Ball size, wads, etc for trade gun.

After years of wanting one, I finally bought a .62 trade gun. I know the brand I bought is not well received here but after researching my options for the last few weeks I chose the Pedersoli Indian Trade musket. I need some input on exactly what odds and ends I need for it. I have plenty of lead shot of various sizes. I have plenty of real black in 2f and 3f. What I don't have is .62 patches, wads, overshot cards, balls or appropriate size flints for the Lott lock. I need some guidance on flint size and ball size. Thanks.

3/4" flints.
My bore measures .629".

B.

All I could find on the Pedersoli website was the recommendation of a .614" ball. Never seen those for sale. That was with a .010" patch. I have an abused .600" mold. I also can find .595", .600", and .610" balls for sale. .010", .015", and .018" patches as well. Finding a good patterning shot load does not bother me. It's gathering up the proper balls, patches and or wads for ball shooting that has me stumped.

If your bore measures .629" would I be better off with 19 Gauge wads and cards instead of 20 Gauge?

NorthFork said:

All I could find on the Pedersoli website was the recommendation of a .614" ball. Never seen those for sale. That was with a .010" patch. I have an abused .600" mold. I also can find .595", .600", and .610" balls for sale. .010", .015", and .018" patches as well. Finding a good patterning shot load does not bother me. It's gathering up the proper balls, patches and or wads for ball shooting that has me stumped.

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Best answer I can give is try 'em all out, and see what your gun likes best. Take notes, and photograph your targets. After you've found the load that does best, melt all the other sized balls down, and get a mold from Jeff Tanner, if you can't find one the right size. Experiment. Test out new ideas and load combinations. And enjoy the ride. You'll learn a lot about your new gun.

I made my own punch for wads but I cannot remember the size but it will be .640" ish.

I have some standard 20g wads that are plenty snug enough. Fibre wads are on the large size anyway and compress plenty on firing.
Mine shoots a .600" very well with just a fibre wad top and bottom.

B.

Brit,
How did you make that punch ?
I have a .62 on the way and only found a punch that size from Dixie gun works

A 5/8" arc punch is 0.625" in diameter and can be affordable from Harbor Freight even if the quality is a bit off. At least you can make some wads to try out.

Sicilian hunter said:

Brit,
How did you make that punch ?
I have a .62 on the way and only found a punch that size from Dixie gun works

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Machined it hardened and tempered it.

I have two similar smoothbores with different muzzle constrictions due to some amount of choke. While both are .62 in marking, one uses .610 balls and one uses .626 balls. I load both with a cushion wad over powder, ball (no patch) and an over-shot card wad. Coincidentally both like 80 grains of 3F and end up with a similar velocity, the .610's going 1454 fps and the .626's going 1480 fps.

As Cruzette said, try them all.
Since you have a .600" mould, start with that. Instead of buying patches get something like ticking and cut at muzzle. Some reccomend wads under the ball, others think it is a waste of time and wads. Try them all. With a smoothie, if it will go down, it will come out. BTW, you could have done a lot worse than a Pedersoli, I'm sure it will perform just fine for you.

Smoothies are real forgiving. I think there is no ent to optimal loads and methods for just one gun. Ant it’s a lot of fun finding as many as you can.

I made one out of 5/8 EMT. I used this because I had a 12" piece. I beveled the end on my bench grinder and finished with a fine file. I cut an opening about 3/4 of an inch above the sharpened end to remove the wad. I also whittled a plug for the end that I hit with a piece of 2x4.

Nice!
Good Improvisation!

Wow!
Unfortunately, I don't have that skill or tooling to go that route.
Good job!

Thanks for the tip!
I may have to swing in there and try the arc punch out!!

Seriously, a ball of newspaper will do but watch for fires in the undergrowth.
The other day I folded up some green leaves for a wad and over shot.

B.

Brit,
Newspaper would be great in a pinch but out here in the dry country I like the idea of using the green leaves or grass just to be safe.
I love tricks like that

NorthFork,
Using Grenadier's tip I found arc punches on Amazon for around $20 in 5/8" (cheaper) and 15mm (more expensive German made).
.62 cal converts to 15.748mm

Thanks for all the tips. I'm impatiently waiting for it to arrive. I got the old rusted up Lyman mold cleaned up. It was given to me like that. I keep my molds in tip top shape. At any rate I casted quite a few balls last night in preparation. Cut a bunch of cards from cereal boxes as well. I modified an old hole saw and chucked it up in the drill press. Can't do much else till it arrives.