Bullets are a tight fit

[hopper055]

The barrel was cleaned by me the day before. The bore isn't pristine but it's far from bad. I do have a bore light I own modern firearms and have all the stuff to maintain them. And I wasn't trying to patch them. I was replying to an earlier post about using round balls.

My round balls came in and I bought a yard of pillow ticking and some crisco. The ticking is being washed right now. But how do I apply the crisco? I have read of people melting it and letting the patches soak it up. People spreading it on every other patch and making a stack and letting them soak it all up. And of people just rubbing it on when they are at the range. I want to use strps and cut the patches as I shoot. Any help is appreciated.

 

[mooman76]

Just wipe a little on before you load and cut the patch. I just stick the patch on it and wipe. Not hard, you don't need allot, just a light coat. Crisco isn't the best lube but it works good enough. That's what I started using long ago and I'm sure many others did too. Any of the ways you mentioned would work also, so just choose your way.

 

[rafterob]

I used straight crisco for a long time and pre lubed the patch strips. Discovered that was a greasy mess. Then I put my crisco in empty cap tins and rubbed only one side of the patching as I loaded. That was better. Now I mix crisco with bees wax to the consistency of shoe polish. That is the best so far, no greasy mess.

 

[Shifty]

Hopper I have a 50cal CVA Mountain Stalker 1-32 twist that I have been using 370grn T/C Maxi Balls in with great accuracy for me 1" groups a 50yds ,well the other day I discovered I only had 3-4 of the 370 grners left so while a Wal-Mart I saw the same 320grners you are trying they would not load into my bore after ruining a short starter I stopped removed niple got all the powder out i could put water into barrel for a while ,tried to screw my ball puller into the bullet it would not screw in the lead was so hard so I drilled the bullet to relief the pressure and got it out that way ,measured the lands on the 320 grn ones and they are about .005 bigger on each land than the 370 grn ones and a whole lot harder to dent.So you are not the only one having problems with the New 320 grn ones.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Buy yourself a dial or digital calipers and learn how to use it. It will come in handy more than you know.

 

[50cal.cliff]

My .50 will shoot a .490 ball w/pillow ticking and it is a good fit.

Using the same ticking I can feed her a .495 but, it is tight as can be, but is doable, using the hand over hand method with the ram rod.

However using the same load that I used with the .490 ball, the .495 ball will rattle your teeth when you touch her off. The first time I tried it, I went thru my breathing right and hit the set trigger and when I was good I touched off the load. I have taught myself to not jump the shot but stay with head in firing position. Soooo that was a surprise when I touched it off! :surrender:

Accuracy difference between the two loads, the .495 is just a tad better with accuracy as long as you don't shoot too many.

After about 6-8 you will begin to develop a flinch! :idunno: :haha: I think it has too do with the increased whampam that the tight load brings too the table!

 

[William O.]

I used straight crisco for a long time and pre lubed the patch strips. Discovered that was a greasy mess. Then I put my crisco in empty cap tins and rubbed only one side of the patching as I loaded. That was better. Now I mix crisco with bees wax to the consistency of shoe polish. That is the best so far, no greasy mess.

I used this method using beeswax and olive oil and it also worked just fine. Empty cap tins work great for this too.

 

[lapierre1]

I like the beeswax and olive oil myself. Works just as good on cast bullets for BPCR.

 

[ccmountainman]

I think I PMed you a while back on this. But...
as others have said.
some barrels are tighter than others. Deeper rifling.
You don't use a patch with a conical bullet (maxi or mini style).
Round balls you likely will have to try a mix and match in the two different common ball sizes and thickness of patch material.
Typical traditional style MuzzleLoaders really aren't designed for sabotted bullets although some people do use them.
When buying at the store, be very sure they are for traditional side lock Muzzleloaders as it can sometimes make a difference.
If in doubt, measure them, be sure they aren't boxed wrong. .495 to .510 is a common variance.
Pure lead .50 cal conicals.
Many do not come prelubed from the factory.

Do NOT use a petroleum based lube in Black Powder.

Crisco will work, but there is better.

Most make their lubes from lard (tallow) and beeswax and adjust the ratios to fit their preference. start at 50 /50 both melted separately.

If and when you swab between shots, either soap and water and dry thoroughly or 80 % and better Rubbing Alcohol.
solvents and moose milk and such can cause issues.
Not always but can.
Also swabbing can cause your flash hole to be blocked , so use care there.
Been using rubbing alcohol 35+ years. I rarely have ever swabbed between shots. Hunting only if I have missed 5 or 6 times in two or three days.
And I don't miss anywhere's near that often.
Targets??? only when it gets so I can't load any more.

But back to the original topic.
You should be able to press the conical down with just the palm of your hand on the short starter.
Then another 4 to 6" with the long end of the short starter. Maybe a little whack with the palm.
Switching to a ram rod. You can make or buy a wood guide to lay over muzzle to protect your hand
and same for a Palm saver to go over top of ramrod.

 

[Josh Smith]

Lubes...

I used to use pillow ticking patches that I soaked up melted beeswax with. The straight beeswax seemed to do just fine.

More recently, that melted beeswax has been getting a bit of olive oil melted in with it. I'm going to run that for a bit and see if I like it better.

If you look on old ships' manifests, you'll see "sweet oil." This is olive oil and was used for patches back in the American Colonies and elsewhere.

Josh