Loads for .62 GM Smoothbore Barrel

[MikeC]

Well...I got me a .62 smoothbore barrel from Green Mountain for a T/C Hawken stock. Anyone care to share your round ball loads and shot loads.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Gemoke]

I use 60grs.at 25 yds and 70grs at 50 yds with a 600rb and a 18ths. patch

 

[Croppy Boy]

Getting a .60 ball with a .018 patch down a .62 barrel would be very tight. I use .010 lubed patch and it sits snug enough without any hammering. I generally use 65 grains of 2F powder followed by an over powder wad, half a lubed cushion wad and the patched round ball. This gives a good seal of the gases and keeps the barrel well lubed. :wink:

 

[redwing]

I think I would try Gemocks loading. For accuracy a tight patch load seems to work best. Use a good wet lube like H#9BP+ on your patch.
Your .62 should shoot one ragged hole at 25 yds. If you want a fire wall one OP wad is Ok. The push'em down with your thumb and thin patches are easy to load. I have never seen this how ever as a winning load at shoots.. :shake:

 

[roundball]

In a GM .62cal Flint smoothbore for fairly close shots on deer in the woods, mine was:

80grs Goex 3F
.015" Oxyoke/TC prelubed patch
.600 Eddie May/GA cast ball

Although I use Oxyoke lubed wads in all my rifles, I could not use them in the .62cal smoothbore (or my .54cal smoothbore) as they caused a strange flyer...almost one in every 5 shot group.

Personally I think 50 yards shows upo the occasion problem much quicker than just shooting at 25 yards.
At 25 yards, due to the large physical size of the ball, you'll get a single ragged hole, but at 50yds the flyer would be visible sitting a couple inches off to one side.

I varied powder, patches, tried 1, 2, and 3 wads, but almost without fail I'd get a flyer per[url] group...in[/url] exasperation one day, just for the heck of it I left out the wad...never had another flyer...went back to wads and started getting the flyers again.

 

[paulvallandigham]

It maybe that you don't have the right size wads, or that your loading procedure is causing a problem. Use an awl to poke a small hole in the wad to let air out, rather than have it push out on one side. If an edge is turned out because that is how the air escaped under the wad when you loaded the gun, it is likely that gases will blow by that same place, and send the ball off POA.

Its sounds like you are getting a pretty good groups using the wads save that occasional flyer. I am thinking it has something to do with how you are loading the wads down the barrel, rather than the wrong size wads. Is the jag close to bore diameter, to it supports the edges of the wads? That can be the reason the edge is failing, too.

Just trying to help, Roundball, not start a war.

 

[Leonredbeard]

Mike
I use a .590 ball and .027 patch lubed with alcohol and Murphy's oil soap (I haven't put the peroxide in it for over a decade) I use 80 grs. of 2fg Goex. It shoots with fair authority and is reasonably accurate, if I do my part. I don't shoot it enough to be really good like some guys, God bless them. I use the same powder charge with an os card and half inch fiber wad lubed with the same conoction, with equal volume of shot and an os card over the shot. It smokes clay birds and rabbits when I do my part. It has brought home more prizes for shot loads than for roundball. It is a flint yeager 28" barrel.
volatpluvia

 

[buttonbuck]

so what size patches do you use for a 62 smoothbore? I have seen the ready cut 50-54 or 58, I would cut my own out of pillow ticking or other material if one wasn't readily avaible. I got my gm barrel back and a rengegade stock for it and some roundballs ready to go shoot, I figured I would just cut out squares, but would like ready made patches if avaible.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Take the diameter of your bore, and then add a figure that represents at least 2 times the length of the portion of the jag that bears on the bore and grabs the patch. In most jags, this will be at least 3/8".Double that and you get 3/4" plus the diameter of your bore. For a .62, that would point to a cleaning patch at least 1 5. inches in diameter, or squared. I have 2 1/2' diameter, and 3 inch square patches that I use for all my shotguns. I found that if I run the patches down in stages, backing them out a bit, to seat the fabric in the grooves of the jag, I don't get a patch " Stuck " in the barrel, no matter how dry it is. When I did stick a patch, it was in my early days, when, through ignorance, I tried to run the patch all the way down the shotgun barrel in one stroke, as I could usually get away with cleaning rifles. The grooves in the rifles help keep patching from getting stuck.

You don't have that with a shotgun. So, run the patch down about 8-10 inches, then pull back on the rod a couple of inches, and then go down another 10 inches, back it out a couple, and then run it down, ALMOST to the breech. Pull it out. Flip the patch over, Now, you can run it down to the breechplug to get any moisture off the face along with any crud.

By using this method, you don't shove all the crud into your flash channel or touch hole. In fact, most of the crud goes back out with the first side of the patch. If it is a very hot, damp day, I will simply throw away the first patch, and use a second one to go all the way down to the breech. Pull that out, and flip it over to help dry the bore. Feel the patch when it comes out. If it feels at all moist, use another patch to wipe the bore clean, and dry it, before loading it again. I use that patch to clean the nipples on my DBshotgun, and I have been listening and feeling the air being driven out the nipples by the pumping action of the jag and cleaning patches. Before I load the gun again, I know that the flash channel is clear!

 

[roundball]

I use Oxyoke .060-.069 precut/prelubed pillow ticking

 

[buttonbuck]

yeah there is a guy I know who shoots 62 smooth bores casts rb of tire weights, makes patches out of old shirts and bear grease and some more sophsticated materials like real pillow ticking and some other fabric but has great results good to know I should have figred that for area of a circle. Thanks all I may start out with the oxyokes, looking forward to getting out asap