Stippling round balls

[spottedpony]

The question was raised on another forum about the effect of stippling round balls by rolling them under a file on a flat surface, and the effect it would have.

It was pointed out as a comparison that the dimples on a golf ball aid in straighter and longer flight compared to a golf ball with a smooth surface.

This sounds interesting enough i intend to try and see the effects if any it has on accuracy, poi etc. but in the meantime lets hear some thoughts, & results if anyone's tried it?

An initial thought i have, if nothing else, this could help the ball grip the patch better thus better engagement in the rifling...........

 

[silverfox]

Just a short thought. Might it also grip the ball and not seperate from it at the muzzle thus waveing a flag all the way to the target.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[spottedpony]

i wondered about that also, though with the parachute effect one gets off a patch, (i selfom find a patch more than 5 or 6 feet from the muzzle) i dont think that will happen. one way to find out though......

from what little ive found to read on the effect it causes, not only on a round projectile such as the golf ball, there are some surprising effects caused by the rough surface.
one report dealt with an aircraft damaged by hail, and with the upper wing surfaces and body panels dinged up the aircraft had gained around a 20 knot increase in max speed

ive rolled half a dozen balls as discribed, so weather permitting tomorrow ii'll see what happens

 

[Keppy]

:applause: We'll be waiting for the report. Might be interesting. :thumbsup:

 

[xxgrampa]

hi -ho s pony,

had a post a couple weeks back about putting the balls into a vibrating or tumbling brass cleaner to; pean the balls round, pean the sprue away ane dimple the balls like a golf ball to make them fly straighter and farther.

been doing that in a rock tumbler before case cleaners were invented.. it does work..

..ttfn..grampa..

 

[Slamfire]

I've never seen a golf ball that had broken the sound barrier, it makes a difference in the way the air flows around the ball. The dimples make a spot for air to hang onto the ball in subsonic flight and actually smooth the path. Supersonic velocities provide a shock wave that accomplishes much the same thing. :v :v

 

[xxgrampa]

greetings slam,,

(if i may call you slam?)

i didn'y know that.. thank you...

tt.g

 

[xxgrampa]

didn't

tt.g

 

[Claude Mathis]

The question was raised on another forum about the effect of stippling round balls ......

It gets raised here too.

Here's three previous threads.
[url] http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?fid/16/tid/201938[/url]
[url] http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/28285[/url]
[url] http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/190369[/url]

 

[windwalker_au]

spottedpony if you want to get the golf ball patern the it would be better to roll thhem between two thick pices of obscure glass. it will give a better finish than a file.
bernie :grin:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Or put some ball bearings in your tumbler with the balls. That way you will get dimples like a golf ball, rather than sharp cuts from the coarse file.

The only thing I have heard that works for using round ball that have been rolled under files is to hold liquid lube on the ball so that they can be shot out of a smoothbore barrel without a patch. The markings hold enough lube to keep both fouling soft, and lead rubs on the inside of the barrel to a minimum. The raise portion of the lead ball's surface is what is going to touch the sides of the barrel, while the vast majority of the round ball does not rub against the sides of the barrel as the ball exits. Whether it has a positive affect on the ball in flight is not known.Certainly a smoothbore is going to impart no spin, and the air is not going to spin such a ball, either. I don't know if this raised filed ball will fly faster in any meaningful velocity out at the target, or not. I have my doubts that all that extra work with the balls is not going to deliver any better velocity down range, and that its only good purpose is to aid in loading and lubing the bore when you are not using a lubed cloth or paper patch.

 

[Many Klatch]

Some friends of mine have had differing experience with stippled or Frosted balls. One shooter with a lot of national records uses them all the time. Another shooter used to use them when he was on the International Flintlock team, but doesn't use them anymore. I think it boils down to the old adage "If you think it makes it shoot better use it". In my experience with the frosted balls, I wasn't able to tell any difference. They didn't hurt accuracy and they didn't seem to help either.

Many Klatch

Many Klatch

 

[George Holton]

Hi Klatch; Do we want to open the worm can on making Hydro Shock round balls or Minies for that matter ? These arguements should give the newbies something else to worry about besides kind of powder. Bob Holton :v

 

[Bob Riegl]

:bow: There is an article in November Issue of Muzzle Blasts---pp 49-53---"Stump the Experts" by the Bevel Brothers. It's an extensive article on the subject with methods and test results. Well worth the reading--I am still trying to find a farrier's file like the one pictured---would like too try it myself---for the heck of it.... :hatsoff:

 

[rabbit03]

Hello SpottedPony,

I have tried dimpling the roundballs in the past. I roll them all together in a cardboard box for a while which creates the desired effect, dimples all around like a golf ball. It also kills the sprue.

This is something I had thought about as you have and lots of others who were searching for something to make their shooting a little better. It aint so! The only thing to make your shooting better would be to have the tight patch/ball combo. Have I said this before :rotf:

Seriously though, I have tried it and can not tell the difference, in other words it does not help. What I have found that does help though is to place the sprue facing up top looking at you when you load the rifle and use a ball that is within .005 of the bore or bore size, either one seems to do extremely well. This is the boring facts.

I say boring because when you shoot thousands of balls like we do in target shooting it becomes to say the least boring. Not in a bad way really but it gets to be more like a job, it is like your going to work. It is a routine that you do each and everytime sort of like an assembly line making something like when someone does in piecework day in and day out.

The result though is to finally get very good at what you do. I am not the best and never will be, that is just a fact. There is always someone out there who will beat you. But that does not keep me from wanting to be the best.

So that is why I feel like I am repeating myself alot of times when I say tight patch/ball combo. Because that is the only way to achieve the level of accuracy to be the best. You don't see many folks using balls that are undersized in championship shoots.

So stippling, dimpleing etc will not do anything for you.

And this is my opinion based on about 25 years of competitive shooting.

rabbit03

ps I have friends that use a form of dimpling or knurling the balls with a file and then use them in their muskets but I don't shoot musket (yet) and can not say one way or another. I know these folks are extremely accurate with the muskets and set records using them!

 

[Slamfire]

greetings slam,,

(if i may call you slam?)

i didn'y know that.. thank you...

tt.g

Jest don't call me late for dinner, we'll git along jest fine. :v

 

[Tumblernotch]

:bow: Amen Brother! :bow:

 

[spottedpony]

well, i gave it an initial test, i dont see a lot of difference in group size, though it did raise the poi on a 50 yd target, about 2 inches. only tried about 6 rounds & it was a windy day so not really a fair test, but as i have time, i'll try some more & see what the net results are.

 

[reddogge]

I don't know how many of you play golf but the pattern on a golf ball is anything but random dimples. It has been worked out by scientists and computers to give the desired results. And those results may not be what you are looking for in a round ball. The dimples allow the ball to fly farther but also allow the ball to be curved right or left depending on how much side spin you want. Anyone who plays golf knows that no one, even Tiger Woods hits an absolutely straight ball. It's almost physically impossible. We all work the ball one way or another.

So if you want to shoot rising hooks or slices at the target forget the dimples. Me, I have enough trouble keeping the roundball in the black and the golf ball in the short grass.