smaller ball

[rusty]

has anyone ever tried shooting a smaller ball than their smooth bore requires ex.a .535 ball in a 24ga.I read an aricle in an old backwoodsman mag where the guy said that he got the best accuracy in his 24ga from a .535 ball.Has anyone else experienced this :results:

 

[shmrck1]

rusty,
:results: is the key here. Every barrel
is different. My advise is shoot what works best for
your individual M/L.
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

Rusty, that was me. I used a .535 ball with a bluejean patch (.035, as I recall) in a T/C .56 smoothie. Great accuracy, but it loaded so hard that I doubt it would be practical in the field. I got crazy and had that barrel rifled to .58 caliber, wish now I hadn't.

 

[weirdjack]

I normally load a .662 ball in a .702 bore with a ticking patch....does that qualify? It loads easy over and over again and has plinking accuracy at 25 yards from a 51" smoothbore.
I played with a .570 ball in a .691 bore with double bluejean patch....not my finest experiment.
Jack

 

[bb75]

Rusty I have the same problem with my 24 ga. one reason is my actual bore diam. is 577 and 570 was so difficult , that it was not going to work, so I tried for the sake of argument a ,535 rb it worked well with a pillow ticking patch that is all I'm using now, the .530's being a tad lighter seemed to shoot lower hope it works out for you bb75

 

[roundball]

:hmm: :hmm: ...I guess that might mean some .575's I have could work in my .62cal...I tried .600's and they're way too tight even with just a .010" patch...bore mics .609-.610;

Didn't figure I'd shoot ball in it enough to justify turning around and buying a bunch of .595's just to try them, so I haven't pursued it further with round balls, already have a .58cal rifle, etc.

However, seeing your post, I have some boxes of Remington .575's and they might just work in it with .018" pillow ticking, or even a couple of patches...may have to experiment after hunting season is over

:hmm: :hmm:

 

[hawk]

Rusty I shoot a .69cal ball in my .75 bess with a piece of moose hide patch. works good, after a bunch of shots I use my worn out work jeans for patchs.free is better than cheep. :thumbsup:

 

[rusty]

thank's guy's for all the replies....rusty

 

[pennsyltucky]

i have used .530 balls in WAA20 (plastic shot cup) wads. and got excellent results from my 20ga t/c with a modified choke in it. i just load it like shot. 4" groups at 55 yards. i put an o/p card below the wad and have had no trouble with plastic in the bore...

crony'd at 1810!!! whew!

 

[charcloth]

Hi,
I shoot .530 rounball in my .54 smoothbore and I've got no complaints on accuracy, loading or fowling. Sometimes I patch, sometimes I don't. It doesnt seem to change point of impact significantly. I have also, when out of .530's, used .490's with a double patch. Under 80 yards or so I hit where I want to.
charcloth.

 

[Rusty Old Gunns]

Rusty,

I got tired of fighting patched balls down the tube of my 20 gauge (.62 cal) TVM Fowler (.590 ball and .10 or .15 patch) so I tried shotgun wads.

Now I load Powder, 20 gauge over powder card, Circle fly .500 cushion wad lubed (75%crisco,25% bees wax) .60 ball and another over powder card.

The gun loves them! It tightened up my group. And I have shot as many as 30 balls in a day at the range and never had a fouling problem. The ball always went down easily.

Works for me.

 

[pathfinderifh]

I agree Rusty,but I've also found that the smaller the bore, the tighter the combo should be. My .40's like real tight and as the bore increases I can go bare ball at around 24ga.
Pathfinder

 

[TDW]

Rusty,
Been loading a .520 ball with a .020 patch, sperm whale oil lube, in my .54 Colrain smoothbore barrel with good accuracy (less than 3" at 50 yds). It's easy to load and doesn't foul too bad. I've also used .510 ball with a .030 patch (bear oil or whale oil lube), without any noticable accuracy loss at 50 yds.
Tom