how do yall load yall smooth bore like do u carry shot wrap in paper like a civil war cartridge or carry loose and load it like that hoping to get my tc new Englander barrel rebored to 58 and I want a smooth bore so I'm trying to figure out how I would load in while hunting?
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smoothbore loading
- Thread starter jrbaker90
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Sidney Smith
58 Cal.
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I want rapid reloading while hunting so I too use rolled tubes made from Kraft paper. I use a ball of the same paper tamped flat as the over powder wadding and just the folded paper tube to hold the shot in place. Works well enough plus seems to cut down on leading the barrel like loose shot does.
Brokennock
Cannon
There are dozens of threads/topics with answers to this question here in the smoothbore section. I have a tutorial posted in this section on how I make mine, the topic includes replys from others on their methods of making same. Some even form a paper or cloth "shotcup" at the muzzle and load loose shot measures at the time of loading. I do this too on occasion.
Smoothies are forgiving;
Load like a rifle with patched ball,
Load with ball on a wad,
Big ball at bore size with wad on top
Chewed ball
Combine patch and wad
Military cartridge
Half military cartridge, powder in paper then patched ball ( military round ball rifles did this)
Shot in cups or loose with wads.
And I’m sure there is more.
Load like a rifle with patched ball,
Load with ball on a wad,
Big ball at bore size with wad on top
Chewed ball
Combine patch and wad
Military cartridge
Half military cartridge, powder in paper then patched ball ( military round ball rifles did this)
Shot in cups or loose with wads.
And I’m sure there is more.
Balls I carry in paper cartridges. Shot I carry loose and assemble at the barrel.
Keep my fixings in a little tin.
Keep my fixings in a little tin.
I use book paper (I go to the library and buy a used book) and make a rolled cartridges like for a musket, that just fits inside the bore. This is used for the premeasured powder load of 2Fg. After loading the powder I invert the paper cartridge, and insert the closed end into the barrel, stuffing the rest in, then I ram that down to form a wad. I follow that with a shot cartridge of pre-measured shot in a cartridge made of newsprint. This I load intact, ramming it gently onto the wad that is over the powder. Cap and ready to go.
LD
LD
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I load loose. Powder, patch ball. If its shot its powder, card, wad (lubed), shot, card. Not into the re-enactor/military paper cartridge mode at all. Have loaded smooth bores this way for about 50 years. Just sayin.....
We know of an 1840s reference to patched ball in a smoothie, before that only waddedball is written about.
However I don’t think I’ve ever read of civilians using cartridges.
Now I would think someone using a rifle or being around rifle shooters might give a patch a chance. And at the same time a militia man might have seen cartridges and put them in to his life.
However I don’t think I’ve ever read of civilians using cartridges.
Now I would think someone using a rifle or being around rifle shooters might give a patch a chance. And at the same time a militia man might have seen cartridges and put them in to his life.
Cartridges were issued to soldiers and most did not make cartridges. While civilians were certainly capable of rolling their own cartridges, it is unlikely or uncommon for civilians to use cartridges until packages of cartridges were commonly packaged and sold for revolvers.
Today we think about fast loading and the military did for sure, I don’t know if civilians did.
Even today how often hunting will you need a quick second shot. I think your right that civilians wouldn’t have made them..... but militia men would have seen them for sure, and there easy to make.
Even today how often hunting will you need a quick second shot. I think your right that civilians wouldn’t have made them..... but militia men would have seen them for sure, and there easy to make.
Brokennock
Cannon
This thing of questioning the need for a quick reload while hunting comes up somewhat regular. I've seen the need a few times as has my best hunting buddy. Missing happens, and sometimes deer get confused as to what just happened and where that loud noise came from. 2 years ago I did not hold low enough on am uphill shot at a nice whitetail doe, who was 10 or 15 yards ahead of another doe and a buck, the one I shot at ran barely 20 yards further away from me, the other 2 just kind of changed positions a little. Eventually the other 2 wandered off the way they had come and the doe I missed went off in the direction they were originally traveling. I was sitting in the open and had to try to reload quickly, without standing up to do so (not easy). I got the gun loaded but she never offered another shot. This is but one example of a few while deer hunting.
When pheasant hunting I like to be able to reload quickly as the dog does not wait to keep hunting for long after a bird is shot and retrieved, and waits not at all if a bird is shot at and missed. Well, there is that momentary pause for a look of disgust.
I seem to recall it also being posted that it is better to reload quickly while the gun is warm/hot to decrease the level of moisture (condensation?) possibly contaminating the reload in a now fouled bore.
Besides, what good is an empty gun?
And don't forget. Smoothbores were the "modern home defense" arm of the time and there was an advantage to a fast reload. Even "civilian" arms were pressed into defense and militia duty. That's why a few paper cartridges with round ball are always in my hunting pouch even when after grouse.
My gun has been fed rolled paper shot tubes many times. I recently experimented quite a bit with patterning and found it patterns right at what the choke says with loose shot. So, I purchased a "shot snake" that has an adjustable spout and drops a set amount from 7/8 to 1 1/16th ounce. I pre-load tubes with the powder to make field loading faster. Carry the tubes and wads in a pouch and the shot snake has a strap to wear it. Using the shot snake is as fast as loading the paper shot holders, but there is no preparation time with the snake. Those rolled shot tubes were taking me a lot of time to assemble when I need at least 50 for a dove hunt.
Exactly...,
I started using the two cartridge method because I was hunting upland birds with fellows using modern shotguns in the party, and they did not want to wait as I measured out powder for both barrels, fished out lubed wads and rammed them home for two barrels, measured out two barrels of shot loads, and then seated and overshot card on top of both loads....then capped both barrels....
LD
