Stuck balls!

[Britsmoothy]

It appears that just of late we are getting a regular pattern of folks getting a stuck ball down the barrel.
It seems to me that ever since this propelling of near no lubricated patches and tight patch and ball combinations what has been created is a recipy for disaster!

When I were a mere boy we used thumb started ball and patches greased in an animal fat. Some of us used a grease cookie too. The day we forgot to charge the rifle was a mere inconvenience to reverse.
Accuracy was perfect but then again we kicked our ball up the ass with a hefty charge of fast powder to achieve obturation of the ball into the patch and rifling, something no one speaks off anymore!
Now the modern long rifle shooter has to swab every shot, carry a grease gun and carry a tool chest around! I'd give up if I believed that was involved !!
We simply shot our barrels in. Smoothed them manually until patches shot out could be reused and used hot water when we were done.
There was no discussion about various concoctions akin to a chemistry set of instructions or a percentage of this and a ratio of that!
I feel so sad for the new comer and even wonder how many have been deterred to go any where near a traditional muzzleloader!
What ever happened to keep it simple boys?

B.

 

[LawrenceA]

I am with you Brit.

Personally I am happy when the ball comes out and goes close enough to where I am aiming that it counts. Rest is stuff and nonsense.
Or is that Fuss and Bother.
Not to say I don't experiment a little. I do. Back in the day I used bearing grease as lube. Why you ask?
Coz I had it.

However I accept there are people who flourish on the minutia and if that is the case, then go for it! You do the long yards so I don't have to.
I just beg of you, just accept that the detailed experimentation is not mandatory and do not get on your soap box over it when I, or others, voice a less "precise" methodology.

 

[Grenadier1758]

If you are shooting with a minimally lubricated, nearly dry patch, then you have to address the fouling left in the barrel after firing. This means removing the fouling after every shot with a damp patch. If you are shooting an easy to start ball in a well lubricated wet patch, the fouling from the previous shot will be wiped down the barrel during the loading process and shot out. To prevent the stuck ball, you have to consider what is happening in the barrel as you are firing and dealing with what is happening for the next shot.

 

[Woody Morgan]

K.I.S.S.
That is all.

I use olive oil on OxYoke patches or cut my own. "But it makes a mess."
That's what the towel or your jeans is for.

wm

 

[Mulebrain]

Don't dry ball in the first place

When I am on the line folks start talking, and you can easily get thrown off on your loading procedure. So after I finish a step, I leave it off where I left it. I leave the powder measure in the bore, I leave the patch ball at the top, leave the short starter in the bore, leave the range rod in the bore till I am ready to fire.

I see seasoned old fellers forget what they were doing. My little system really helps me.

 

[deermanok]

I'm in the "simple " camp too. For lube, it's either good old spit or sometimes I borrow some of my wife's Crisco for my patches.

 

[andy52]

The first rifle I bought and still have is a Hatfield half stock in .54 in the early 80s. I just got a few recommendations from some season muzzleloader shooters and just went out and shot the thing. I've only made a few changes to this day with different sights and going from a .530 to .535 ball. I think part of the problem is information overload with all the conflicting info on the web these days. When I started it was either books or word of mouth.

 

[CTShooter]

When I started I got a 15 min lesson, fired 2 shots and was on my way. I went through the "chemistry set" patch lube and going through a bolt of fabric every time I went to the range with my box of stuff.
At some point I discovered I wasn't having fun, and I really didn't think they were doing this in 1850. If I was going out from my house, to walk in the woods to hunt, which is what I am fortunate enough to be able to do, I would probably just toss what I needed in a jacket pocket and a small belt pouch and head out, which is now what I do. I follow the same process at the range now too. I use the butt of my patch knife to set the ball flush with the muzzle before cutting, I use my wood ram rod because it's there. I use the same patch material in both rifles and olive oil for lube for everything.
It works for me.

 

[William Sublette]

What's a grease cookie, and how is it used?

 

[Britsmoothy]

What's a grease cookie, and how is it used?

I sit a thin card in the muzzle. Put a blob of lube on it and then sit another thin card on top.
Alternatively stamped leather or felt soaked in olive oil works too.
I sometimes just rammed a bare but lubed patch with the thin end of the rammer before the ball.
Just stops the fouling getting crusty.

 

[oldwood]

I'm 100% with Brit. Keep it simple.

 

[William Sublette]

I sit a thin card in the muzzle. Put a blob of lube on it and then sit another thin card on top.
Alternatively stamped leather or felt soaked in olive oil works too.
I sometimes just rammed a bare but lubed patch with the thin end of the rammer before the ball.
Just stops the fouling getting crusty.

You put this down the barrel before a patched ball, just to soften up fouling?

 

[Nazgul58]

Fired about 20 shots yesterday between chores. Use a thick cotton wad under the patch soaked with olive oil. Keeps everything lubed, no wiping and easy clean up.
Get some meds every month packed with 100% cotton packing, just the right stuff for wads.

Don

 

[PathfinderNC]

I remember some black powder guys arriving at the range. Unloading their gear I thought they were camping there with all their shooting stuff. It was indeed a marvel to behold.

 

[Britsmoothy]

You put this down the barrel before a patched ball, just to soften up fouling?

If needed yes.

 

[Eterry]

I think we all use a much tighter bullet to bore fit than they did 200years ago. Dan'l and Davey never carried a Range Rod, and from 1980 to 3 years ago i never owned one either. Hell i didn't have a short starter for years, i didn't know they existed.

I shot my 45 with a .440 rb and thin patching. I could shoot about 20-25 times then had to cease fire to go clean. It took a couple hours to shoot that much so most were tired of it anyway.

I've used spit patch for 99% of my rb shooting, even while hunting. No one told the animals so they didn't laugh at me. I also pre cut my patches and carried them in a cap tin, cause i didn't have a knife except my pocket knife.

For a new to black powder shooter it was as simple as that. I think it still should be simple.

 

[William Sublette]

Old guys with time and money can turn any molehill into a mountain.

 

[Josephg]

I never seen such BS as I have about stuck balls and grease guns and screw balls on this forum. And they post it on the forum, that blows me away.

 

[45man]

I have done it because shooting the breeze made me forget powder. Tough shooting out with a flinter!
My friend stuck one, went home and tried a puller and it came off of his rod as it ferrule was not pinned. He called and I went over. He went to search for something bad to use when I seen JB epoxy. I mixed and put on the rod and got it on so by the time he returned I had the ball out.

 

[Eterry]

I've managed to dry ball one time, a blonde in daisy dukes caused it. I was 17.
I pulled the nipple, trickled all the powder i could get into the drum.
I capped the gun and it went poof and the ball hit a cross tie 20 yards away and bounced back.

I hadn't learned to be sparing in oiling my rifle after cleaning and didn't know to dry patch before shooting. I had MANY fail to fire episodes. EVERY ONE OF THEM I remedied by pulling the nipple and trickling powder onto the existing powder charge. Sometimes it took more than once priming like that, but NEVER needed a grease gun or a CO2 kit for a rifle.

In the thousands of rounds I've fired black powder I've used a ball puller once, to pull a minie after hunting. I just wanted to try it.

I've watched many at the range struggle with ball pullers, many end up putting the gun in their truck, "I'll fix this at home" they say.

The only reason I'd see a need for a ball puller is if multiple rb's were run down a barrel. Otherwise, trickling powder seems to have worked for my 41+ years in the sport.