Newbie questions RB in smooth

[happyhunter]

I'm kinda new here. Great forum. I've been shooting flints for 3 deer seasons. I have a TC Renegade 50 cal rifled flintlock. I am thinking about building a nice flinter and am trying to decide if it should be a smoothbore.

I would get a 20 gauge and shoot mostly roundball for deer, but like the versatility to use shot for small game and maybe turkey.

From what I read a smooth would be about as accurate as mine out to 50 yds. So it would be fine for deer. Do you use a patch with RB in a smoothbore? Also where do you get round balls that big .600"? I don't see them at Midway USA or at WalMart. What other mailorder places are there? Does anyone know of a shop in south/central PA?

Thanks!!

 

[wtilenw]

You can find just about everything you may need here Track of the Wolf

 

[blacksmithman64]

welcome to the forum!...south central PA? Sounds like a road trip to Dixon's Muzzleloading Shop is in order! You can google 'em up for info and directions

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

I have had good luck with a .575RB and a thick patch, if you can't find what you need. Shoots great. The key is a tight patch, though, something on the order of worn out bluejeans or similar.

Good luck!

 

[tg]

Going smooth is a good plan, it opens up a whole new world of ML hunting/shooting in time you might find it more cost effective to mold your own balls as the big ones are pretty pricey, most folks use a .590-.600 ball in a .62 bore but the smaller balls work well if patched snug, you can play around with volume of shot and powder and paper cups to get a pattern dense enough for gobbleducks
others can offer more detail on this, good luck on choosing a gun style out of the many out there and enjoy the journey.

 

[happyhunter]

Well, I looked up Dixon's Muzzleloading Shop. Sweet, right near the Cabela's in Hamburg, PA. Nice. Road trip will happen.

Thanks much!!!!

 

[cowpoke1955]

I'm planning to go the same route myself. If you are not doing so already, it's time to start casting. Those big balls are going to cost, no matter where you go. Very few places will carry them. Get your casting gear and forget about who carries them and how much they cost. While you are looking for stuff for a .600 ball, might as well pick up a mold for that .50 caliber too. A place to start is F&M Reloading: http://www.fmreloading.com/ . They have the best prices around. By the way, welcome. Good luck :thumbsup: .

 

[paulvallandigham]

Yes, you use a patch with a RB in the 20 gauge smoothbore. Yes, you can get the .600 RB from Track, or other suppliers. You can also buy your own mold for it. And, you can buy balls in .595", .585", and .610", to better fit your particular barrel. Some are made with very tight dimensions, requiring the small diameter balls. Some are made at the nominal .615" diameter for a 20 ga. barrel. Others are overbored. As with any MLer( and most modern cartridge barrels) it is worthwhile actually measuring the bore diameter of any given barrel before investing in balls, molds, or ammunition. A 20 gauge smoothbore is a very effective deer caliber using PRBs.

Once you visit Dixon's, you will never shop for gun supplies at Cabela's, again.

 

[roundball]

If you’ll use the individual’s website I posted below as somewhat of a bible to get you started, you won’t go wrong
A lot of people have a lot of information and theories about how things should be done, but in many cases they are simply repeating what they’ve read from somebody else’s posts and often lack actual hands on experience doing what they say.
Bob Aspen lists his information on his website, knows what he’s talking about, and a number of members on the Forum here have now used/proven his writings to be correct.
http://members.aye.net/~bspen/SmoothboreLoads.html


The individual I listed below makes good cast balls at the lowest prices I’ve found”¦forum member Birddog6 put me on to Eddie May and I’ve been using his cast lead balls for 3 years now in .40 and .62cal”¦I order .600’s from him”¦I think they were $13 per 100 my last order”¦and he uses USPS flat rate shipping so its most economical regardless of the weight involved.

Eddie May Round Balls
159 Ridley Rd.
Chatsworth, GA. 30705
706-581-8225
“Best Quality Round Balls, Minnie, Rifle Bullets and Modern Cast Bullets”
Please Call or Write to place Order

 

[texcl]

I would recomend that you cast your own if you shoot alot otherwise there are plenty of sources that sell them now, I've even made them for people, shipping really increases the price unless you buy a bunch and use a flat rate postal box.

 

[Many Klatch]

When Curly Gostomski first reinvented the smootbores back in the 80's we all built our own. With some experimentation we found that if you are going to shoot roundball for the most part out of your smoothbore a heavier barrel will be more accurate. A true fowler is a shotgun with a very thin barrel that will allow you to swing quickly when hunting birds.

The "buck and ball" smoothbore guns have thicker barrels and can shoot shot well enough but are more accurate with roundball than a thinner barrel gun is.

We had a lot of guys build guns out of high pressure seamless steam pipe that set several national records. I had Getz custom bore my barrel to be 20 gauge ID and 16 gauge OD so I have a lot of meat on my barrel. The barrel is also 48" long so I have a long heavy barreled smoothbore that is extremely accurate (it also weighs in around 16 pounds)

You will have to decide what you are looking for in a smoothbore, lightweight easy to swing shotgun or heavier barreled accurate buck and ball gun. A lot of the hotdogs are now shooting a .54 smoothrifle. Looks like a rifle, has front and rear sights, has no rifling. Several of those are accurate enough to hit gongs beyond 75 yards with consistency.

My final approach this is that I have three smoothbores, one is a light .60 fowler, one is the heavy .60 buck and ball gun and one is a .715 Brown Bess.

And finally, yes you do patch the ball, but it can be a thin patch and the patch ball combination should be loose enough that you can short start with your thumb and push the ball down to the powder with one push of the ramrod even when the gun is dirty.

Many Klatch