Bare Ball Shooting Smooth Bore

[59sharps]

Yes I shoot bare balls in aN original 1809 Potsdam and a 42 Springfield both shoot 1 ragged hole off the bench at 50 yards W 55 grn. 2ffg.

 

[Leadball loader]

Shooting bare ball must mean a bore size ball that has to be forced down on the powder? I cannot feel comfortable loading my 20 guage with a ball under bore size and moving around while hunting knowing the ball can move off the powder charge. I need the security of wadding!
LBL

 

[Brokennock]

Shooting bare ball must mean a bore size ball that has to be forced down on the powder?

Please read all the previous threads.
And, the hundreds of other replys in similar topics all across the smoothbore section of this forum.

 

[Bob McBride]

Shooting bare ball must mean a bore size ball that has to be forced down on the powder? I cannot feel comfortable loading my 20 guage with a ball under bore size and moving around while hunting knowing the ball can move off the powder charge. I need the security of wadding!
LBL

Shooting ‘bare balls’ means using wadding.

 

[Archer 756]

Black Powder Please read what bare ball means as stated Civil War actors shoot BARE BALL only

 

[Bob McBride]

Black Powder Please read what bare ball means as stated Civil War actors shoot BARE BALL only

The ‘Thespians de Guerre’ shoot cartridges only, which IS wadded, and don’t shoot bare balls unless they’re shooting the manual of arms in a scenario where they’re out of or didn’t use paper cartridges.

 

[csitas]

I can see the civil war enactors shooting ball only, I would think that that fire proofs their shooting. You wouldn't want to start the battlefield on fire , would you?

 

[Archer 756]

That's the rules of the N-SSA bare balls only

 

[tenngun]

I have always understood bare ball to mean wad at least on top and more often above and below.
nssa matches I don’t know if they shoot just ball over powder. But military loading was a paper cartridges it’s still wrapped in paper and forms a crumpled paper wad tween it and the ball.
A tight ball in a smooth nor would resist moving, but in a military situation I wouldn’t want to try to load and fire a .69 ball out of a .69 gun.

 

[sawyer04]

I tried it and was impressed about the accuracy, but I like to patch lightly, I feel like things are staying put better.

 

[Bob McBride]

I certainly wouldn’t. I’ll have to do some research to see if an actual ACW battle was ever called off because 280,000 paper cartridge rounds were fired.....

I tried it and was impressed about the accuracy, but I like to patch lightly, I feel like things are staying put better.

They do. It works fine without but unless you're cozplaying it's not ideal. Safety first is keeping the ball on the powder. Especially in a hunting situation.

 

[59sharps]

Mop

Shooting bare ball must mean a bore size ball that has to be forced down on the powder? I cannot feel comfortable loading my 20 guage with a ball under bore size and moving around while hunting knowing the ball can move off the powder charge. I need the security of wadding!
LBL

nope my Springfield has a 690 Note shoot a 685 ball. My Potzdam is 72 and shots a 715. No wading. I don’t hunt w it.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Not really a patch, but I shoot paper cartridges with the ball end dipped in wax. They do keep together well enough to keep the lead from scraping going down and coming back out.

 

[rrebuck]

I have a 10 gauge double barrel Pedersoli percussion shotgun with removable chokes. The manual makes no mention of shooting anything but lead shot, but can I shoot round balls with choke tubes? If so, what diameter and loads? I've emailed Pedersoli also and am awaiting a response from them.
Thanks for any info.

 

[Runewolf1973]

I shoot bare ball in my .62 NWTG. Just a wad of borax treated crumpled newspaper between the ball and powder and another ball of paper to hold it in place. It's kinda like a substitute for wasp nest. I use a .600 roundball which might be a tad small. Might have to try a .610.

 

[sawyer04]

but can I shoot round balls with choke tubes?

I am not afraid to shoot round balls in my old straight barrels, even slightly modified, I would be very leery of shooting ball with choked barrels. No expert, just cautious.

 

[Intosomthin]

Me personally, im kina new to both smooth bores and flint locks. I dont like the idea of a " loose" ball rollin up n down my barrel. Even a green leaf stuffed to hold it in place would settle my mind when im about to pull the trigger, esp hunting walking, jostleing it around. Thus far i shoot from the bench, there id "almost" be ok with it, other than fact gas running around sides n not pushing as should. Again my opinion from a newb to smoothies, far from new to bp... i love being enlightened by the far more in the kno than me, and i wont even argue with yuh lol

 

[Cruzatte]

Rest your fears. The ball doesn't roll around at all. It can't, for several reasons. One, the ball is not more than .010 smaller than bore diameter, perhaps only .005 smaller. Two, there is a tight fitting wad of some material in front of the ball making sure it stays put.

 

[fistmil]

If bare ball means shooting without a patch, this may qualify. I load my smooth bore the same way with ball as I do shot.. 85g 2f powder, a .125 card over powder, a cushion wad, ball and 2 over shot cards to hold ball in place. I got this from an article "Round Ball in a Smoothbore"by Jim Colburn. I've only tried it at 25 yds. but it worked well. 9 shots off hand.
.

 

[Cruzatte]

If bare ball means shooting without a patch, this may qualify. I load my smooth bore the same way with ball as I do shot.. 85g 2f powder, a .125 card over powder, a cushion wad, ball and 2 over shot cards to hold ball in place. I got this from an article "Round Ball in a Smoothbore"by Jim Colburn. I've only tried it at 25 yds. but it worked well. 9 shots off hand.
.

Yes, that's exactly what is meant. Good shooting, by the way.