Belted ball guns

[tom_in_vt]

Wow, those are interesting. I had no idea such a thing existed.

 

[Packrat]

Not primitive or muzzleloading, but the 1960'ish recoilless rifle had a HEPT (High explosive Plastic tracer) round with pinss? on it, it had to be loaded carefully so the pins went into the groves. If it was jammed in you had to use the cleaning rod to bump the shell out, These were 106 mm

 

[Relic shooter]

Yes, the barrels have a twist to the grooves.
Twist rate varies by bore size and probably by maker.
Photo 17b & 40b

View attachment 179825
View attachment 179826

Thanks for sharing photo of your high quality rifles !
relic shooter

 

[nit wit]

I have a Brunswick and an original mould. the bore has 2 grooves that spiral. The belt on the ball fit into the groove.
Nit Wit

 

[Rudyard]

Well it been explained well enough all I could add is I used one for years of 24 bore with 1 in 60'' pitch a wad of slightly greased 4x2 cleaning patch rolled as a' stopple' before loading lightley patched ball no hard ramming required . The ball shot flatter than the winged conical I made so I stick with the belted ball . The idea of the soft 'Stopple ' is it seals the bore but can't affect the ball as a harder wad might do . Do I get better accuracy ?, Hard to say but no worse than a harder to load ball ..
Regards Rudyard

 

[Gordoncourtney]

This is one of the most interesting strings thank you all. 4 years ago I won a rusty cape rifle by Reilly , well documented made in 1853 cost me £850 at Holts London auction. probably 20g left barrel and right barrel .623 two grove rifled. I noticed at holts quite a few rifles were around 16g with two groves. At 79 the police refused to renew my certificates so I am happily limited to bsa Scorpio pcp 177& 22 deadly to 80 yards The loss of shotguns don’t bother me, just a collector now, but it’s frustrating not being able to test rifles, France no problem with BP no license required Anyway the cape rifle has a number of flip sights suggesting it could shoot cape buff , impala out to say 150 yards but what I have learnt to date the winged ball was pretty inaccurate , I experimented by milling groves in some old moulds and even designed a jacketed winged bullet great big things , no thanks . I guess two groves lasted a while until it was realised they were pretty usless. Two grooves were used ok in a lot of cordite rifles due to the small bore, suggesting to me the rifle was not at fault , but the projectile was Dead interesting stuff. More pleased Gordon Me with emu in Oz 1999 And me tofay. All a bit of fun

 

[RAEDWALD]

The Russians updated their copy Brunswick army rifles from the belted ball to a winged conical getting a much greater range and updated the sights to match. The ‘express’ rifle began as Purdy’s 2 groove conical winged bullets.

The belted ball was practical but the winged conical had more promise. In short ranges the lighter belted ball had a slight edge with an initial flatter trajectory but the lighter mass and worse aerodynamics compared to the winged conical soon caused it to fall behind.

Both were patched in cloth. The British Brunswick belted ball wrapped and sewn in cloth and the Russian winged conical with a cloth patch tied around the rear part, judging by a period cartridge cut in half.

For the distances most of us shoot at the belted ball may well be the better choice and www.ballmoulds.com can make you a custom sized mould at a very reasonable price and of excellent quality.