Smooth Rifle Benefits?

[Carbon 6]

I don't see how ?
A diabolo pellet bore size following after a bore lubing wad and a card on top. The front band and rear would need to be thin at bore contact points.

Put that way, You make a good argument. I was thinking about actual pellets years ago when I had a pellet gun, If I recall the skirts were slightly lager than bore diameter. Maybe I just imagined it, that was a long time ago.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Using the TC .56 smoothie as an example, they're not easier to load if a person wants to obtain the best rifle like accuracy at 50 yards.
A very tight combination of ball & patch needs to be used and fouling can also become more of an issue,

Smoothies can be loaded with more shot than their equivalent or nearest sister gauge compared to a modern shotgun.
And they often need to be since they do not have a choke.

Duelist1954 made 2 part videos about loading and patterning a 20 gauge fusil and found that 2 ozs. of shot and 100 grains of powder produced the best patterns at different distances.
That's not what most folks would expect since they often say to use less powder for better patterns.
But the reality was shown to be quite different since he needed to drastically increase the shot load to produce an effective pattern compared to a square load.

A bore equivalent to .54 or 28 gauge is about the very least that I would consider using as a smooth rifle to be able to hunt both turkey and deer with.

I don't use patches in my smooth rifle and get reasonable accuracy!

The flyers were failed experiments.
The group was bare ball.

 

[Brokennock]

Using the TC .56 smoothie as an example, they're not easier to load if a person wants to obtain the best rifle like accuracy at 50 yards.
A very tight combination of ball & patch needs to be used and fouling can also become more of an issue,

Smoothies can be loaded with more shot than their equivalent or nearest sister gauge compared to a modern shotgun.
And they often need to be since they do not have a choke.

Duelist1954 made 2 part videos about loading and patterning a 20 gauge fusil and found that 2 ozs. of shot and 100 grains of powder produced the best patterns at different distances.
That's not what most folks would expect since they often say to use less powder for better patterns.
But the reality was shown to be quite different since he needed to drastically increase the shot load to produce an effective pattern compared to a square load.

A bore equivalent to .54 or 28 gauge is about the very least that I would consider using as a smooth rifle to be able to hunt both turkey and deer with.

No, "a very tight combination of patch and ball," is not, "needed," in all cases. Many of us got better groups with a looser patch/ball combo, and eventually got our best groups with no patch.

Also, duelist didn't try the Skychief load.

 

[Stantheman86]

They did make conical bullets for military smooth bore muskets , I forget the name.

You'd have to mold your own.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Thanks, all. Seems a .54 smooth rifle could be a real treat. I'd be hunting squirrels and deers.

 

[Carbon 6]

Smooth rifles are just cool.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The flyers were failed experiments.
The group was bare ball.

You didn't mention the distance, but IF those are at 50m then that is VASTLY superior to the slug tests which I saw, using the above pictured slug, as well as a different design, and shot through a rifled choke tube.

When I was a kid, a lot of the older farmers, as well as one of my grandads, used to use what they called a "pumpkin ball" (and pronounced here in Maryland "punkin bah") which was a 12 gauge shell opened up and the shot removed, and replaced with a round lead ball of about .690. They employed these out to 40 - 50 yards and swore by them. They had used them since they were young men during the American Great Depression, as they were much cheaper than rifle ammo for deer, or the cost of rifled slugs.

So the old was new again....

LD

 

[Britsmoothy]

You didn't mention the distance, but IF those are at 50m then that is VASTLY superior to the slug tests which I saw, using the above pictured slug, as well as a different design, and shot through a rifled choke tube.

LD

50 good strides.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

50 good strides.

Well I'm gonna call that Vindication !

So add that to the Smooth Rifle Advantages.., with the proper load they can equal or surpass some modern slugs when going for deer.

LD

 

[smoothshooter]

My frame of reference is a smooth GM 20 gauge (.620") barrel with rifle sights. On the RB side it's sure lots easier for me to put the balls where I want them out to around 75 yards, compared to a fowler with only a front sight. Meanwhile it digests a lot more shot loads than RB. I find the oversize rear sight a problem for wing shooting, blocking out way too much of my view. Dandy for sitting game with shot though. Easy fix. If I'm wing shooting I just take off the rear sight. Always carry the tools to do just that on days when a hare shoot turns into a ptarmigan shoot. Truly don't need the rear sight for hare shooting with shot, but it's so little a problem I tend to leave the sight on until and unless I start jumping ptarmigan. Truth be known, since I seldom shoot it with RB, the sight would serve better use in a drawer back home.

If you shoot with both eyes open you will get to where you won't even notice the rear sight when wingshooting.