Ball size for 20 ga. fowler

[Rifleman1776]

I well understand. Been there and done that, including with a gun shop that specialized in muzzle loaders.
I guess I'm just musing.

 

[old ugly]

same here 58 cal round ball, excellent with a thicker patch. easy to short start with thumb. accuracy is very good.

 

[James Kelly]

I agree, it would be really cool to measure your bore & find out what you actually have.
My Pedersoli NW gun is close to 0.625 & takes 19 gauge wads.
Caywood French Type D trade gun, nominal 20 ga., measures about 0.620". I use .595 balls, maybe because I happen to have a lot of them. A friend at Detroit Sportsmen has a nominal 20 ga, whilst figuring out what ball size to use I gave him some .575. He seems happy, not sure what size he uses now.
Track of the Wolf has 0.575, 0.580, 0.595 and 0.600 all available. Try a few. When I get picky I have moulds for .600, .589 & others I forgot to inventory. Thick patches with a lot of lube, either spit or some ORGANIC grease/oil helps keep fouling from building up.

The original trade guns were used with a hell of a lot of windage, I think no patch. Get thyself a copy of Colonial Frontier Guns, paperback, by T.M. Hamilton. He & his wife (trade silver book) do know their stuff. For those who complain about their favorite gunmaker's lack of bore consistency, note that in the Good Ol' Days trade gun bore tolerance was + or - 0.045"

 

[duelist1954]

My bore is 0.6155". I use Circle Fly 20 ga wads with shot with no problems at all.

 

[Leatherbelly]

It's quite simple,really.Take your good quality dial calipers and measure the bore.Lots of so called .62's are 20 gauges and visa versa.If your bore is .620, a .600 ball with 22thou patch (short started)will work ok.You may need .025 patch thickness.Now a true 20gauge is .615.A .595 ball with the same patch thickness as mentioned will work fine.If you are range shooting or trailwalk shooting,make sure your patches are sloppy wet with spit or whatever you use,not damp,sloppy wet. Oil type,saturated! A radiused crown really helps starting the ball.Experimenting is fun,no!? I can shoot my smoothbore all day long without wiping once.No bull!

 

[Leatherbelly]

Just a side note. Here in British Columbia there is fierce competition with smoothbores shooting round ball.They are "Tradegun" matches,with tradegun rules.Single sight. Fowlers welcome too.I get to see what different shooters do,what they use for patch,charges,balls and ball weight(size). Most all of the "topguns" use a tight combination and they are very deadly with their guns.Some outshoot the rifles. If the ball goes down easy,it will shoot dirty(foul),if you need to push it down with some effort,it will shoot clean, with a wet patch of course.
Just wanted to add this regarding "Tight Combinations". Thanks,Roy

 

[Leatherbelly]

62tulle,
Good advice! I just seen his bore is .6155.

 

[roundball]

"...use a tight combination and they are very deadly with their guns..."

Agree with that...during my past dozen years I've used the following smoothbore barrels:

Two GM 32" x .54cal smoothbore barrels
Two GM 32" x .62cal smoothbore barrels
One Rice 42" x .54cal smoothbore barrel
One Rice 38" x .62cal smoothbore barrel

And through load testing found that every one of them has given their best accuracy with a tight PRB using a thick lubed patch.
In addition, I found the faster I pushed them the more accurate they were...concluding that they stayed under a good head of steam for a greater amount of the distance to the target without slowing down enough to let the knuckle ball effect start creeping in.

 

[vietnam71]

RB,

Did TVM build all of them? I'm thinking about a Smoothbore for my next gun.

 

[roundball]

RB,
Did TVM build all of them? I'm thinking about a Smoothbore for my next gun.

The GM barreled ones were GM drop in barrels in TC Hawken stocks...TVM built the current two as their Early Virginias:
(One a Rice 42" x .54cal smoothbore, one a Rice 38" x .62cal smoothbore)
In fact, I had one of the Virginias built with a matched pair of identical Rice 42" B-weight barrels...one .45 rifled, one .54cal smooth...and it's fast becoming my overall favorite.
As I work through my retirement years it's entirely possible I could gradually pare down to this single Flintlock to cover all my range & hunting needs here in NC.

Two barrel Early Virginia (.45cal & .54cal S/B)

Padded barrel case by Unique (same folks who make the excellent musket cases)

.62cal S/B Virginia

 

[vietnam71]

Awesome deer and rifles. I bought a Unique case for my Early Virgina they are nice cases.

Thanks for sharing the pictures..

:thumbsup:

 

[Leatherbelly]

Nam71,
A couple of options for smoothies,well, three. Tradegun,Fowling piece and smooth rifle. For shooting the competitions at sanctioned meets, Tradegun rules are "single" front sight. Most "fowlers" fit into this category. Smooth rifles with 2 sights don't. So what it boils down to is,what are your plans with your new gun? Compete,a shotgun/roundball gun or 2 sighted hunting gun. Once you get onto the single sighted "beasties",lol,you can hunt quite nicely with them. Hey, they are way more fun to shoot then then two sighted jack-handled rifles,IMHO! :rotf:

 

[vietnam71]

Probably gonna be Shotgun/RB Turkeys, maybe Deer. I just got my .54cal Early Virginia in Feb. I'm having a lot of fun with it. Since going Flintlock have lost interest in center fire.

I have one .54cal Hawken percussion as well. Slowly selling off center fire.

Enjoying myself for sure. This forum has helped me on my Black Powder Journey....