Seating a PRB

I have never been able to load an oversize ball period, let alone with heavy patching.
But if I'm to believe what they claim, a lot of the top bench shooters do it as routine. If they can do so with seriously deforming the ball I'd like to watch.
It doesn't seem to bother the accuracy they get.
Many Klatch has already described my loading routine so I won't bother repeating it.

 

[Larry Pletcher]

Randy,
The bench shooters have a couple of things going for them. They do use a very tight patch/ball combination. Mine used a .504 ball with .020" teflon patch in a .50 bore. The ball is loaded with a seating tool that matches the curve of the ball exactly. One can use a mallet with this tool without deforming the ball. The ball is loaded through a false muzzle where the top is oversized to start the ball easily. As the ball is pushed to the barrel, it is swaged to bore size. This is over-simplified, but you get the idea. At any rate the bench shooters are very careful in their procedures. It's very different than what we do shooting normal rifles offhand.

Regards,
Pletch

 

[S.Kenton]

I simply use constant pressure until I feel the ball seat. Then I push a little harder to ensure it's seated.Also, all my RR's are marked to make double sure the ball is seated.
I was told to "bounce" the RR off the seated ball, like many others..but I found it did indeed hurt my accuracy from shooting off a bench.
just my 2 cents,

 

[Bon Sauvage]

Semisane I have never seen such a thing. I sort of like it.

 

[pab1]

One thing I had not considered when I started this topic was muzzle/crown wear from the rod slamming up and down, side to side around the barrel. When I seat a ball I try to keep the rod from touching the barrel. It seems to me that beyond just deforming the ball hurting shot to shot accuracy, bouncing the rod would increase muzzle/crown wear and effect the guns accuracy in the long run. :hmm: