Brown Bess Fodder

[shaman]

I recently purchased a Pedersoli Brown Bess. To feed it, I bought a .735 mold from Dixie Gun Works and a .69 Lee Mold. I did my first bit of casting this week and compared my results. The .69 bold produced dead-on .69 balls. The large mold produced balls from .75 to .76.

I know I'm pretty well set with .69 if I use a paper cartridge. However, the question remains as to what I can do with the larger balls.
Is this a non-starter? I've not mucked with smoothbore before, but I figured with .735 balls I could probably fit a .010 patch. I'm hesitant to start pounding .76 balls down the bore without someone with experience telling me that's how its done.

 

[Artificer]

I recently purchased a Pedersoli Brown Bess. To feed it, I bought a .735 mold from Dixie Gun Works and a .69 Lee Mold. I did my first bit of casting this week and compared my results. The .69 bold produced dead-on .69 balls. The large mold produced balls from .75 to .76.

I know I'm pretty well set with .69 if I use a paper cartridge. However, the question remains as to what I can do with the larger balls.
Is this a non-starter? I've not mucked with smoothbore before, but I figured with .735 balls I could probably fit a .010 patch. I'm hesitant to start pounding .76 balls down the bore without someone with experience telling me that's how its done.

Personally, I would call Dixie and I'm sure they will replace your larger mold with one that casts the correct size ball. In the meantime, I would most strongly suggest you don't hammer those oversize balls down the bore as you may bulge the muzzle in doing so OR at least get it so stuck so hard in the bore you will have to pull the breech plug and use a rod to drive it out from the rear.

My two Pedersoli Bess's I've had were .753" and .752," I could not even imagine trying to hammer a .760" ball all the way down either bore.

Gus

 

[shaman]

Ooops, sorry. I meant to post this to the Smoothbore sub-forum. Thanks. I'll contact Dixie.

 

[Artificer]

Ooops, sorry. I meant to post this to the Smoothbore sub-forum. Thanks. I'll contact Dixie.

You are most welcome.

Gus

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Personally, I would call Dixie and I'm sure they will replace your larger mold with one that casts the correct size ball. In the meantime, I would most strongly suggest you don't hammer those oversize balls down the bore as you may bulge the muzzle in doing so OR at least get it so stuck so hard in the bore you will have to pull the breech plug and use a rod to drive it out from the rear.

My two Pedersoli Bess's I've had were .753" and .752," I could not even imagine trying to hammer a .760" ball all the way down either bore.

Gus

YES INDEED...
IF the cast ".735" balls which are oversized won't fit into the bore of the Bess, do not force them.
When you get a .735 mold that actually casts .735's..., some folks have reported very good results with taking a rasp, and distressing a band of lead around the ball, or distressing the entire surface of the ball. THEN that ball is pushed into the bore following a wad, and the tiny bits of raised lead are swaged to the bore, and the ball then has no "wiggle room" when fired, and so folks get good accuracy from THAT. Some folks have on other forums expressed the idea that the "dimples" make the ball like a golf ball, but don't seem to understand that golf balls spin perpendicular to the vector of flight, while a distressed musket ball A) is not symmetrically dimpled and B) does not spin in any fashion. It's the consistent snug ball that's getting the accuracy. OH and they do have to clean their barrels quite often to maintain loading... just like a rifle... when using a "snug" ball.

LD

 

[hawkeye2]

Assuming your bore is actually .750" then a .735" ball is ideal. It will shoot reasonable well naked and far better with a patch.

Curious, what brand mold did you buy from Dixie that's so far oversize?

Don't even think of trying to fit an over bore size ball in your gun. I can tell you from experience until you stick a naked ball in a smoothbore you don't have a clue as to what a stuck ball really is.

 

[Rifleman1776]

spin perpendicular to the vector of flight,

Be careful. This is a family friendly forum. That kind of language isn't allowed here.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Do check bore size. The bores on Pedersoli Besses, and other smoothies, can vary from advertised or what others you may have seen. On mine, I used a .731" soft lead roundball and loaded with a patch just like a rifle. I don't think I could have gotten one of your .735" balls down with out awful pounding.

 

[shaman]

I can tell you from experience until you stick a naked ball in a smoothbore you don't have a clue as to what a stuck ball really is.

I had a vague feeling this might be the case. I'm glad I asked.

 

[rp77469]

Just sharing my limited experience.

I've shot my Ped Bess with .715 and .735 and 0.016 ticking patched round balls. Lube was bear grease, charge 80g Goex 2f, 2f also for prime. I think I could shoot .715 all day without cleaning. The .735 needs some damp tow and a worm run down the barrel after a few rounds. I don't have much experience with this thing yet, but can hit a silhouette target at 50y about half the time, offhand. Since I'm not the greatest shot in the world, it gives me some hope that more practice will improve that percentage.

I bought a Lyman .715 mold for it, so that is what I will be using. This post is just for info as to what I do at the moment. Another 6 months experience with it will no doubt give a better feel for what the musket likes best, will probably change my opinion of the load mentioned above, while a lot more practice won't hurt a thing either.