Cushioning the ball starter

[HistoryBuff]

The brass ball starter seems like a bad idea to me. It can dent or mangle a ball, especially when starting a tight ball/patch combo. Does anybody here use padding on the starter? I am thinking of putting a piece of leather on the ends to cushion it. Is this a good idea? What kind of glue works best to marry the brass and leather?

Thanks,
HistoryBuff

 

[strongarm]

The best thing I've seen is to either grind a flat surface to the starter so it mates with the sprue on the ball or create a concave end to the starter so it covers 1/3 of the ball surface when started. Most commercial starters I seen on the market are for .40 or .45 cal and can do a number on a .50 or .54 ball.

tom

 

[Markwhiz]

The leather cushion sounds like a good idea - just needs to be a very thin piece. I would suggest contact cement for an adhesive.

 

[vradin]

What kind of glue works best to marry the brass and leather?

It's probably not PC, but Barge Cement will stick leather to just about anything. It might work best if you scuff up the brass with some 100 grit paper.

vic

 

[jrdavis]

why not cone your barrel and do away with the ball starter? :imo:

 

[roundball]

The brass ball starter seems like a bad idea to me. It can dent or mangle a ball, especially when starting a tight ball/patch combo. Does anybody here use padding on the starter? I am thinking of putting a piece of leather on the ends to cushion it. Is this a good idea? What kind of glue works best to marry the brass and leather?

Thanks,
HistoryBuff

That's a ne one on me...been using a variety of brass tipped and steel tipped ball starters for 15 years and never had a problem...while an interesting idea, gluing leather to the starter seems like a fix for a problem that shouldn't exist...the first thought that comes to my mind is to simply be sure you have the correct size tip for the caliber ball you're using...if it's the correct size, there shouldn't be any damage to the ball

 

That's an interesting thought. I have noticed that my short atarter does a number on the .54 but leaves little marking on my .50. In either case I have't noticed any accuracy problems, other than the ones I cause due to bad genetics.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I whittle flat ends on my all-wood stub-starters (I make them just long enough to get the patched ball free of the ball-block). I have one made from witch-hazel maybe 20 years ago that has no metal tip, just a flat end woth a radius edge, and has probably started 5,000 .530" balls with 0.018" patch. If you're damaging balls, you need to find a better patch & lube combo IMHO! The little sprue takes up all the upset from my palm slap.

No wonder some folks don't like wood ramrods!

 

Once again, a number of great solutions to a problem that does not exist.

:imo:

 

[musketman]

What about a good old, NON-PC tip to a pool cue, this would work on some of the larger bores, it's padded too...

I use a wine bottle corker plunger for my ball starter, works fine for me...

 

I don't have ball-starter problems, 'cause I don't use one. ::

YMHS
rollingb

 

[CrackStock]

I suggest that you try an experiment:

Go out and load your prettiest ball, use every precaution imagineable to seat a perfect ball and let some one else fire the shot. Then pick a good ball, mangle only the front of it, and give the same care to the rest of the load that the earlier shot received. Then let the same fellow fire that one too. He should not know what you are doing or it will skew the result. Do this and keep score until you have a result.

I bet that you will be surprised at the result.

By the way, delrin is fairly easy to shape and does a good job in seating moderately tight loads.

I had one somewhere...

YMHS,
CrackStock

 

[sneakon]

I noticed my starter chewed up the RBs also. Didn't have a problem when starting the maxi-balls. Anyway, I got a small .54 cal. cleaning jag with a concave tip to screw into the TC bullet starter and that fixed the problem of dinging the RBs. I need to grind down the jag because sometimes the patch gets caught on the jag. Don't know how much dinging the RB affected accuracy of the shot, but dinging the ball just didn't seem right.

 

[Darkhorse]

I never, never, ever, anymore, use a short starter with a wooden peg. Back in the mid 70's one cold morning as I was loading a deer load, my hickory peg split and I sliced my hand open on the front sight. I had to start the ball with a hammer and wrap my hand in cloth as I was 50 miles from home but I hunted anyway.
Which brings me to the rest of the story...
The next week I replaced the wooden peg with a cutoff .35 Marlin case, deprimed. Since I didn't have a round cutter the right size I just chamfered the primer pocket with the closest drill I could find. Everytime I started a ball it left a perfect "cut" ring in the top of the ball about 1/3 down. And since I was casting balls of pure soft lead the cut was very obvious. This bothered me for awhile but at the range I could see no loss of accuracy, even off a bench at 100 yards. The next spring I placed 3rd in the 50 yard offhand match at the Southeastern Regionals. I have never again worried about the little ring.
I still have this short starter and still use it occasionally, like when loading from a block as the peg is a little longer.

If anyone has ever seen the Hershal House video of building a Kentucky Rifle then notice at the end where he shoots the rifle he just built. He doesn't use a short starter or a coned barrel. He places the ball on the patch then takes out his patch knife and RAPS it a good one which starts the ball, cuts off the patch then sheaths his knife. Now if anything will, then the end of knife will deform a lead ball. But take a close look at the offhand group he shoots then decide how much affect the deformation has on bullet flight.
I agree, I think the leather cushion is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

 

[CrackStock]

<<<I agree, I think the leather cushion is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. >>>

Well said, and the point of my post above. However, some things should be tested and results considered before people believe.

Besides, it just does not make sense. I know that I did not want to believe it at first even if it is so.

I had forgotten my starter one morning and used my hammer and other field expedient measures for getting the ball in the bore. Made some pretty balls into ugly ones. I expected a reduction in score which did not materialize. Later, I used a plain brass rod without any shape to load for a while too. A friend made a fancy starter out of delrin which was machined to fit the balls that he loaded perfectly. No damage to them and no increase in score.

Now I think about the sprue sticking out there. Seems not to have caused too much trouble throughout the centuries. Maybe the leading surface is not important at all.

YMHS,
CrackStock

 

[roundball]

Now I think about the sprue sticking out there. Seems not to have caused too much trouble throughout the centuries. Maybe the leading surface is not important at all.

Funny you should say that...I always pull a load at the end of a days hunt, wipe the bore, and load fresh the next day.

As you know, the ballpuller screw really messes up a ball, leaving a large amout of lead sticking up and a big hole in the ball.

I set them aside and at the end of the season and use them for plinking cans off the 50yd line...always impressed that they shoot just as accurately as new ones out of the box, at least at 50yds

 

[mowolf]

I recently made a short starter using a round hand carved piece or red cedar, for the rod tips I use dowel rod cut to size and wood glue to hold. Works good and looks better than the commercial short starter with brass rods. If the dowel breaks or gets deforemd, just replace with new ones. Maybe next time I can use whittled cedar, hmm, new project.

Waya

 

[Huntinfool]

Darkhorse said, "If anyone has ever seen the Hershal House video of building a Kentucky Rifle then notice at the end where he shoots the rifle he just built. He doesn't use a short starter or a coned barrel. He places the ball on the patch then takes out his patch knife and RAPS it a good one which starts the ball, cuts off the patch then sheaths his knife. Now if anything will, then the end of knife will deform a lead ball. But take a close look at the offhand group he shoots then decide how much affect the deformation has on bullet flight. I agree, I think the leather cushion is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist."

:agree:

I agree that's the way I do it also sometimes I use a shortstarter just to save my ramrod of usage but I never have that problem. I've seen guys go to all kinds of lengths to shoot better. They use special starters and special rods hammered in with brass hammers. But in the end they rarely beat my mentor who uses the House method you spoke of.

YMH&OS,:redthumb:
Chuck

 

[sse]

rollingb - How do you get the ball down the the first few inches of the bore before hittin it with the ram rod?? Is your muzzle coned?

???

Regards, sse

 

SSE,.... I "short-start" the patched ball with the handle of my butcher knife, cut the tick'n off flush with the muzzle,.... then hold my ramrod "short" and use it to start the ball.

I did buy a "cone'n tool" for my .58, but haven't coned my muzzle (yet).
I've never cared for prb's thet were so tight thet a feller has to really "hammer on'em" to start'em!

YMHS
rollingb