Seating a PRB

[pab1]

I have always wondered why people slam their ramrod several times after seating the ball on the powder charge. Watching the show Hard Riders last night on Nat Geo reminded me of this. I have always used steady pressure on the ramrod to seat the ball against the powder and called it good. I have never had a ball move off the powder charge while hunting (often with the load in for a week or more) using this method and get excellent accuracy. It seems to me that slamming the ball repeatedly could deform the ball and hurt accuracy. Any argument for slamming the ball?

 

[cynthialee]

I don't slam it but after it is seated I give it a couple of good hard taps to be sure I have it all the way down and not hung up on a crud ring.

 

[pab1]

I don't slam it but after it is seated I give it a couple of good hard taps to be sure I have it all the way down and not hung up on a crud ring.

Once I settle on a load, I mark my rod so I know the ball is seated.

 

[Semisane]

When shooting for accuracy I use a loading rod with a depth stop. Upon loading the first ball on a cold clean barrel I seat the ball until I feel it barely touch the powder. Then I set the depth stop and load all following rounds to the same spot. The depth stop is nothing more than an appropriate size shaft collar - about seventy-five cents from any hardware store.

 

[Little Wattsy]

Consistancy is THE Most Important :2
Ive never felt the need to slam, tap, bounce, etc... But I do have a sence of touch..

 

[Jaeger]

I've seen shooters do the "ball slamming" thing with their ramrods after the ball is seated, and my vote is "no".Lead balls are soft, and it seems to me you risk deforming it if you slam it. Wouldn't even a slightly deformed ball wobble in flight?

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have always wondered why people slam their ramrod several times after seating the ball on the powder charge. Watching the show Hard Riders last night on Nat Geo reminded me of this. I have always used steady pressure on the ramrod to seat the ball against the powder and called it good. I have never had a ball move off the powder charge while hunting (often with the load in for a week or more) using this method and get excellent accuracy. It seems to me that slamming the ball repeatedly could deform the ball and hurt accuracy. Any argument for slamming the ball?

You are right. But many, even experienced ml'ers develop habits and that is a common one. Personally, I just use pressure.

 

[nchawkeye]

No....Round balls are not round when the come out of the barrel anyway...

 

[smo]

I do give it a couple of taps to make sure the ball is home.I can't see what that hurts since I start the ball with a mallet anyhow. :wink:

 

[Semisane]

Consistency rules. In my view, seating pressure affects where the bullet hits. And a variation in seating pressure results in a variation in POI. It may be small, but it's there. I don't see how one can achieve consistent seating pressure when banging the ball.

 

[Zonie]

I don't slam or bounce my ramrod on the ball when loading.

Just push the ball down until I feel it stop on the powder and then apply a bit more force.

I think this ramrod bouncing thing got started years ago, probably by a good shooter.

Because he was a good shooter, others figured that bouncing the ramrod was his secret so they copied it.
Over the years, bouncing the ramrod became a part of the lore of muzzleloading and the "old timers" would pass on this wisdom to the new comers.

IMO, it's just a waste of time. :td:

 

[ericb]

I push till I feel the Powder just start to crunch...

 

[Col. Batguano]

Breech and barrel pressure consistency is the key. If you do it the same every time, you're more likely to have consistent ignition and propellant pressures, which is helpful to consistent accuracy.

 

[Many Klatch]

I bounce my ramrod off the ball until it bounces back up in the barrel. If the gun is dirty after 10 or 15 shots I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the ball is fully seated on the powder when the ramrod pops back up. I don't have to swab between shots because I am certain that I can get the ball down, regardless of the carbon ring.

Consistency is king in blackpowder shooting. I know that my powder has been packed with the same pressure each time that I load.

I don't use a range rod, so the lighter rod that is carried under the barrel is what I load with. The lighter ramrods don't have the weight of a stainless steel range rod so the bouncing works for me just as well as using a heavy rod.

Many Klatch

 

[George T.]

I read a great artical somewhere that pounding the ball reduced the SD of the loads they tested but accuracy suffered. T hey suggested to seat firmly and tap it once! I do that as I believe almost everything I read! :wink: Geo. T.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Because lead is soft and I believe that a ball shoots better round I radius the tips all of my ramrods and short starters for the caliber ( example 490 dia for 50 caliber )so that they do not deform the front of the ball. :idunno:

 

[matt denison]

Many years ago when I was still a pilgrim I was taught by the greybeards to throw the rammer down on top of the seated ball until it bounced back up the barrel. That made sense, I guess. No way the ball wasn't as seated as possible that way. You could look down the line at a club shoot and all these guys and gals would be pounding H311 out of their ram rods. After years of my own experimenting and replacing tips on ram rods I now shove the ball down on the powder and tap it firmly 1 2 3 4 5 times every time for consistency.

I'm one of those guys that believes that a tightly packed powder charge burns more efficiently and cleaner, as evidenced by the crack of the report vs. a boom of a looser charge and tight little groups on the target.

 

[Vaino]

When at the range, it's easy to apply consistent hand force onto the PRB....in the field while squirrel hunting, not so easy. The amount of seating force seems to not make a difference while squirrel hunting because the LR still "takes their heads off". The amount of priming when I squirrel hunt isn't very consistent either, but w/ the same result. "Clunking" the seated PRB numerous times w/ the RR is for the movies?.....Fred

 

[Stubert]

My father in law, who got me into blackpowder shooting, shot an origianal 1863 springfield. When he first showed me how to load it with minnies, He would SLAM the steel ramrod down many times to flatten the slug and keep it from shifting. Could the practise of bouncing it come from that era? A minnie IS loose in a clean barrel.

 

[hanshi]

Using any rod, under barrel or range rod, I grasp the rod a few inches above the muzzle and push down smoothly. I continue this step by step seating until I feel that slight "crunch" that tells me the prb is seated with no space between it and the powder. I do believe in consistency.