Bare balls?

[64Springer]

Y'know, this title is vaguely ****ographic!

Not as ****ographic as the guy who went shooting in the snow yesterday.

He was wondering why his balls were still wearing their patches.

My first thought was they were cold.

From the What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today thread.

 

[Ballshooter]

How would I go about removing lead?

Sell the rifle and get a smoothbore

 

[ZDC]

Sell the rifle and get a smoothbore

I would like to get a smoothbore next

Tons of doves,squirrel and turkeys at the farm also so I could load shot and have fun aside from deer hunting

 

[Jedd]

You do loose a lot of velocity as gas blows in to the grooves and pass the ball

If you put mink oil on the ball, will this help?

 

[reddogge]

I wouldn't do it with my rifles due to the leading problem. I don't like using lead fouling remover with a bronze brush. If speed is the issue make a loading block for patched round balls.

 

[tenngun]

If you put mink oil on the ball, will this help?

Lots of hot gas. I would think the grease would be blown off the ball before the ball started to move

 

[necchi]

Since my accuracy isn't bad is there any negatives to doing this in a hunting perspective, mainly follow up shots or back up shots ( I limit my shots to 50 yards anyways)?

That's a very old and common technique for quick second shots and as long as your using it for just that your fine.
Just don't fall in the rabbit hole though, keep that practiced accurate prb combo load as the primary goal

 

[tenngun]

I had a set up. A ball board, and a short starter that had a powder measure drilled in it. I kept the leg of the starter in one hole in my bag so I could pull them both together.
Charge, cover with the board, remove starter and wack ball, leave starter in hole and return it to my bag, ram home, prime and shoot, 25 seconds

 

[Col. Batguano]

I shoot bare / unpatched balls in my cannon and mortar, but that's for a different reason. I WANT the blow-by (windage) to happen. Those projectiles are made of steel or, in the case of my mortar, tennis balls or beer cans filled with concrete and wouldn't deform if they were obstructed by something in the bore. BIG boom then!