Shooting Bare ball

[tenngun]

All true points
We do have the fact their mind set wasn’t ours

 

[SamTex1949]

Not in warm weather

just gotta watch out for ticks

 

[Grenadier1758]

Patched, wadded, or bare with an over shot card, something is needed to hold the load in place. That's the primary advantage that is provided by a patched ball.

 

[Tenring]

In the Valley Forge visitor center they have a linen bag i don’t think a possible bag along side a Charlaville musket with what looks like home spun or some sort of natural linen hanky size cloth with a circular cut hole towards the corner and we know why ,to patch a ball and we know that Musket is a smooth bore So maybe they did patch smooth bore rifle’s.and new the advantage.

 

[AdamRM]

Is there still an advantage if there is no rifling to be engaged? We have noted earlier that sometimes with smoothbore guns, they shoot better with a looser load than rifled guns.


Ball or shot, I build my load at the muzzle. I only ram once, and don't have the issue of trapped air to deal with.

I also shoot only bare ball because I like doing stuff the old and simple way

I never had an issue with trapped air, but when I patched with tow, I did have a few strands get caught around the ball and jammed it half way down the barrel, that was fun

Nowadays I’m using “wadding of hat” felt wads, they load easy and all my shots are consistently touching at 25 yards

Adam

 

[MTMountainman]

Maybe a crazy thought but it sort of ties in with "bare ball" shooting. Anyway, I had a crazed thought the other day and I'm going to try it unless someone tells me I'll blow myself up. Has any thought been given to powder coating round balls and skipping the patches? I PC my other cast bullets for unmentionables and just had a thought about roundballs and no patches needed -- any thoughts???

 

[Roundball2319]

Maybe a crazy thought but it sort of ties in with "bare ball" shooting. Anyway, I had a crazed thought the other day and I'm going to try it unless someone tells me I'll blow myself up. Has any thought been given to powder coating round balls and skipping the patches? I PC my other cast bullets for unmentionables and just had a thought about roundballs and no patches needed -- any thoughts???

I have thought about that as well. I dont have the equipment for that so I have not had the chance to try it.

 

[tenngun]

One thing that shoots well for me is a wad of fiber, tow, hemp,wool,cotton yarn, dog hair( smelled real bad) spanish moss, inner cedar bark or inner black jack oak bark. Made in to a little ball and roughed at one side. The ball is shove in to make a nest and run down at once. Shoots well.

 

[Brokennock]

In the Valley Forge visitor center they have a linen bag i don’t think a possible bag along side a Charlaville musket with what looks like home spun or some sort of natural linen hanky size cloth with a circular cut hole towards the corner and we know why ,to patch a ball and we know that Musket is a smooth bore So maybe they did patch smooth bore rifle’s.and new the advantage.

Just because things are put together in a display like that, doesn't mean they were always together. Someone may have put that stuff together based on the same, assumptions, many make.

 

[Runewolf1973]

I shoot a 62.cal NWTG and use .600 roundballs. I pour the powder down, drop the ball down which rolls freely and then I just put a 1" square piece of cut pure wool blanket to hold the ball in place. Works awesome and such a pleasure to load and shoot.

 

[Brokennock]

I shoot a 62.cal NWTG and use .600 roundballs. I pour the powder down, drop the ball down which rolls freely and then I just put a 1" square piece of cut pure wool blanket to hold the ball in place. Works awesome and such a pleasure to load and shoot.

How much powder for what level of accuracy?

 

[Runewolf1973]

How much powder for what level of accuracy?

I was shooting at a steel plate 40 yards away. I was using 75 grains of 3F (because that's all I had) and getting consistent groups the size of my hand with fingers spread out. Bear in mind I rarely get out to practice much because we have a shortage of good ranges here. It was maybe my 3rd time shooting that gun, but I thought it did pretty well.

 

[Nor'Easter]

I'm going to throw in here with a WAG. In those days, if you were part of a military/quasi-military unit you loaded your weapon the way the sargent told you to! Everyone else - loaded the way we do, meaning each person knew his gun and loaded it with what he had available at hand and what experience had shown him to work. I think it's nuts to think there was some absolute standard, or even to say 'most did it this way'. I spent twenty in the USN and tell you there were Navy Regs and there were Officers orders, and then there was what happened on the deck-plates to get the job done with what we had at hand. That's what Chiefs and Sargents DO! Be interesting to be a fly on the wall, 300 years from now, when they look at some of the things we did to solve problems and listen to them square that against written regulations. What I've read also seams to indicate they were not as 'safety concious' as we are. There's lots of references to 'bursted barrels'. The only thing I would accept as highly likely to be legitimate are first hand accounts by the shooter, not an observer. And the shooter is only recording his methods, unless purposely comparing techniques.

 

[Bigpete]

I've used .690 round balls in old Gerty just loaded in place of shot,I've found that "chewing" them between 2 farriers rasps increases the diameter to .700ish and gives the lube something to stick to,and groups a lot better.

 

[Nor'Easter]

I sorta lucked out. A hand cast .562 round ball exactly fits my .56 cal bore. I do use pre-lubed Wonder Wads. Start one in the barrel, set the ball on it sprue up, put another wad on top and ram it all home. Simple, easy, fast, accurate. Works for strings up to 20 shots. I'll test it next summer for a 100 round string.

 

[hanshi]

We all have our idiosyncrasies when it comes to loading smoothbores. The method I use is whatever way gives the best accuracy. I don't know how they did it in the past, and frankly, I don't care. The only thing I care about is accuracy.
I may be wrong about this but I consider a "bare ball" to be a ball without a patch. The best load I've come up with is a patched ball. It's not even close to being as tight as the rifles are loaded. It's not a "loose" combo but goes down very easily. At 50 yards I get consistent 3-shot groups of about 3" or a tad less; I'm more than satisfied with that. With bare ball I use ball around .606" cast from WW with a felt (or some other material) wad over the powder and a couple of card wads over the ball, all is assembled at the muzzle and seated together. I can expect 5- shot groups at 50 yards to easily stay on a dessert plate. Curiously though, I get three shot groups at 50 yds about as small as with the prb. The last deer I killed was dropped with the smoothbore using a prb.

 

[Nor'Easter]

We all have our idiosyncrasies when it comes to loading smoothbores. The method I use is whatever way gives the best accuracy. I don't know how they did it in the past, and frankly, I don't care. The only thing I care about is accuracy.
I may be wrong about this but I consider a "bare ball" to be a ball without a patch. The best load I've come up with is a patched ball. It's not even close to being as tight as the rifles are loaded. It's not a "loose" combo but goes down very easily. At 50 yards I get consistent 3-shot groups of about 3" or a tad less; I'm more than satisfied with that. With bare ball I use ball around .606" cast from WW with a felt (or some other material) wad over the powder and a couple of card wads over the ball, all is assembled at the muzzle and seated together. I can expect 5- shot groups at 50 yards to easily stay on a dessert plate. Curiously though, I get three shot groups at 50 yds about as small as with the prb. The last deer I killed was dropped with the smoothbore using a prb.

Agree with you completely! When the wind dies down I'm going to do some concrete testing to see if my casual observations are indeed fact. I missed a chance at a nice 6 point last year with my smoothie. Really look forward to anchoring one with it. My last BP buck was a 6 pointer that weighed close to 300 on the hoof. He was a bruiser! Took him with a Lyman Deerstalker with a fast twist barrel at 60yds.

 

[toot]

No defense needed. I was joking about the flames. But not about the high horse individual.
At 77+++, do what makes you happy, eat what you like, drink, smoke, carouse with wild women.
If you woke up on the right side of the grass, celebrate.

yes I heard that it is not allowed in heaven to indulge / partake in thoes enjoyable things in HEAVEN?I Wanta go where the WILD WOMEN are!

 

[toot]

I always just shook my bare balls prior too shooting!
Relieves the sprues quickly…

View attachment 111259
I just throw a handful in a plastic coffee can and shake bye hand for a couple of minutes…
Gives them dimples (sort of) and flattens the sprue somewhat.

The reason I was shooting bare ball was because of limited access too various size round balls for my .653 bore gun…

I have since found that a .626 ball and .0016 ticking shoots well too…

There’s probably many more loads that would work as well… it just depends on how many 1 oz chunks of lead one wants to send down range..

now that group has BRAGGING RIGHT'S!

 

[toot]

I also shoot only bare ball because I like doing stuff the old and simple way

I never had an issue with trapped air, but when I patched with tow, I did have a few strands get caught around the ball and jammed it half way down the barrel, that was fun

Nowadays I’m using “wadding of hat” felt wads, they load easy and all my shots are consistently touching at 25 yards

Adam

I also go to the JOHNNY CAKE CENTERS, THAT'S what they call them in my neck of the wood's, RHODE ISLAND. some people call them USED THRIFT CTR.'s in other places, you know what I mean. and buy the felt hats for $1.00. and soak them into vegetable oil after I punch them out. hard to beat, for the price, and for the amount of them you get out of a felt hat.