some of you ain't gonna like this

[soggy]

I know this flies right in the face of what most of you say about the accuracy of a round ball, but I got to tell you what I saw yesterday.
A good friend and fellow forum member and I were at our monthly shoot yesterday, as usual we arrived early so we decided to get a bit of practice (any excuse to shoot :grin: ) We had shot a couple of times each when my buddy said "look at this" he was holding a ball that he had cast and it was badly deformed, almost flat on the top (spru area) and had a large void in it. Just for fun I said "go ahead and shoot it . see if you can hit anything with that " He proceeded to load in the usual manner same patch , powder etc. Took aim at the 50 yd. gong and smacked it dead center.
I recall a thread on here a while back where there was much discussion about "bouncing " the ram rod and "damageing" the accuracy of the ball. It looks to me that the rifleing in the barrel took care of any damage on the ball.
Some will say "it was a fluke" others will doubt my story, I know what I saw.
Oh and by the way My buddy went on to win the club shoot that afternoon, although I think he was a little more selective in the balls that he shot . :v

Soggy

 

[Shifty]

:v My son has had same results in cb revolver,I belive you.

 

[PreglerD]

I think it is similar to modern bullets a bit of deforming doesn't matter very much to accuracy. Especially for our kind of normal not high score shooting. the accuracy of a deformed ball makes it nevertheless useable for plinking.

 

[roundball]

I can believe it...for a number of years I've saved all my pulled balls during a hunting season to use at the range...great big void in it from the ball puller screw...they always shot coke cans off the 50yd line like a new Hornady.

 

[bob1961]

I can believe it...for a number of years I've saved all my pulled balls during a hunting season to use at the range...great big void in it from the ball puller screw...they always shot coke cans off the 50yd line like a new Hornady.

was bout to say the same thing RB :rotf: but ya beat me to it....saved them to see how they would still shoot :v ................bob

 

[Slamfire]

Ah lak it! :thumbsup:
Uh do y'all know when I kin expect mah red hat? :bow:

:rotf:

 

[RedFeather]

I think the gyroscopic effect of the rifling tends to average out imbalances caused by dents and voids. That said, I also would think that a perfect ball would out-perform a deformed one, all other things being equal.

 

[jethro224]

I can believe it...for a number of years I've saved all my pulled balls during a hunting season to use at the range...great big void in it from the ball puller screw...they always shot coke cans off the 50yd line like a new Hornady.

was bout to say the same thing RB :rotf: but ya beat me to it....saved them to see how they would still shoot :v ................bob

:hmm: Hollow-point roundballs...

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I believe you, have seen similar.

Would be interesting to see high definition photos of balls as the exit the muzzle. Methinks with the soft lead getting kicked in the butt with 10m PSI or more, the ball is rather upset from the pristine roundness it started in life due to obturation etc.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I don't doubt your tale, However, you don't say how big the gong at 50 yds is. Nor the caliber of the rifle, nor whether he was shooting off a rest, or off-hand, etc. what load? many of the things we talk about relating to accuracy show up most when the ball comes back down through the sound barrier, which is often out near 100 yards, and even further with some loads and calibers. Talk to the bench rest shooters about bouncing ramrods, shooting balls with wrinkles, or with voids, or that are not sorted by weight. Those guys start at 100 yds, and shoot on out to 500 yds for the big bullet guns. The round ball guns may shoot out to 200 yds.

For most ML shooters, with most hunting, a 4 inch group at 50 yards is more than adquate for almost all of their shooting requirements. Working to build a load, or loading procedure to shoot better than that with iron sights, is a waste of their time.

 

[faw3]

I still have my first lYMAN issue nd some of the picks in that show a lot of flatness from fireing a heaver load as well as the front of some getting flatten just a hair from the air in front ( I THINK IT WAS????) fred :hatsoff:

 

[Walks with fire]

Years ago I saw a product put out by Thompson Center that was used to cut different patterns on a roundball after it was short started. I can't see that at 50 yards it would make a whole lot of difference what condition the ball was in.

 

[mike alexandre]

I dont doubt what you say, in fact there are stories that riflemen used to pick out the balls that had a void because they flu more accuratley. However for the purpose of the shooting I do, my aim is to remove as many of the variables as possible which includes varying weights of ball.

 

[Gemoke]

SOGGY I read an article by the BEVEL brothers in muzzle blast awhile back and they done some testing on deformed balls and balls with air pockets and if I remember right they had the samething happen to them.

 

[Mad Professor]

Not doubting your story but..........

If you took a lot of balls with voids VS. a lot of swaged hornadays, then shot them off a rest I think you might see the reason most people cull the imperfect ones.

 

[blacksmithman64]

I tend to agree with the Mad Professor,I have nothing at all against shooting deformed balls for plinking, but when theres plunder or tourists around I bust out the hornady's! :thumbsup: :rotf:

 

[slashcat]

I would bet obturation has a lot to do with it. Probably all round balls are somewhat deformed by the time they leave the muzzle. Has anyone ever done any high speed photography of this phenomena? Maybe the smoke gets in the way.

 

[Runner]

At 50 yards or so. The problems don't really show that close, or the differences are small most of the time. When you move to 100, the steering effects of the damaged balls becomes much more obvious. The speed and spin compensate pretty much at close range. When you shoot far enough to see the effects, they are quite obvious and easy to identify. Once that ball slows to the point that the steering effects of the defects over powers the spin, then things go crazy. This isn't speculation either. I tested it after having problems one year with cast 45 caliber roundballs.
If you shoot 100 yard bench all the time, and nothing else, believing that they stay true at all is hard to do because at 100 they can move feet off target. If you shoot close all the time, it is hard for you to believe that there is any difference because you never shoot far enough to experience it.
Isn't there a story about Boone cutting balls in half and shooting game at close ranges with them to save up enough ammo for his escape attempt?

 

[soggy]

Ah lak it! :thumbsup:
Uh do y'all know when I kin expect mah red hat? :bow:

:rotf:

:hmm: :hmm: You can expect it anytime you want ............but when ya get it is another question :blah: :rotf: :rotf:
Soggy

 

[Halftail]

Soggy,
Sound to me your friend is one heck of a shot to me.... :winking: :winking: :winking:
No doubt he is the "salt of the earth type" that everyone like and admires... :winking: ..
:bull: :winking: :winking: :rotf: