ball size question

[DarenN]

should a cast ball, without a patch, just roll freely down the bore? specificly, a .490 ball in a .50 cal. Hawken.
thanks;
Daren.......

 

[necchi]

usually, Yes. A cast ball might get hung-up on the sprue as it rattles down.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Most off hand shooters use a ball .010 or .005 under the land to land diamension. But some bench shooters will us a ball up to .010 over the land to land and "drive it home "

 

[Bill Hall]

Well, technically yes, but I've shot unpatched balls plenty of times (just for the fun of it) and never had one go all the way down with just gravity. They always get hung up on the sprue, or stuck in the fowling in the barrel. All it takes is just a drop of the ramrod to get them to the bottom.

If you're thinking your balls are too tight cuz they won't drop to the breach with gravity only, drop your ramrod on top of them and see if it goes down. This will show if they be small enough. Bill

 

[DarenN]

If you're thinking your balls are too tight cuz they won't drop to the breach with gravity only, drop your ramrod on top of them and see if it goes down. This will show if they be small enough. Bill

what i was thinking is that the balls are actually too small. they will roll right to the breach, and right back out again. i'm thinking about stepping up to .495.
i have no experience with round balls. i've always shot minies; till recently.

 

[Bill Hall]

Ok, have you tried shooting these balls yet? If you're worried about shooting a ball that is too small, it won't hurt a thing, perfectly safe. Accuracy may suffer and your patches may turn black, but it's ok to try them.

We can talk all day about our personal experiences with rolling balls down the barrel, but the real trial is to get out and actually shoot them. If your accuracy is not what it should be, check your patches (there are many many patch related posts here to help you de-code them). If your accuracy is good, then check your patches anyway, just to see what they look like when everything is working.

I started with a T/C .50 Hawken, using a .490 home cast ball, and the accuracy was fantastic. I wouldn't use a test like how it rolls down the barrel as any indicator of anything. The proof is in the putting (or pudding?) Try shooting the balls with different patch material and thicknesses and then tell us how it went :thumbsup: . We'll go from there. Bill

 

[DarenN]

these balls are cast from a Lee mold, in my kitchen. :wink:
i've been working on patch thickness and powder loads. accuracy is coming around, but i'm up to .023 patch material and still getting shredded patches. it's a bit tough to load the .490 and .023 combo.
the other day i was cleaning the bore with a very tight fitting patch and when i pulled it out noticed that the cleaning patch had a small slit cut in it. i assume from the sharp corner of a land. i've got well over 100 shots through this rifle, but i'm starting to think it ain't broken in yet.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Try using a bore brush and some buffing (Not lapping coumpound which is corser. )coumpound a few strokes to clean off any burrs.I recommend using a "throw away" wooden ramrod for this since the compound will embed into the rod. (this I learned the hardway ) :surrender:

 

[DarenN]

thanks Ohio Ramrod.
i was starting to think along those lines as well.
i have both a brass and a stainless steel ramrod so i'm not too worried about getting buffing compound in my stock rod.
out to the garage to find that buffing stuff........

 

[Bill Hall]

I agree with Ohio. Sounds like a rough bore and has nothing to do with ball size, at least at this point.

If you have a really tight loading combo, and the patches are shredding, then it's either a patch material problem or a rough barrel problem. If you are cutting your patches just running them up and down the bore, then the blame points directly at the barrel.

Smooth that bore up like Ohio mentioned and things should get at least a little better. Bill