Mini in a smoothbore?????

[Larry (Omaha)]

Had a brain fart and wondered if anyone has tried mini bullets in a smoothbore? I realize that bullet is engineered and made for rifled barrels, but wondered how that would fair out. Would it key hole? Yes, no, maybe?

Thanks
Larry

 

[hawkeye2]

It's been tried over and over, it simply does not work, total waste of time and lead.

 

[tenngun]

After minies were invented there was experimentation with a deep hole minie and it got some arrow stability, but not enough to make it as practical as ball

 

[wganz]

Nessler ball - Wikipedia

Was tried many moons ago & failed.

 

[hanshi]

Nope, won't work. It will keyhole and not at any aiming point.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

What about a forester slug?

 

[hlhanna]

After minies were invented there was experimentation with a deep hole minie and it got some arrow stability, but not enough to make it as practical as ball

During the War Between the States, the Yankees actually equipped some units, mostly in Missouri, with small, smoothbore cannons with a 2.10-2.14 bore. These were the Filley and Woodruff guns.
They were designed to fire solid shot and canister, with the solid shot usually being a single ball of 12lb grapeshot.
The interesting thing is that a solid lead, hollow base, conical projectile was manufactured at the St. Louis arsenal to be fired from these guns.
And it appears they were fairly accurate. One claim even being the ability to hit a man at a 1/4 mile.
Some of these projectiles were found during excavations around Ft. Davidson, Pilot Knob, Missouri.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

What about a forester slug?

Sure a FOSTER slug, and a Lee slug will work if the bore and the slug are the proper size, but these are not "mini's". These are more like reverse "tea cups". The cavity is massive, and the weight is in the head of the projectile. So IF you placed say a 12 gauge Foster into an 11 gauge Bess... not going to do well.

High Speed Imagery shows that a Foster slug has a teeny bit of spin, inconsequential, and slugs that are the same style but without exterior grooves, do just as well.

Lee Slugs..............................................................................................................................................Foster Slugs

The Lyman Slug, looks like it would also work, but it's meant to be loaded into a sabot, and into a rifled barrel...

The Brenneke slug many folks think is a Foster slug, but it was invented first, and although it has pronounced ridges, one can see these don't run the length of the slug. The key to the Brenneke styles slug is the wad does not drop away when the slug exits the muzzle. It flies attached to the slug, and acts like the tail of a kite, stabilizing the slug.

Of course they should be tested if one is using a cylinder bore 12 gauge muzzleloader, but in my modern stuff, the Brenneke was vastly better on accuracy.

Again the key to these is a cylinder bore and a slug that closely matches that bore.

LD

 

[Eric Krewson]

I am pretty sure I cut a slug out of a modern 12ga shell and shot it in my flintlock fowler, like was said, I barely hit a 2X2 sheet of cardboard at 25 yards and the slug keyholed.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I am pretty sure I cut a slug out of a modern 12ga shell and shot it in my flintlock fowler, like was said, I barely hit a 2X2 sheet of cardboard at 25 yards and the slug keyholed.

What was the bore diameter? They need to be in a bore very close to .729 to properly work, if at all. I've tried them in a .75 Bess and they go all over the place.

LD

 

[Timber Wolf]

No bueno. I found a mold that dropped a mini or sorts that was a nice tight fit in the bore of my .56 Renegade smoothbore. Key holed like mad and not in any kind of predictable direction. Big time fail, telling you what I know.

 

[smoothshooter]

During the War Between the States, the Yankees actually equipped some units, mostly in Missouri, with small, smoothbore cannons with a 2.10-2.14 bore. These were the Filley and Woodruff guns.
They were designed to fire solid shot and canister, with the solid shot usually being a single ball of 12lb grapeshot.
The interesting thing is that a solid lead, hollow base, conical projectile was manufactured at the St. Louis arsenal to be fired from these guns.
And it appears they were fairly accurate. One claim even being the ability to hit a man at a 1/4 mile.
Some of these projectiles were found during excavations around Ft. Davidson, Pilot Knob, Missouri.

I’d take that 1/4 mile thing with a large dose of salt. Very large.

 

[new2bp]

Coming in a tad late and I can see its been mentioned, but wanted to chime in

A rifled barrel stabilizes things by spinning them at a hopefully appropriate rate for shape and length. Even round ball, though the spin rate is usually very slow

However a Foster style slug in a smooth bore doesnt do that and yet they stabilize. The key here is they are like a badmitton birdie, lots of weight up front and hollow/light weight in the back

While minnies also have a hollow skirt it isnt as deep - its purpose is to expand a bit and seal with the bore/rifling to give better engagement. Needs to be deeper to really help with stability from a smooth bore, though a tighter fit on firing will help some, at least with the consistency of the launch

 

[gemmer]

Why bother?

 

[Eric Krewson]

My bore diameter is .720, I don't have a clue what size the shotgun slug was, it shot so poorly I didn't take a second shot.