Tb54
Pilgrim
Anyone ever try brass as a projectile material? It’d have to be patched, I imagine, but since muzzle loader projectiles generally begin life at the diameter most mushroom to, I don’t spose lack of mushrooming would be an issue.
Brass balls...
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Years ago, Roundball did a lot of testing using brass ball bearings. His biggest problem was finding one in a size that would work with a patch in a normal muzzleloading caliber.
As I recall, he killed at least one deer with a brass ball.
You might try doing a search using "brass" posted by Roundball. I'm sure there's some of his posts that made it thru the transition to the new forum software.
As I recall, he killed at least one deer with a brass ball.
You might try doing a search using "brass" posted by Roundball. I'm sure there's some of his posts that made it thru the transition to the new forum software.
They would be a good option in a smooth bore!
During the Mexican war and the Texas Revolution the Mexican army used copper. You just have a hard time casting it your self.
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There once was a gentleman who was a fellow Widowmaker who had a son that worked in a steel ball bearing factory. His son supplied him with endless steel balls of about every size you could imagine?Anyway, many stories have been told about Ol Ball Bearing!!
He wore out more barrels than any man alive! He’d shoot until he had to eventually go up a size bigger ball bearing.
From what I’ve heard, he was deadly accurate!!
Annually at Friendship, Widowmaker’s coins are passed out amongst living Widowmaker’s.
The coin has the Widowmaker emblem on one side and the name of a deceased Widowmaker on the other. It’s a way of keeping his name alive!
Well, I drew George Songer
AKA: Ol Ball Bearing
Respectfully, Cowboy
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I don't recommend steel but brass and copper could be drilled and a screw extractor be deployed.
Phil Coffins
69 Cal.
I thought brass balls were for monkeys in freezing weather. 
Thems for cannon ballsI thought brass balls were for monkeys in freezing weather.
It’s a brass monkey , used to hold iron balls. When it gets real cold the brass shrinks popping the iron balls outThems for cannon balls
Lead is best!
How about brass shot?
I'd love to see one of these "brass monkey" containers. If the slight change from the difference in thermal expansion between iron and brass was enough to topple the pile you would think that aboard a ship getting pounded and tipped by waves and wind they would spend all their time retrieving balls whether it was warm or cold.
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I have firsthand experience with that in my youth. Back in the day I worked on salmon trollers off the West Coast, and we used lead balls for weights ranging from 10# to 50# on our 8 wires, more if we ran lines off the stern. That added up to a whole lot of heavy balls to contain on the heaving deck of a 42' boat in rough seas.
Call them bass monkeys or call them ball keepers, even solo 50-pounders would sometimes jump right out and take off looking for a target. Or worse yet go overboard, with replacement of lost gear coming out of crew shares.
Stacks of balls? No notion of historical fact, but I'm betting those purty stacks we see in pictures were there for the photographers, and probably stacked that way for battle. But dollars to donuts those stacks were broken down for transiting stormy weather. Got the knots on my ankles and shins to prove it all these years later from "ball busters" as we called those big old balls running free on deck.
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Pasquinel used gold. But he would use brass too. Iffin he found it first.
HH
HH
Ran along hatchways or the ceilings ( inner lining of the ships side). A low cup to hold theball. Wood cups would rust stain, iron hoops would rust, but brass would stay.... till it got too cold.
WHEN YOU FIRST START A LEAD BALL, SOME OF THE PATCHING AND SOME OF THE LEAD ARE EXTRUDED INTTO THE LANDS AND GROOVES OF THE RIFLING..
I DON'T BELIEVE THE BRASS WOULD EXTRUDE INTO THE RIFLING EXCEPT WITH GREAT FORCE.
BRASS BALLS WOULD DO WELL IN SMOOTHBORES BECAUSE THE REQUIREMENT OF EXTRUSION DOESN'T EXIST.
DUTCH
I DON'T BELIEVE THE BRASS WOULD EXTRUDE INTO THE RIFLING EXCEPT WITH GREAT FORCE.
BRASS BALLS WOULD DO WELL IN SMOOTHBORES BECAUSE THE REQUIREMENT OF EXTRUSION DOESN'T EXIST.
DUTCH
Felix the Cat
40 Cal
The other aspect of brass and steel projectiles is that they ricochet like hell.. Pure lead and lead filled ammunition deforms on impact and uses up a lot of energy. Solid brass is elastic and will bounce back off a hard target.. Solid brass bullets have been banned on Military ranges in UK because of the increased danger area they require.
You also need to think about the loss of mass that comes from using a less dense medium. The kinetic energy of the projectile is likely to be less - this is half mass times velocity squared! Even if you up the velocity, you are unlikely to compensate for the loss of mass. Finally the penetration and terminal effects of a solid brass or steel projectile is likely to be less as there will be less momentum (mass x velocity) and the projectile will not deform in the target..!
You also need to think about the loss of mass that comes from using a less dense medium. The kinetic energy of the projectile is likely to be less - this is half mass times velocity squared! Even if you up the velocity, you are unlikely to compensate for the loss of mass. Finally the penetration and terminal effects of a solid brass or steel projectile is likely to be less as there will be less momentum (mass x velocity) and the projectile will not deform in the target..!
