Nessler Balls?

[Smokey Plainsman]

Anyone ever heard of or shot Nessler balls? Eras Gone has a mold for them and apparently they were meant to increase accuracy in smoothbore muskets.
http://erasgonebullets.webstarts.com/cs_north_carolina_nessler_ball.html

Might be fun to try in a .69 musket. Interesting to see how accuracy in fact would differ from that of the round ball.

Thoughts?

 

[RAEDWALD]

Take a look in 'General Muzzleloading' where we had a discussion under the thread 'Civil War Repro Bullet Mould'

 

[stubshaft]

I have one of his molds. It casts great bullets but I have not had the chance to shoot them yet. I am redoing my 1816 HF. I was thinking of trying them out of a 12 ga. though and comparing them with the Lyman 525 slug (which I also plan to shoot out of the 1816).

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I see they're not a real Nessler. Interesting. I just do not see how they could possibly fly straight without rifling. The true Nessler has a hollow base and I assume could work similar to a shotgun's slug. But the design this company is selling? Weird. Ah well, I was just curious if anyone had ever tried these and their accuracy results.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Air guns have shot waisted or diablo pellets for years not just from rifles barrels but from smooth bores too. The shuttlecock design works well and I am constantly amazed how for smoothbores it is not exploited. Why, even some military tanks use these designs!

B.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I just do not see how they could possibly fly straight without rifling.

'tis a puzzlement to me as well. :hmm: But, they may have worked or they would not have become somewhat popular. There are designs of slugs for modern shotguns that reportedly shoot straight. I think the Brenneke was one of the more popular. OTOH, I don't see much advantage. Musket warfare was at close ranges, accurate aiming was not the norm, if even possible. And, getting hit with any hunk of lead from .69 cal. to .71 would be devastating.

 

[tenngun]

Work by ”˜arrow stability’ . A object that heavy on one side and light on the other will tend to fly straight. An arrow or spear or a person jumping from an airplane. The misplaced grove moves the center of gravity forward, the heavy nose and light tail make the air resistance act to resist tumbling.
Can’t preform like a rifled shot but will preform then a balanced cylinder or a rear heavy projectile.

 

[RAEDWALD]

An arrow works by drag stability rather than centre of gravity. Thus a heavy barbed head needs bigger fletchings to compensate and a light target nosed arrow needs but a small set.

The actual Nessler (I would add pictures but this forum only accepts them from 3rd party hosts) uses both a front centre of gravity through large internal voids and drag stability through the cylindrical rear wall which adds drag to when the ball turns out of line and straightens it out again.

The ball being examined in this thread is called a 'Nessler' correctly but not because it is of that type, but rather because the original North Carolina ball was so named because 'Nessler' became a catch all term sloppily used for any short conical in a smooth bore long arm. This Eras Gone ball is just a pointed short solid bullet whose rear groove is far too small to have any significant effect upon it's stability unless you ae one of the last believers in Tamisier's grooves as arrow fletching substitutes. Eras Gone are to be congratulated in making what seems to be a very fair reproduction of the original North Carolina ball.

As I said elsewhere, I await any comparative reports by users comparing it to the round ball and confirm or confound any theories.

US and British trial led them to conclude that the round ball was as good at musket ranges. Beyond that the (actual) Nessler was more accurate but the hold over on the heavy round or Nessler ball was so high that aiming was impractical at greater distances. Being as 300 yards is generally taken as being 'musket shot' I have to concur and found the same when I was trying tests using de tailed Brenneke balls as substitute Nesslers.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

All I know is Nessler sure is a fun to say word. Imagine this scene:

"Charge 'em, boys! Give those Yanks a round of Nesslers!" :rotf:

Seriously, if I get a .69 smoothie I'll have to test them.

 

[tenngun]

I think we are saying the same thing here, just using two different terms.