lead round balls, are they really round?

[BlazingIron]

Save a snowman……use ballistic gel.

 

[deerstalkert]

Save a snowman……use ballistic gel.

as much snow as we had this year, i'd rather shoot snowmen! and run them down with the plow, and laugh when they finally melt!
ready for spring.

 

[necchi]

i'd rather shoot snowmen! and run them down with the plow, and laugh when they finally melt!
ready for spring.

I get that! but ain't no snowman melting here,, they're all still froze solid from November!
A friend of mine just tried to run one over last week,, took out his left front quarter section and trans axle,, the "snowman" was laughing as they towed his truck away!

 

[deerstalkert]

i once built a snowman over a boulder at the end of my drive. couple days later i passed a tow truck hauling a ford pickup down the mountain.
sure enough snowman was dead with headlight glass and grill parts sticking out of him.
they aren't melting here yet either. we had 4 inches new last night. man i am ready for spring.

 

[Billy Boy]

wondering if patched round balls are still round after being driven down the barrel and then fired?

Recovered revolver balls are slightly elongated in line with the bore, enough so you can see it and don’t have to measure them

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

What I want to know is just what does a round ball, or conical for that matter, look like after the shooter has bounced his ramrod on it 15 times. Every time I see that, I just cringe.

 

[deerstalkert]

What I want to know is just what does a round ball, or conical for that matter, look like after the shooter has bounced his ramrod on it 15 times. Every time I see that, I just cringe.

plus, pounding the load turns the loose powder into a pellet. wonder if that's where the idea for pellets came from?

 

[BP Addict]

I have always believed there's some obturation, like a baseball being hit by a bat, but the topic is always debated in length here on the forum.
It's the basics of internal ballistics,,
It would have been a good topic for the show "Myth Busters" too try to solve.

or NMLRA's Bevel Brothers! They are the Myth Busters of the Muzzle Loading World.

Walt

 

[oldwood]

Ok to shoot into snow , but never , never , eat yellow snow , especially around the porch at the hunting camp.

 

[excess650]

This ball rolled out from under the hide of a WT. It was a steep, downhill shot across a hollow (125yards+)and impacted just left of center where the neck meets the shoulders. The ball nicked the backbone before penetrating the depth of the body and almost came out the brisket. The ball was .605" prior to loading, and patch weave is visible, but now measures .620"+

Realize the ball couldn't expand to that diameter inside the barrel, so is a result of impact at about 1/2 muzzle velocity, and contact with the spine. These weigh about 326gr prior to loading and this one still weighs 322.5gr.

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

plus, pounding the load turns the loose powder into a pellet. wonder if that's where the idea for pellets came from?

Seems like so many shooters have the mistaken notion that powder needs to be compacted as hard as possible when in reality, just snug is fine. You just have to remove the air gap.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Save a snowman……use ballistic gel.

Yeah was gonna say... looks like I need to break out the molds and make a COSTCO run for some sacks of dry gelatin, and shoot the rb's into the gel.

LD

 

[Loyalist Dave]

What I want to know is just what does a round ball, or conical for that matter, look like after the shooter has bounced his ramrod on it 15 times. Every time I see that, I just cringe.

I often ask those that are doing that if the Ball or the Rammer offended them in some way...,

Here's what an expert has to say on the subject...

Hold the barrel in as nearly vertical position as possible and having filled the charger even full from the powder horn, pour the charge carefully into the barrel; then place an oiled linen, or other cloth, patch over the muzzle being careful to center it over the bore. Next place a round ball, with the sprue up, in the center of the patch – be sure the ball is truly centered in the patch – press the ball down with the thumb even with the muzzle, then apply the straight starter holding the left hand around the muzzle and the starter and strike the knob of the starter with the ball of the right hand thus forcing the ball down the bore the length of the starter rod. Remove the starter and holding the ramrod short with both hands push hard and straight to start the bullet some six or eight inches down the bore, from which point the ball should be easily pushed down onto the powder. Do not ram, or pound, the ball down the bore, and do not ‘whang’ the ball with the ramrod onto the powder – simply seat the ball firmly on the powder with a light pressure on the ramrod. and ramming or pounding the ball down the bore will upset it making it merely a slug of lead instead of a sphere thus destroying all accuracy.

NED ROBERTS The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle 1947

LD

 

[deerstalkert]

From god's lips to your ears!
i can still hear someone winding up, but but, but..............

 

[M. De Land]

wondering if patched round balls are still round after being driven down the barrel and then fired?

No they are not perfectly round while in flight but slightly elliptical , more like a football with two round ends and a belt in the middle. Two reasons for this is loading pressure of soft lead and bump up from powder gas pressure.

 

[hanshi]

Round? Yeah, more or less.

 

[smoothshooter]

wondering if patched round balls are still round after being driven down the barrel and then fired?

No.
Doesn’t matter anyway.

 

[Greenjoytj]

wondering if patched round balls are still round after being driven down the barrel and then fired?

I hope not, I want to have my PRB to show a wide band of shallow and deep patch weave marks embossed all the way around the ball so it looks like its wearing an equatorial belt. I hope my ball comes out the muzzle slightly elongated like a greatly shortened medicine lozenge.