How hard to start ball

[Hoyter]

I bought a traditions deer hunter this year and have since shot it a lot and killed two deer with it. It accurate and easy to use and clean but I feel like starting the ball is harder than it should be. I guess it is hard to explain how hard it is to load or how hard it should be but it hurts the hand that I am hitting the short starter with quite a lot and takes several blows which is also making an obvious mark on the ball from the short starter.

Any thoughts? I am new to this so have nothing to compare it to.

Thanks for any input.

 

[gearheart]

Shouldn't ought to hurt. try a thinner patch. What ball diameter and patch thickness are you using?

 

[coloradoclyde]

Are you shooting a patched round ball?

 

[Pete44ru]

.

More information is needed.............

Are you shooting a conical boolit, or a patched round ball ?

If a PRB, are you lubing the patches ?

What is the caliber of your rifle, and what is the outside diameter of your projectiles ?

.

 

[tenngun]

Seems awful hard if its hurting your hand. Lots of folks don't use a starter at all and are able to get it going with out that much pressure. How do your patchs look?.i would try a thinner patch or smaller ball.

 

[Philip63]

I'm shooting a .50 cal TC with .495 round balls and .015 pillow ticking and mine are hard to start as well. So are the 320 gr. Lee R.E.A.L. Conicals. Got to wack them pretty good to get them started. But once started they go down easy enough.

 

[Patocazador]

There are some pros to having a tight prb. The ball engages the rifling better and usually results in tighter groups. Some competition shooters actually hammer their loads in.
However, for a hunting gun, a quick reload may be necessary. Try .490" balls with .015-.020" patches and see how accurate it is.

 

[nkbj]

And there's no reason not to have an easy load as well as a mallet load if you load to suit the occasion.

 

[curator]

Often an accurate load is also a tight load with patched round ball. Most "short starters" are poorly designed making ball starting painful and/or deform the ball in the process. A good short starter has a correctly curved "ball set" or "nub" which exactly matches the curve of the ball. This is also the correct height to position the ball exactly flush or .001 under the face of the muzzle to facilitate patch cutting. The long starter rod should also have a tip that exactly matches the curve of the ball. The knob portion of the starter needs to have the two "striking" surfaces be as large and comfortably curved as possible so hitting it with the heel of your palm won't hurt. Most commercially made short starters are awful on your hand and damage the ball as well. One size does not fit all.

 

[longcruise]

If its hard to start and thereafter fairly easy to push down, then the crown is probably too abrupt. Can't post pics from my phone but will do so later

 

[gwalker]

I shoot a 54 cal flintlock longrifle (custom built). For loading, whether competitive target shooting, hunting, or just 'plinking' at metal gongs, I use a 0.520 roundball and a 0.015 inch Bridgers Best patch. I lube my patches with pig fat rendered into lard. I start the ball/patch down the muzzle with thumb pressure alone and run the ball/patch down on the powder with my ramrod. Accuracy is good, and, of the patches I have occasionally retrieved, I could reuse them (but don't).

 

[Rifleman1776]

Very tight loads are frequently the most accurate. But, they are hard to load, almost impossible in the field. In days past my serious shooting was the used of denim patched .457" balls in Douglas .45 cal. barrels. It took a mallet to short-short start then long start the ball and a steel rod to seat. These days I'm using a .440" ball with ticking patching. That combo might not give the finite grouping as the big ball but my shooting no longer justifies the extra effort. For you, I would suggest you buy a box .590 balls and try those. If they work, get a mould that size and enjoy in the field.

 

[mooman76]

Try a thinner patch or smaller ball like others said but more info is needed. No it should not have to hurt especially for a hunting load. A Lee REAL is going to hurt a little by design. If it is loose enough that it doesn't hurt, accuracy will suffer. You kind of have to put up with it or use a mallet. You should be using soft lead but if it isn't dead soft of coarse, the harder it is, the more it will hurt.

 

[longcruise]

Here is the muzzle pic I mentioned.

This is a Deerhunter muzzle after working on the crown. And, no, that is not rust, it's oil left from cleanup.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Could it possibly be that the patching material is binding around the short starter rod? I have that problem with my 40 cal, (that I don't have with the 45's using the same short starter) and need to seat the starter on top of the bunched up material, (once the ball is below the muzzle) rather than on the ball itself to push it.

 

[palonghunter]

Try a thinner patch. I can thumb start patched round balls in my traditions .50 cal Kentucky and I get good enough accuracy for hunting. A softball sized group at the farthest distance you intend to shoot is enough to kill deer.

 

[hanshi]

I hunted with a Traditions DeerHunter .50 for over 20 years. I used a .490" ball and lubed .015" patch and found it snug but in no way hard to load. Most of my shooting with this rifle was just as it came from the factory. Later I did smooth the barrel crown which was nice but not really necessary. These are "cheap" rifles but still d@*#%$ good shooters.


Not a good picture but it is nicely radiused.

 

[Stumpkiller]

0.495" and 0.015" patch is pretty tight. But certainly some rifles like that combo. In my T/C .50 I use a 0.490" ball and a 0.017" patch combo.

It's tight but not painfully so.

 

[Hoyter]

I am shooting a patched .490 ball. I do not know the patch thickness as I do not have a means of measuring and the package does not say. The ticking does feel thick to me though, I will try a thinner patch.

Thanks you all for all of your help/input.

 

[AZbpBurner]

I have both flint and a cap Investarms .54 cal rifles. One is 35 years old anbd the other only a couple of years. Both like the same powder, patch and ball combination. The patched .535" ball with .018" patch is TIGHT. So tight it hurts after smacking the short starter with the heel of my hand. I use a wooden mallet made especially for loading and it works great. It may be too tight for the likes of some folks, but after trying several different powder, patch and balls, the extra tight gives me dramatically better accuracy.

I shoot these rifles from a bench, and the only down side to my particular tight combo is it's not suited for hunting or field use. For that I have other rifles that prefer looser/thinner patches; one only needs to be seated with my range rod.

Use whatever gives you best precision ball placement considering the type of shooting you plan to do the most.