Coning a smoothbore

[Frank/Pa]

I have coned the muzzle on all of my rifles so that I can load without a short starter, using Joe Wood's coning tool. I will be shooting mostly round ball out of a 20 gauge and don't want to have to carry a short starter. I will also be shooting buckshot occasionaly. How will coning the muzzle on a smoothbore affect the shot pattern?

 

[Russianblood]

You shouldn't need to cone a smoothbore. Just pick a patch/ball combination that you can thumb start. Besides, the barrels of most smoothbores are very thin at the crown.

 

[Frank/Pa]

I have been shooting rifles for over 30 years, and this will be my first smoothbore. I wasn't sure if I could thumb a .600 ball into a 20 gauge or not. I will just have to experiment with different patch thicknesses.

 

[Russianblood]

My 20 bore thumb starts with a .600 RB and a .015 patch. Ticking is too thick though.

 

[Hiparoo]

I use a .595 ball and whatever patch material I have on hand that'll work....I would suggest trying smaller ball/thicker patch

 

[tom hargrove]

smoothies are funny critters, ive shot 530 with a double denim patch in my 62 and gotten fairley decent results but mostley i use a fiber wad and a .610 rb over 70gr 3f put half the wad over the powder the ball then the other half of wad shoots very well after it shoots a few fouleing shots. it does about as well as shooting a patch..

 

[Slowpoke]

Ed Rayl is making me a 50 inch, 28g, smoothbore barrel and it's relieved at the muzzle. My Getz 20g is .615 and there is no way in the world I'm thumb starting it with the .600 ball and .015 patch. Maybe everyone else has strong/bigger thumbs. :thumbsup: :rotf:

 

[Rebel]

The bore on my Jackie Brown is about .615 too and i have to use a real thin patch in it. Sometimes i just shoot a bare ball in it with an overshot card over it.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Slowpoke: Assuming the bore actually measures .615, why don't you use the .595 diameter balls. You should not have a lot of trouble thumbing them into that barrel. ( please check the bore diameter, or ask Ed to check it, so you can order molds, or a quantity of lead ball to have on hand when the gun is finished. My .20 ga. barrel came out .622" , and I have a lot of .20 ga. wads I don't need. I bought 19 ga. wads and they work just fine. My gunbuilder had bought barrels from this same supplier on many occasions, and was using one of them himself. He didn't bother to measure the bore because the issue had never come up until we found the 20 ga. wads slipping down too easy in my gun. He was very apologetic, but I certainly was not going to demand he put a new barrel on the gun. It really wasn't his fault.)

 

[ronrryan]

My 20 gauge fusil fin will accept a 595 ball with a 20 lubed patch pretty easily. I DO use a short starter mostly, but that is because I have carpal tunnel, and a couple whacks and it serves me notice, so I use a little hammer on the short starter to start the ball, just enough to compress the patch and seat the ball under the muzzle. Then the whole works goes down easily. Not PC, but then neither am I. Good smoke, Ron in Fla

 

[Slowpoke]

please check the bore diameter, or ask Ed to check it, so you can order molds, or a quantity of lead ball to have on hand when the gun is finished.

Sound advice.... In the new barrel, I'm having the crown of the muzzle relieved so I shouldn't have any trouble starting it with my thumb. I tried the 595 balls but for some reason this gun really liked a tight combo.... but let me tell ya... this smoothbore would cut a 2 inch hole all day long from a bench at 50 yards.... (standing up on my soap-box podium) this is the same gun that I used to win MD State (limited and unlimited) 2ys in a row. Anyway, I'm sending it up to Lloyd Tennyson in a couple week to be jug-choke, I'll use my 54 for roundball work and this one for birds and critters that run.

 

[J.D.]

Smoothbores and rifles are completely different animals. In my experience, all that is necessary for good smoothbore accuracy is a tight enough patch/ball combination to hold the ball centered in the bore. My bess has won more than its share of smoothbore matches shooting a patch/ball combination that only gives about .004 crush to the patch.

This load of a .715 ball with a .018 patch thumb starts very easily in a .748 bore. The ball stays seated on the powder during a days hunt, and shoots well enough that most smoothbore shooters don't like to see me walk up to the firing line.

Though there are exceptions to my experiences, IMHO, anyone who needs a starter to load a smoothbore needs to go to a smaller ball and thicker patch.
J.D.