Bare balls?

[ZDC]

At my latest range session I was playing around with loads and such and found that my rifle shoots a bare .495 ball ( no patch ) pretty well. Just pour powder and push down a ball.

I normally shoot a .490 with a .015 patch and accuracy is a little better ( normally 2-3 inch groups at 50 ) but after a shot loading it is near impossible, and the bore needs scrubbed between shots.

Off of a rest, with the bare ball, I was able to shoot a 1.5 inch group at 25 yards, and at 50 was able to shoot a 3.5 inch group. I also was able to shoot 10 shots without needing to run a patch.

Have any of you guys tried this and how did it shoot? 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)?

 

[Zutt-man]

At my latest range session I was playing around with loads and such and found that my rifle shoots a bare .495 ball ( no patch ) pretty well. Just pour powder and push down a ball.

I normally shoot a .490 with a .015 patch and accuracy is a little better ( normally 2-3 inch groups at 50 ) but after a shot loading it is near impossible, and the bore needs scrubbed between shots.

Off of a rest, with the bare ball, I was able to shoot a 1.5 inch group at 25 yards, and at 50 was able to shoot a 3.5 inch group. I also was able to shoot 10 shots without needing to run a patch.

Have any of you guys tried this and how did it shoot? 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)?

Assuming you’re talking about deer? A .50 should do enough damage at 50 yards, 3.5” groups should be fine in the sweet spot. You’ve essentially got a pie plate sized kill zone

 

[Rifleman1776]

If it works, it works. Do yer own thang.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I've tried the very same thing with the same results. I carry a couple of .495 balls in my pocket for a fast second shot if I need it. According to a video I posted a few days ago it worked pretty well for Lewis Wetzel when the two legged game were chasing him.

 

[hanshi]

If you are getting that level of accuracy from both loads it's a win-win situation. Both are deer worthy so pick the one easiest for you to use.

 

[tenngun]

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

 

[ZDC]

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

That's one of the things I was wondering about but they where both shooting the same at 50 yards. Id bet that much farther past that the bare balls would start dropping faster than the patched.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

Soon your rifling will be full of lead....then you have to remove it.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

Like Uncle Miltie said above. A steady diet of bare balls fired in a rifled barrel WILL lead it up eventually. Bare balls are more commonly fired in smoothbore guns. The theory is that the plasma from the powder charge blows by the ball and keeps the ball centered in the bore such that it doesn't touch the sides of the bore. I have not seen this proven though.

I have fired an unpatched round ball in my 12 gauge gun and had acceptable accuracy. This is not something I regularly do though. The advantage is that you can load an unpatched ball more quickly. As I am not hunting "redskins", "redcoats", "rebels" or other historical enemies, I don't care about speed. The milk jugs cannot hurt me and sit quietly waiting to be shot.

 

[johnraleksa]

Like Uncle Miltie said above. A steady diet of bare balls fired in a rifled barrel WILL lead it up eventually. Bare balls are more commonly fired in smoothbore guns. The theory is that the plasma from the powder charge blows by the ball and keeps the ball centered in the bore such that it doesn't touch the sides of the bore. I have not seen this proven though.

I have fired an unpatched round ball in my 12 gauge gun and had acceptable accuracy. This is not something I regularly do though. The advantage is that you can load an unpatched ball more quickly. As I am not hunting "redskins", "redcoats", "rebels" or other historical enemies, I don't care about speed. The milk jugs cannot hurt me and sit quietly waiting to be shot.

What about that ball moving when you lower the barrel down. Does it fit that tight that it won't fall out.

 

[ZDC]

What about that ball moving when you lower the barrel down. Does it fit that tight that it won't fall out.

It fits nice and snug. It won't move anywhere

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

In my case, I use a fiber wad or some other kind of wad... wasp nest, ;piece of paper, cotton ball... something that fits tight enough to keep the ball from moving. Normally when I am shooting a round ball, I put down the bore in this order: powder charge, over powder card, fiber wad, ball and another fiber wad. If I am shooting shot, I will sometimes put an over shot card in instead of the second fiber wad. If you use an over shot wad, you kind of need to keep the gun muzzle up if you sling it.

Over powder wads tend to be kind of flimsy and I don't want the charge to work it's way down the bore when I am carrying the gun slung muzzle-down. If it moved a couple of inches and you touched it off at a ground target, the over powder card and wad would slam into the shot charge... basically a bore obstruction. I'm not certain what would happen in that case, but I don't want to find out the hard way.

These cards and wads need to fit the bore tightly. If they do not, they are not suitable.

You can also patch the ball, which I also do sometimes. This is probably the most practical method of firing a round ball in a smoothbore... though others think differently than I do.

You can also do a ball and buck load, which sounds more impressive than it is really. When I do that, I will put a fiber wad between the ball and the shot charge, then cap the shot charge with an over shot wad.

Quite a bit of energy in that ball when you fire it... and a fair amount of recoil to match, especially when fired from a 12" barrel. Ball and buck loads with 9 pellets REALLY wakes you up. I tend to keep the powder charges on the light side... say thirty grains of Triple 7 with a 7 grain black powder ignition charge. My barrel came from a T/C New Englander and has no sights. Aiming is by point-&-shoot. I can hit a milk jug at thirty yards with a single ball. Haven't really tried longer ranges.

As in all things, your mileage may vary.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

Y'know, this title is vaguely pornographic!

 

[ZDC]

Y'know, this title is vaguely pornographic!

Change bare to bear and things get even weirder

 

[ZDC]

Soon your rifling will be full of lead....then you have to remove it.

How would I go about removing lead? I use a bronze brush with every post shoot cleaning, would that work , or is it not that simple and more of a PITA process.

 

[Flintlock]

Bare balls tend to shrink in the cold.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

How would I go about removing lead? I use a bronze brush with every post shoot cleaning, would that work , or is it not that simple and more of a PITA process.

Several methods... and the bronze brush is one of them, though that one probably requires the most effort. There are a number of commercial products out there that will remove lead quite well. They'll also take any carbon "seasoning" off... and they WILL remove the gun's external finish.

Personally, I would eschew the bare balls method and go with patched balls, lubed bullets and sabotted bullets. That way your leading is minimal to non-existent.

 

[Ballshooter]

Bare balls tend to shrink in the cold.

Lol

 

[Freedom]

How would I go about removing lead?

Birchwood Casey Lead Remover Cloth.. hours with a brush or minutes with a Casey cloth.

 

[Zutt-man]

Bare balls tend to shrink in the cold.

Always thought that was a corkscrew issue