.45 Caliber question with ball size.

[Curmudgeon74]

I've been shooting a .45 caliber flint lock with a .437 sized ball. The gun builder I bought it off advised that was what he recommended & she shot dead on with that I believe 15 thousandth's pillow ticking.

So at a shoot the other day a couple of the guy's said that they thought I should be using a larger ball ?

So I molded up some .440 balls & couldnt notice a difference in accuracy ?

So what do you guy's think should I go up from .440 or if it aint broke dont fix it type deal. Will a larger ball be more accurate ?

Thanks

 

[paulvallandigham]

You don't tell us the make of your gun barrel. There were .45 caliber barrels, made by Numerich Arms, that shot the small, .433" diameter ball.

So, Measure the bore diameter of your gun barrel.

Find a piece of solid brass rod, 3/8" in diameter, about a foot long to give it some weight. Then drop it down the unloaded barrel. Now take an oversized ball-say a .490 caliber--- and, after oiling your bore a lot, drive the ball into the muzzle of your barrel with a short starter and mallet. Drive it down until it begins to go down easier. That will tell you that you have a good sizing to the rifling grooves in the barrel.

Now, turn the barrel upside down, so that the muzzle is pointing at some soft surface- a pile of newspapers, old cushions, etc. Shake that brass rod up and down in the barrel to knock the ball back out of the barrel. The weight of the brass rod is enough to get this done, and the brass is soft enough that it won't damage your rifling.


With the slug now out of the barrel, you can measure the land to land diameter( bore diameter) with a micrometer. If you don't own one, any machine shop, or auto shop will. Just ask them to measure it for you. About 99% of the people who work in machine shops or auto shops are into guns, and they will be fascinated with your smokepole, and what you are trying to learn.

Once you know what the actual diameter of your bore is, ( the standard diameter NOW is .451") you can then determine if the prior owner was using too small a ball, and what size you can work with.

My brother has tried, .440", .445", .451", .454", & .457" balls in his ".45".

He's now using a .445" ball in his gun for shooting Chunk gun matches, but he had some surprising results with the larger diameter balls, on a few targets. They just proved to be not consistent, and he has gone back to the .445" balls.

Now, he is a target shooter, and has all the time in the world ( it seems) to load that ball in his barrel. If he were hunting, with that gun or his other .45, I can assure you that he would be shooting the .440" balls, at least for his follow up shots. :hatsoff:

 

[msuspartan]

I have an old Dixie Gunworks barrel that people have told me is a Douglas barrel and it is stamped .45 on. I tried a .440 bal w/ .15 patch and was too small. The .445 w/.15 patch works great.
Love Pauls idea of the brass stock. BRILLIANT!! I learned something new/trick today. It will be another very fine day. :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

Cheers, DonK

 

[Rifleman1776]

There were .45 caliber barrels, made by Numerich Arms, that shot the small, .433" diameter ball.

:shocked2: :shocked2: So....that's why I have an old supply of .433s on my shelf. :wink:
Nothing Paul said is incorrect.
However, my approach is a bit less sophisticated.
Basically, use what works.
Or an old quicky way to find a good ball/patch combo: take a ball of the size you want to try and your lubed patch material. Have a good sized hunk of the material; place ball in center and short start it about 1" OR 1 1/2" down the muzzle; then pull it back out and examine. If the rifling is clearly engraved on the ball you have a good fit. If the rifling is barely, or not, visible, the ball is a bit small. You can try this with various ball/patch combos until you find one you believe is best. Of course, the only real proof is shooting off the bench.

 

[ohio ramrod]

My douglas barreled target rifle prefers .445 bals and .016 patches.. But my swivel breech with numrich arms barrels prefers a .435 ball with ten thousnads patches. So there is quite a difference in "45 calibers". :idunno: :idunno:

 

[ODG34]

I use .445 balls with .018" patches lubed with a blend of Murphy's oil soap, rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide. That combo loads and shoots all day without a single loading issue through my Green Mountain barrel.

 

[ODG34]

I ran out of time to edit but, I want to add that.... It really depends on your barrel bore diameter and land configuration. Green Mountain barrels have a narrow land/wide grove configuration which makes them load easy. I'm sure I could load a .450" ball with and .018 patch without much trouble but why bother. It's accurate, loads great and the patches come out in such good shape that I could reuse them (if I had too).

 

[Richard Allen]

The most accurate combination I found for my 42", 1:66", 45 caliber Green Mountain barreled rifle is:

-67.5 grains of Goex fffg.
-.010 (compressed) pillow ticking
-Dutch Schultz's 7:1 ratio dry lube
-.451 Eddie May balls

Requires a short starter (which I despise) but shoots very tight groups.

Richard/Ga.

 

[ODG34]

Mine is a 38 inch swamped "B". One of these days maybe I'll play with more combinations but, I rarely try to shoot groups these days and I almost never shoot off the bench. I know another guy that has said he has put .451's down his Green Mountain .45. The combination I have right now just works well for everything.

 

[hanshi]

My tight Numrich barrel shot well with .440 ball; a bit tough to seat but certainly doable. That load was very accurate. My current .45 has been shooting .440" ball very well and I recently moulded some .445" ball from an old Lyman mould. The larger ball loaded and shot very well. But when I measured the .445" ball it was more than .440" but LESS than .445". The larger ball did weigh around 3grns more than the .440" ball. It sort of "split" the difference.

 

[ODG34]

I'm using a Lee double cavity .445. It works Great and once it's warmed up and you get going, you can make around 200 and hour. The balls using pure lead are pretty much spot on. I usually use impure and I actually end up around .446 of .447.

 

[Dphar]

I've been shooting a .45 caliber flint lock with a .437 sized ball. The gun builder I bought it off advised that was what he recommended & she shot dead on with that I believe 15 thousandth's pillow ticking.

So at a shoot the other day a couple of the guy's said that they thought I should be using a larger ball ?

So I molded up some .440 balls & couldnt notice a difference in accuracy ?

So what do you guy's think should I go up from .440 or if it aint broke dont fix it type deal. Will a larger ball be more accurate ?

Thanks

First what do they actually measure.
I have a .500 Lyman that casts .498s

I would use a .445 in a 45 and a .018 patch unless the bore is under .450.

Dan