bare ball, how close is too close

[sb 54 cal.]

For the barrel I have which is a rice barrel the bore is .540 so when I chew up the ball a little bit it is pushed down the barrel and touching all sides. When target shooting I don't need to put anything on top of the ball. It may not help a whole lot on accuracy but I think it helps in my gun. Pappy

 

[tenngun]

I saved the hair in a bag then added cold lard and mink oil. Mashed it together to make a greasy hairy mess. Pull off a hunk and rolled it in to a little ball. A little bigger then the bore. Started in to the top then pushed the ball in to the center and smashed the mess down. It shot well but was too much of a mess to fiddle with. And smelled a bit strong. Tow and grease works too, and is messy but smells better :wink:

 

[ptaska]

I hate cutting patch at the muzzle. I load my 20 ga fowler the same, whether using shot or bare ball: 70 gr. FFg, 1/8" over-powder card, 1/2" fiber wad soaked in Crisco, bare .600 ball, over-shot card. If I do my part, the gun will do hers.

Someone along the line mentioned removing the sprue from the ball. What method do you use to do that?

Eric Bye's book has a great explaination about "frosting" the ball with rasps on page 43 with Fred Martin. Check that out.

 

[duelist1954]

It will depend on what the gun will tolerate. My current 20 ga will load .610" bare balls all day (0.615" bore"), but my previous fowler wouldn't let anything bigger than a .600" ball into a fouled barrel.