Small Ball

[nkbj]

Compared to the bore diameter, what's the most undersized ball you have had success with in a rifle?
What sort of groups did you get?

 

[tenngun]

I have a .50 that I can load a.500+ a .01patch, a .497+ a .015, a .495 +.015 or .490+.024 patch. The .500 shoots best, sometimes, the patch can tear a lot. The .490 shoots the worse but loads easy and will shoot as better then my smoothies and my smoothies are my deer guns now. My fall back for my .50 is the .495, I won’t win any matches but that’s my shooting not my gun.
Generally ml are forgiving, but the difference between best and worse are minuscule. A difference between a clover leaf at fifty yards and two inches at the same range. One wins matches both are fun to shoot and put meat on the table.

 

[nkbj]

Going to try .38 round ball in the GM .40 barrel (actually a .403 bore diameter). Can maybe canvas give enough compression to maintain center? The slow twist will help reduce centrifugal force created by lack of concentricity of the center of gravity of the ball with the center of rotation. Eh, it's worth a try.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Can maybe canvas give enough compression to maintain center?

Stuffing a lot of cloth down a tiny bore is unlikely to give optimum results. Might, strange things happen this game. But, IMHO, it won't. Stick with yer favorite patch material, the results might surprise you.

 

[George]

Going to try .38 round ball in the GM .40 barrel (actually a .403 bore diameter).

I've tried that combination. I have a .40 with a Douglas barrel, land diameter .403", twist of 1:66. I shot only one 3-shot group from 25 yards using .380" Lee balls, .018" ticking patch and my beeswax-lard lube. It was 1", which is not good for that rifle, but it was a very bright day and the sun reflecting on my silver blade front sight was giving my old eyes a lot of trouble. I meant to try again under better conditions, but never got around to it. I think it will give me angle of squirrel head accuracy.

Spence

 

[Brokennock]

Maybe try a wad between powder and patched ball to better seal the gasses?

 

[coloradoclyde]

The problem is that as the ball bets smaller and smaller, more pressure is exerted on the patching.. Causing a failure.

I tried shooting .310 diameter balls out of a .45 and they pulled right through the patch material.
and that was multiple layers of leather patching.