Ball size.

[rogervan]

Hello,

I have a 62 cal rifle with a 1:66 twist. I bought some 62 cal balls, but they slide right down the barrel. The ball fits perfectly, with no wiggle room. Is that ball too small? Does the patch take care of making the ball tight-fitting? Or do I need 601 or 602 balls? Any help or info will be appreciated.

clffdvr

 

[Zonie]

The normal rule for a patched ball in a muzzleloader is the ball should be .010 smaller than the bore.
The patch seals the bore and holds the ball tightly in place.

Using this idea, you should be loading a .610 diameter ball.

The patch thickness is then varied to create a tight seal and for a rifle it is usually .012-.018 thick.
Part of the reason for using a patch this thick is it has to be forced into the rifleing and seal these rifleing grooves to prevent leakage when the powder charge ignites.
If there is leakage past the patch thru the rifleing grooves, the patch will burn thru and accuracy will be terrible.

Because you already have .620 diameter balls, I would suggest that you either look for some .005-.010 thick pre lubricated patches or make a trip to the local Cloth Store.

If you choose to go to a Cloth Store, you will need to buy some .005-.010 thick, pure cotton cloth. Do not buy any cloth that has man made fibers in it. They are basically various forms of plastic and they will melt when the gun is fired.

To pre cut your patches, you need to first wash the matieral to remove the "sizing". Then cut it into 1 5/8 inch squares, or 1 5/8 diameter circles. Either will work fine.

You will need to lubricate the patch to load it.
Any non petroleum oil or grease will work although there are several pre-mixed products like Bore Butter on the market.
If your going to shoot the gun right after loading, pure spit will also work just fine and it has the advantages of automatically wiping the bore between shots and it's free.

Your .62 will probably like about 70-130 grains of FFg black powder. If you can't get real black powder in your area and if your gun has a percussion lock, Pyrodex RS will work fine although I would recommend using the hotter Magnum caps with the substitute powders to get more reliable ignition. Start with the small load and work up noting the accuracy of each shot.
There will be one powder load that is notably better than the others, and each gun is different.

Happy shooting!
zonie

 

[xxgrampa]

greetings, and a very warm welcome to the forum.

yep you guessed it rite.. the patch will make it snug. look aroung on this site for lube and patch thickness suggestions.

a little more info on your rifle, we are curious..

..ttfn..grampa..

 

[xxgrampa]

hey zonie,

you beat me by 2 minutes. but, your answer is much better..

tt.g

 

[paulvallandigham]

Welcome to the forum. Before you go further, use a caliper to actually measure the bore diameter, ( land to land) and then the groove diameter of that barrel. You want that ball to be about .010 smaller than the bore diameter, but DON'T trust what the manufacturer says the bore diameter is. MEASURE IT and be sure! The Groove depth( Groove diameter, minus bore diameter, divided by 2) indicates how thick the patching needs to be to seal the bore of that gun. Remember that the patch goes on both sides of the ball, so a groove depth of .006 means that you need at a patch that is at least .012" thick to fill the grooves. ( The fabric compresses, with the loading pressure and the lube you put in the patch). Start with patching that is .010, and go up from there. If you get burned patches, you might want to use a filler, or OP wad over the powder to protect the patch from the hot gases. The wads are cheap, and they work. ( Circle Fly makes them in every caliber, and you can buy them from many suppliers. See Member Resources on the top of the Index page to this forum for links.)

 

[rogervan]

It's a 62 caliber period sniper's rifle. Boy those old scope designs give a small field of view. It is 4X, with a total length of about 36 inches, and decorative brass caps screw over each end when not in use. It's a heavy rifle, at 12.8 pounds.

Made by:
T.A. BROWN
Custom Muzzleloader Works
52 Pahsimeroi Rd
Ellis ID 83235-2000
208-876-4240

"I envy no man that knows more than myself,
and pity them that knows less." Sir T.Brown 1834

The barrel is about 36" long. I had it custom made, and I've never seen such nice browning. It aAjavascript: markup()
Quoten old-timer wrote to me saying that he had identical rifles, some in flintlock, and others with percussion nipples. He says the flinty's don't shoot as well as his percussion rifles, and he doesn't know why. So I changed up my mind and added the percussion. I have the flintlock, so in the future I may convert it for the experience of shooting flints.

This rifle has a destiny of mangling targets and banging into clangers with a satisfying loud clang. I might take one deer with it, but I'd have to remove he scope and practice zeroing the iron sights.

This is the guy who built the rifle:
T.A. BROWN
Custom Muzzleloader Works
52 Pahsimeroi Rd
Ellis ID 83235-2000
208-876-4240
"I envy no man that knows more than myself,
and pity them that knows less." Sir T.Brown 1834

One thing is wrong though; the fact is, I haven't shot that gun yet. I hope to get time to do that on
Friday.

If you have any high-tech quesions, please ask way. Over the Internet I developed a good reltionship. Tell him that he recently sent this piece he made for rogervan.

 

[rogervan]

Thank you, I'll do it that way also.

Roger