Smoothbore Coning

[Rifleball36]

Has anyone coned the muzzle of a smoothbore. If so how was the accuracy with a patch round ball and shot load.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Don't really think it's necessary or an advantage. There's no lands as there is no rifling to need to "overcome" to get a ball started and if the patch & ball were so tight in a smoothie you'd still need to push it the remaining 40" or whatever so the cone wouldn't help you much.

Might spread your pattern wider . . . but in a cylinder bore that's usually more curse than blessing.

 

[mazo kid]

I have coned several of my rifles but have never heard of a smoothbore being coned. That doesn't mean it hasn't been done. I would think that the already thin barrel wall at the muzzle wouldn't take kindly to such an action, and as Stumpy says, would probably open up your pattern with shot. Patched round ball probably wouldn't be affected much, if at all. Just my thoughts....

 

[J.D.]

Coning a smoothbore should not be necessary.

IMHO, a good load should thumb start in a smoothbore. Maybe a smaller ball and thicker patch might load easier, with no loss of accuracy, if you are having a problem with hard starting.

 

[Pigman]

Would that be a Blunderbus?

 

[Rod Lassey]

My NW gun had a muzzle that was very sharp, would cut right through a patch, even a loose one. I took a bit of emory cloth and took the edge off. Not coning, but it smoothed things up considerably.

Rod

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

What you need is a light crown on the muzzle of your gun. Doesn't take much.

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

There just ain't no way a cone could help a smoothbore's shot pattern. I don't see how it could help a round ball. It seems to me as there are no riflings and no twist to the ball, The patch would not break free from the ball. Sliding off the cone in an ununiformed manner could not help accuracy.

At least to my way of thinking. Most of my rifles are coned I would not consider this for a smoothbore. I know they shoot fine with no cone!

:v

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I agree, but a nice neat crowned muzzle is a good thing to have on any firearm.

 

[tg]

i had thought about it as my barrel is a .56 in the same profile as the .62 so I thought I could give the illusion of a typical smoothbore muzzle. but decided that the potential downside with shot patterns was not worth the risk, I use a thumbstart RB and it loads with a couple of firm sweeps of the wooded rod so this was not an issue.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

All my loads are thumb startable these days. I'm just to old to play around with those super tight loads anymore. Accuracy doesn't seem to have suffered much. All my barrels have at least a slight break at the crown. Works fine with shot or ball. :thumbsup:

 

[tg]

Yeah, I left well enough alone and just explain that my barel is much thicker at the muzzle than one of the originals would have been if looking over the gun and talking of various items.

 

[Mike Brooks]

I coned, or I should say I had Getz cone a 16 bore barrel. The owner reported good shot patterns and easy loading round ball. Made me a bit nervous..... :shocked2:
Many of the original english fowling guns were flared at the muzzle on the outside as well as the inside. I can't imagine they would have patterned well, but I suspect they loaded differently than we do today. I've always wanted to experiment with a flared muzzle as they were done in the old days to see if I could get it to pattern well.

 

[tg]

"I've always wanted to experiment with a flared muzzle as they were done in the old days to see if I could get it to pattern well. '

Well have Russ send his gun to you and let us know how things work out :grin:

 

[Roy]

I don't think it would have much of an effect. Just seems to me the barrel would end where the cone starts for the ball/shot charge rather than where it did.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

I coned, or I should say I had Getz cone a 16 bore barrel. The owner reported good shot patterns and easy loading round ball. Made me a bit nervous..... :shocked2:
Many of the original english fowling guns were flared at the muzzle on the outside as well as the inside. I can't imagine they would have patterned well, but I suspect they loaded differently than we do today. I've always wanted to experiment with a flared muzzle as they were done in the old days to see if I could get it to pattern well.

Jim Hash made an English fowler for Scott Sibley some years ago. It had the inside/outside flare at the muzzle. It patterns as well as any cyl. bore I have seen but he had to make a special loading "muzzle" so Scott could load PRB. I don't know how it shot the singles though. It now belongs to my neighbor and I don't think he has ever put a ball thru it.

Neal, Back and George seemed to distinguish between fowling specific pieces designed for shot that had the inside flare and very thin at the muzzle and more "fusil" oriented guns with a slightly heavier wall and cyl. bore that they describe as for "ball or shot". I believe this distinction was made due to the thin barrels and the inside flare being more problematic with the round ball. They never cited a dated source for that information so I assume it was at the very least deduced from their own experience in shooting these guns.