Ball starter options

[TDM]

Thanks @flashpoint

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

I have used a standard ball starter to load my rifles, on my latest TC build with a tight bore, I am shooting an undersized .526 ball with a .022 denim patch, with 70 gr of 2F this gives me the best accuracy out of the new GM barrel I put on the gun. I have tried bigger balls and thinner patches and the gun just didn't like them. Starting this ball combination is difficult with my round handle ball starter but once in it slides down easily.

I like to make things, I have a few flat handle ball starter designs in mind that would give me a little more smackability (is that a word?) but was wondering what you guys use to start a tight ball patch combo.

I made this for starting a tight patched ball in my 12 ga fowler.

View attachment 175127

I like the wide, flat "handle". I'm finding a round handle starter painful on my increasingly arthritic wrists.

 

[flashpoint]

This is one I made that I use on my .50’s.

That's a work of art.

 

[oldwood]

Very nice Eric........Since the 1970's , we have a surplus hardware store , that has a large display of any kind of cabinet drawer pulls , metal and wood. I've always been able to find one that's easy on my old palm ,so I don't bruise my hand. They have been handy for use on my home made 3/16 " range rods as well. That crazy store even had a supply of oval head slotted , unplated m/l building wood screws.. It is a goldmine for a do-it-yourselfer.....oldwood

 

[Eric Krewson]

I tried a different tact on my tightest bore gun, a Joe Woods coning tool, pretty slick, thumb starting is a joy. This gun was so tight I had to order a .526 mold to get a ball I could start without hammering it in. I recrowned and polished the muzzle and it was still cutting patches, coning solved that problem, plus I could start a .530 ball easily.

50 yards after coning, the other holes were from after a bunch of sight and load adjustment. I pulled the high shot then settled down for the next two.

 

[flashpoint]

I tried a different tact on my tightest bore gun, a Joe Woods coning tool, pretty slick, thumb starting is a joy. This gun was so tight I had to order a .526 mold to get a ball I could start without hammering it in. I recrowned and polished the muzzle and it was still cutting patches, coning solved that problem, plus I could start a .530 ball easily.

View attachment 189792

50 yards after coning, the other holes were from after a bunch of sight and load adjustment. I pulled the high shot then settled down for the next two.

View attachment 189797

Ain't nothing wrong with that. Great idea.