Dimpling A Roundball

[Pete G]

In my experience, a plain ball with the sprue left on, will fly straight and true if you're pulling the trigger with one foot held high in the air while passing gas and looking cross-eyed at the target.

That is not true. I shoot like that and still miss.

 

[Nyckname]

And that backspin is consistently imparted by the club face.

What spin can do to balls,

 

[DaveC]

Guys I know who shoot smooth bores really, really good swear by it! I've been in matches and seen 'em shoot too.

As but one example, a .672 ball, roughened up, and having not one, not two, but three separate coats of Alox lubricant. I suspect roughing up the ball brings it up to about .677 give or take, for a very tight fitting ball. I usually just don't have the time to roll coffee cans full of lead balls around to nick them up, and I don't have a pair of rasp files either... But I will say that the scores show folks who employ the method are doing many things right, and this arcane ritual may be one of 'em?!

Plenty of practice is my main hunch...

Good luck and good shooting to you.

 

[dave951]

What spin can do to balls,

Don't get me going on that one. I've been a soccer ref for years and depending on how the ball hits the crossbar determines whether there's a back or front spin so depending on which maybe goal, maybe not but guaranteed controversy.

 

[Nyckname]

Don't get me going on that one. I've been a soccer ref for years and depending on how the ball hits the crossbar determines whether there's a back or front spin so depending on which maybe goal, maybe not but guaranteed controversy.

I was more looking at the balls that looked like they were kicked twenty feet to the side of the goal, but they curved in.

 

[crankshaft]

In my experience, a plain ball with the sprue left on, will fly straight and true if you're pulling the trigger with one foot held high in the air while passing gas and looking cross-eyed at the target.

Hey....I know I have seen you at the range.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

In my experience, a plain ball with the sprue left on, will fly straight and true if you're pulling the trigger with one foot held high in the air while passing gas and looking cross-eyed at the target.

Hmm..., well that's never worked for me in spite of the dozens of times that I've tried it.. ..Perhaps I should lift the other foot.....

LD

 

[tenngun]

Last deer I took the shot was 2” to the right and about an inch low of where I think I was aiming, deer ran about forty feet and fell over after about a min it tried getting once but couldn’t get the shoulder off the ground, kicked feet a bit was dead within a few min.
Both lungs were holed and most of lungs were bloodied.

 

[Docgp]

It improved my groups on my Fusil, or at least I think it did.

Even if it doesn't, it gives you an excuse to get out and burn some more powder investigating!!

Doc

 

[Billy Boy]

Gaylord Perry and Charlie Hough are the best teachers re. round ball behaviors. They are both hall of fame baseball pitchers whose specialty
was the knuckle ball. It had no rotation whatever, the batter could ID it immediately, but the dance started when the ball slowed to a specific speed. This the batter didn't know. Neither pitcher nor batter knew which direction it would go. Distance to where the magic started was controlled by the pitchers VELOCITY.
Short range smoothbore round ball targets don’t tell me much, my best
long range (65 yds) accuracy happens most often with the heaviest charges (highest velocity), goes farther before the speed drops to the point where (without rotation) it isn’t as stable. All that being said, i’m still waiting for a letter from the Nobel committee, again this year......

 

[Nyckname]

Neither pitcher nor batter knew which direction it would go.

Kept the catchers guessing, too.

 

[Pete G]

Kept the catchers guessing, too.

It's easy to catch a knuckle ball....just wait until it quits rolling and pick it up.

 

[WRustyLane]

It's easy to catch a knuckle ball....just wait until it quits rolling and pick it up.

I heard that when Phil Niekro was pitching for the Atlanta Braves. The catcher always said to wait till it stopped rolling and go and pick it up!

 

[tenngun]

Smoothies are better then rifles. When you miss with a rifle it’s your fault. When you miss with a smoothie you get to say ‘well it is a smooth bore after all’ when you hit with a smoothie you get to say, ‘yup, you got to learn your gun and be oh so careful, any one can shoot a rifle but you have to dedicate to shooting a smoothie’ and other such field pucks and road apples.

 

[Capn'D]

All true!! I shoot both but is sure is me when I miss with a rifle..people are amazed when I hit my target with a .72 or .61 musket. (Me too sometimes)

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Like most smooth bore techniques, dimpled ball work fine one day and mediocre the next and not at all the next time. The idea has been discussed for decades.

Comparing a golf ball to a super-sonic lead ball makes absolutely no sense.

The biggest clue to dimpled balls is, if they worked, all the smooth bore shooters at the National Championships would be using them and ball mold makers would offer them.

That said, since no two smoothies act the same, it never hurts to try. It only take a few minutes to dimple a dozen balls. Who knows maybe your smooth bore may like them. At least for a little while.