Patchless ball shootin' test

[Huntinfool]

Last Sat. mornin' we had our monthly Kanawha Ranger gong shoot. One fellow aced the whole shoot not missing a single gong. The first time that's ever been done to my knowledge.

We had a three way tie for second place after the shoot off we got into a discussion about Lewis Wetzel and others shooting and loading on the run.

We all agree'd they must've done it without a patch. So one guy loaded his .40 cal longrifle with a.395 ball sans the patch. He took aim and banged the first gong he shot at it was about 25 yards away. Humm we all were dually impressed.

Then he loaded again without a patch and fired at the longest shot on our course about 65 yards. Low and behold he smacked it hard enough to move it very good. We all were more than impressed with the performance of his shots.

Has anyone on the forum ever tried this trick. It surely surprised us as to how accurately it shot and the amount of energy it seemed to produce.

YMH&OS
Chuck Goodall
"The Original Huntin' Fool"
&
Kanawha Ranger Scribe

 

[BrownBear]

It would be really interesting to recover one of those balls intact to see if it upset enough to engage the rifling, or conversely, if a hard enough whack on the ball once it was seated against the powder would accomplish the same thing.

 

[musketman]

I do it with my smooth bore all the time (patchless shooting -- not gong shooting) when I'm out hunting...

I will patch the first two loads with a .715 round ball and a .020 patch, once the barrel is fouled a bit, then its patchless .735 roundballs for the duration of the shoot...
(the .735 roundballs have been pre-dipped in bee's wax or Alox and allowed to harden before carried afield)

I learned to shoot this way because I don't swab between the shots while out in the field, less items to carry...

 

[shmrck1]

musketman
makes sence to me :results: :agree: :imo:
snake-eyes

 

[2172]

I've been messing around with a .45 single shot perc. pistol, made by Hoppe's, back when. Yesterday, after 4 patched ball shots, got to wondering if a non-patched shot would work...dropped a .440 ball in...hit in the same group as the 1st 4 at about 25 yds...I have an unused .451 Lyman mould...maybe I'll cast a few and see what a tight-fitting bare ball would do...Hank

 

I got involved in a speed shooting match once. 6 man teams with 3 shooters and 3 loaders, each team putting as many shots into a siloette target as possible in one munute from 25 yards (fort under attack). It turned out that accuracy was not a factor since everyone was hitting the man sized targets easily at 25 yds.

No one was parching anything and we were breaking all the rules; loading from charger flasks, blowing down the bore, spiting balls down the bore. The team that loaded fastest was going to win, because hitting was no problem. We were all dead serious about this shoot since there were enough shooters in the match to have a $200 pot! It wasn't 10X accuracy, but it was good enough to keep your hair on your head if needed!

 

[wulf]

Mister Musket Man,,I used to shoot pretty good with a ryfl but as my eyes faded I found it necessary to switch to a sightless gun and I always wanted a musket anyway. I got pretty good with it and won some matches against ryfls. I tried patchless shooting and actually found they shot better. But I think they kicked a tad more. Cleaning is a bit worse. The musket is a Brown Queen of 75 cal. using 80 gr of 2F goez [becaue I can't get DuPont any longer] Ball size is a .735 Thankyou for your consideration...Wulf........P,S. I have since found some glasses and can now enjoy the rest of my guns as well. :thumbsup:

 

[musketman]

Cleaning is a bit worse.

That's because the fouling actually act as a crude patch, at least it will build up enough to keep a patchless ball from rolling forwards...

After a bit, I just run a wire brush down the barrel a few times and it loads as easy as the first patchless shot...

 

[Leonredbeard]

huntingfool,
Just this past Saturday shooting with friends I wondered how well my wheellock would shoot correctly not using a patch. One friend gave me some .610 balls for my .600 bore. I lubed the muzzle inside and rubbed some on the ball (wonderlube). the ball loaded very easily and shot to a slightly different point of aim at 30-40 yards. I really could use a .620 ball and I may try it yet.
God bless.
volatpluvia