Buck and ball particulars!!!

[Bretwalda]

I am looking for information on the application and shooting of "buck and ball" loads :grin: ? Is this primarily a smoothbore application? Can this be used in a rifled barrel effectively? PRB in first then buckshot in a "loose" fashion with an over card to hold everything :hmm: ? Is there a ratio of "buck size shot" that works best with each bore size ? Is the powder charge increased? decreased? kept the same? Any tricks to improve pattern/load performance :applause: ? Does a form of "cushion/wad" between PRB and "shot" improve performance? What is the general effective range of this loading :shocked2: ? Does a lower numbered (like 3)pieces of large sized buckshot perform better than a larger number (like 7) pieces of smaller buckshot? Has anyone here tested the effectiveness of this loading compared a "double ball" loading on game :thumbsup: ?

 

[Many Klatch]

An accurate Buck and Ball load is an oxymoron. The load is meant to increase the odds of hitting something up close. I most often load a patched round ball first then an appropriate number of smaller roundballs on top. In a .60 I'll go with 4 or 6 balls, in a .72 I'll go with 6 or 8. Over the roundballs I either stuff a wad of patching or an overshot wad if I have one. At 25 yards I can probably keep most of the shot on a 3' X 3' piece of paper. The round ball will hit fairly close to point of aim. Normally I load .32 ball as my buckshot. This load only works in a smoothbore.

About the only reason to use buck and ball loads is for fun. It really causes a stump or a backstop to throw up a shower of dust and chunks.

Double balling has some utility if you are in a post shoot. I put one patched ball down and drop an unpatched ball on top of it and then a wad of patching or an overshot wad. I'll do this in either a smoothbore or a rifle. Usually they will print one above the other about 2 inches apart at 25 yards. The accuracy isn't too bad at 25 yards.

Many Klatch

 

[longfowler]

buck & ball will really only work in a smoothbore...a rifle would have to be very large bore to make the buckshot stack neatly, like at least a .62. And then the leading would probably be real bad, and the accuaracy of the buck terrible - not to mention ruining the accuracy of the ball! I've used B&B in my 12 ga. musket, loading 3- .315 buck on top of a PRB, held in by an overshot card. It shoots a nice pattern at 25 yds with ball in the center and three buckshot clusterd just below it, about a foot wide group. Beyond that range the buckshot slows down and drops out, so I doubt it's effective at long range (compared to an all buckshot load). I've never killed anything with it but that load would defintly put down a deer and I'll bet it would really mess up a coyote!
And by "long range" on all buck loads, I mean maybe 40 yards, with 12 buck loaded in a shot cup...still not a dense pattern, not for use on big game. A friend of mine once hit a nice 8-buck with a 10ga buckshot load at 30 yards, & it took a team of 5 hunters all day to track & kill it with a .270 - so I'll never depend on buckshot only to kill big game.

 

[XXX]

I have read it was a common load for Roger's Rangers, who were mostly armed with smoothbores. The application is a martial one as opposed to a hunting one and the context would be in irregular bush warfare where sudden, unexpected close contact with the enemy was likely. The idea never really went away. In the 1950's the British military was using buck and ball "Malaya Loads" in shotguns during that counterinsurgency and we had similar Malaya load and flechette rounds for shotgun toting pointmen in Vietnam.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Buck & ball loads, as mentioned, is pretty much a military application. It's merely a matter of putting as much stuff down range as possible. Pure buckshot loads are effective at short range but require modern shot loadings to be effective. The effect of buckshot is really accumulative and works on a principle called "hand-printing" from the idea that enough hits in the size of a hand will spread the knock down around the target's body mass. P.O. Ackley had a rather interesting account of using it on feral mules but his books have been out of print for some time and I no longer have a copy. The biggest problem is that muzzleloaders have difficulty duplicating more modern buckshot loads. In actual fact, you'd probably have to be within about 25 yards with a large bore gun to do any good with them. They're just a difficult proposition for anything like humane use. Sorry.

 

[tg]

This load can be used for hunting and is a smoothbore only deal but the range is very short for any effective use 10 yds or so I have a .62 that puts the ball oretty much in the center of a 10-12" circle of 6 .30 shot at 12-15 yds, I have thought of using it as a close range ambush load for deer comming out of briar patches at dusk it would put a lot of holes in the animal but it is extrememly limited and needs a lot of work to get a tight load even at the short ranges use caution and a lot of restraint if thinking about hunting with buck and ball.

 

[uglybluejeep]

I recall reading a book about Civil War weapons, it described putting the Buck in 1st and following up with the ball. The claim was that the ball 'pushed' the buck into a wider pattern. Again, no real hunting application except possibly hog hunting at short range in southern swamps.

 

[ohio ramrod]

The buck and ball load that I am familure with was the military 69 caliber smooth bore loaded with one ball behind three 00 buckshot. This load was used up to and in the Civil war. Very effective at close range and was used in paper cartridges for fast reloading.

 

[wrfabus]

The Ordnance manual for the U.S. Army in 1861 states the buck and ball round had a .65 caliber roundball with 3 .31 caliber buck on top of it, loaded with 110 grains of powder (ugh!!). The reason for the .65 caliber ball was for successive loading ease. The cartirdge would be torn, powder dumped down the barrel, and the paper that contained the buck on top of the ball would be rammed down the barrel, to keep it all together, sort of like a wad.

Regard,
Bill