Hardness of the bullet

[Paulussie0]

Hardness of the bullet ??

Hi gunners , recently I have finished my matchlock
and started shooting with it.At first I used the self casted bullets (witch I also use in my old Hege matchlock this gun shoots verry well with it)
but the rusults where verry bad , then I tried the same diameter bullet from H&N with the same powder and patch and lubricant.
Now this bullet preforms verry well in this gun how is this possible???
What makes the difference ?

 

[benvenuto]

rifled or smoothbore?
what calibre?
what patch?
what load of powder?

bullet hardness shouldn't make a difference with a patched ball I think

 

[Paulussie0]

It is a smoothbore
75 grian ch 2
Oxyoke 0.10 patch
The bore is the same diameter as the Hege.

 

[benvenuto]

have you measured the two bores bores exactly?
(sorry, not familiar with what size the Hege is)

Is the pressure required to load the bullets the same in both cases?

 

[arilar]

Hi Gunman,
Only soft lead of course. I used a Hege 1991-1993 and if I recall loaded with duplex (20 grain Swiss fff+ 50 grain Swiss ff). Bullet from a Lee alu-mold .433.
Got an Artax 3 years back and instruction told to use .440 bullet. This was nearly impossible to press into barrel! Switched to "old" .433 with good result. Using 78 grain Swiss fff and Ox-Yoke patch .010.
So, maybe use a bullet-caliber that gets the same feeling of pressure when bullet and patch travels down in barrel as in the Hege?
ARILAR :grin: :thumbsup:

 

[Paulussie0]

The pressure to get the bullet into the bore is only verry slightly different ( a bit less ) with the new bore , but not different with the self casted or the bullets from H&N.
An other question : why are there some times holes in the patch ?(how kan I prevet it?) :
I have some times a bad shot and if I pickup the patche's after shooting I find as mutch patche's with a hole in it as I have bad shot's (I am talking sevens or sixes)knowing it shold be at least a 9.

 

[arilar]

What do you have between powder and bullet? I use Polenta, same volyme(or a little less) as powder.
I "lube" patches with plain tap-water.
ARILAR :grin: :thumbsup:

 

[Paulussie0]

Hi Arilar,
I seat my bullet directly on the powder and lube the patch with oil from Oxyoke.

Paul.

 

[Paulussie0]

:hatsoff: Hi Arilar , can you inform me about the contence of Mr Sugawa's book about the Tannegashima ?

Paul

 

[arilar]

:hatsoff: Hi Arilar , can you inform me about the contence of Mr Sugawa's book about the Tannegashima ?

Paul

Look under Teppos topic: "Shigeo Sugawas book needed."
ARILAR :grin: :thumbsup:

 

[Paulussie0]

Hi Arilar , this polenta , should it prevent the poweder from burning a hole in the patch ?
Polenta- is this verry fine graind mais ,? I use it fishing keeping the maggets dry.

Paul.

 

[benvenuto]

are you sure the patch is burning, and not being cut by a rough section of the barrel?

I use 0.015 " (0.5mm) linen patches with olive oil and bees wax and have never had a hole burnt through a patch.

 

[Paulussie0]

Well Benvenuto,

If the hole is in the centre of the patch I am shure.
How many % beeswax and how manny % oliveoil do you use ??

Paul

 

[benvenuto]

By volume, 2/3 cold-pressed olive oil, 1/3 beeswax.
Use less wax and more oil if the weather is cold.
The best method is to cut your patches at home, then using tweezers dip each patch in the melted lube before leaving it on a sheet of foil to cool down.

 

[Briggers]

Hi Gunman, having read through the threads on this topic I am fairly certain that your new gun has a longer barrel than the Hege? The longer duration in the barrel (if this is the case) is why the same patch/bullet combination is burning up ( you will never achieve consistant accuracy while this is happening) and the Oxyolk oil has a bearing on this, being flamable.

A simple solution would to reduce the ball size and increase the patch thickness, this should increase the time the patch will take to burn through, start off with a 20thou patch. The smaller ball will aslo reduce recoil.

I would also suggest a change of lube and this one works very well; 50/50 mix of car windscreen washer and fabric softner (lanolin) the stuff your wife uses in the washingmachine to finish a wash. It provides good lubrication, prevents patch burning and is excelent at keeping the bore clean.

Good Luck

David Brigden