .010 patch, might want to use a fiber wad, cut in half between powder and patch with the patch being so thin...course you could always bare ball it too.

 

[Many Klatch]

I have never seen a need to use any wads when shooting roundball from a smoothbore. .010 spit patching should do fine. I shoot my Bess with a .715 round ball over 90 grains of 2F. I would suggest that you start out with 70 grains of 2f and see how it works.

Many Klatch

 

[justtim]

I save any hard lead I get for smoothbores. I've loaded about every combo over the years and skip the wads and just cloth patch it.Now if I had a mold that was near bore size, I'd probably skip the patch and go with wads just to save buying a new mold.
I built a 12 ga fowler about 5 years ago with a Getz barrel. Wanted it strictly for hunting with shot and built it to fit me for that purpose. Couple years later someone gave me a mold for a 12ga ball. I had both gun and ball with me down at Friendship and decided one day to try the balls out. Three shots later and I was walking back to my camper to lay down. That thing was brutal ! Everything I had done to make it a great "shotgun" was wrong for shooting roundball. I hate that because it would be fun to take a deer with it.

 

[R-71]

I use a .715 ball in my bess with a patch. I don't know how thick the patch is, it is fairly thin. Seems to work well, I can cover my groups at 25yds with my hand and they are slightly larger at 50.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Answer it for yourself. Take your ball and a large piece of the proposed patch material (lubed) and push down the bore an inch or so. You should be able to judge if the fit will work for shooting. I am a soft lead only proponent.

 

[Zoar]

Indeed, I shoot .715 round ball in a .730 bore and it works fine with a lubed .010 patch and no wad.

I like shooting big pumpkin balls.

 

[hawkeye2]

I'm not sure you have much choice. The next largest size Lyman mold is .735. With the proper patch and lube you should do fine. Groups from my Ped. Bess begn to open up if I drop below 85 gr. (including priming)of 2f.

 

[Rifleman1776]

You did say Lyman mould. But others are available. Mine is a .731 Dixie. I don't know if Dixie still makes any size requested. I got this a long time ago. But others, like Jeff Tanner, will make whatever you want.

 

[Stubert]

Lee makes a .690 mold,

 

[damron]

i went out for a short test run before tomorrows shoot.All i had wheel weight in the pot so i cast 10 with that and they came out.715 on the nose.I used .009 cotton fabric with Hogden "spit patch" and it seated fairly easily in the barrel.I used Swiss nullb in the pan and 90g of Schuetzen FF.I shot at 25 yards off of a sandbag.First shot went right because i didn't follow though real well.I shot 5 more that went into 3.5".I packed it up after that as it was 23 deg and i was freezing!I will have to find out where to hold the ft sight for elevation as they went 8" below point of aim but they were perfectly centered.Tomorrow will tell but at least it didn't shoot all over the place.The flintlock lag is something i have to get used to.

 

[damron]

update-

changed to 80g of FFF(also primed with FFF) and 7-1 Ballsitol with a bit of Olive Oil(squeezed hard after soaking and put in a zip lock) on a .014 patch.Now groups are 3" for 5 at 25 yards with most shots going under 2".Many had the first 3 of 5 into cloverleafs.I still need to master handling a flint for 100% reliability(dirty vent hole loose flint etc..). I also got my point of impact closer by looking down the barrel and "cheeking" the gun properly rater than trying to aim with the ft sight lined up with the flat on the back of the barrel flat.

 

[tg]

You could use just balls and wadding without pathces or find a patch that works for youwith a given ball size, I have used .535,.550,.562 and .570 in my .58 fusil with patches, wadding and various combos of both wadding patches and no patches with very good groups at 40-50 yds,(3"-4" your gun will tell you what is the best and it may be surprising as to how well the small balls work, good luck and enjoy the journey

 

[damron]

groups were 2" and 2-3/4" ea for 5 at 25 yards
Better than i had initially thought.Now i have a .735 mold to borrow any opinions to ramming it down the tube bare with a wad over powder.What kind of wad do i use?

George

 

[Rifleman1776]

groups were 2" and 2-3/4" ea for 5 at 25 yards
Better than i had initially thought.Now i have a .735 mold to borrow any opinions to ramming it down the tube bare with a wad over powder.What kind of wad do i use?

George

If it goes down it will come out. Use almost anything you want for the wad. Old newspaper, etc. Your accuracy will be less than a patched ball but if that is what you want to shoot, it is what you want to shoot. Let us know your results.

 

[tg]

wool scraps, wasp nest, moss, tow,leaves lots of options put something atop the ball as well to keep it snug on the charge, same type of wadding will work for this, also the op and os cards sold for shot columns are good as well