Patch and Ball Combo Question

[koauke]

I decided to experiment with .495 round ball in my TVM Virginia and I thought I'd go ahead and try it with a .020 pillow ticking patch. I was surprised as it took a little harder hit to start with the short starter, but it wasn't that much more than a .490 ball. I had some .015 patch material with me thinking I would need that, but the .020 worked just fine.

Would this (.495/.020 patch) normally be a very tight combination? Maybe the easier start has something to do with the angled crown on the Rice barrel? Or is it the depth of the grooves?

 

[Grenadier1758]

Or it could be that you are getting the optimal combination for on target accuracy for your rifle.


So much depends on the measured bore diameter of your rifle and the depth of your grooves. The width of your lands play a minor effect here as does the radius of the crown at the muzzle.

If the ball and patch start with somewhat ease for target shooting, be happy with the performance ans shoot good groups.

 

[hanshi]

Rice rb barrels have .016" grooves with the square cut grooves being about .010" deep.

I like and shoot tighter combos and they are only a little harder to seat than with a thinner patch. I use a patch about .022"-.024" thick. A tighter load is more accurate, has higher velocity and keeps the barrel fouling way down. I use a .490" ball only because I don't have a mold for a .495".

 

[don hepler]

I like a tight ball/patch for target shooting. I use a wooden mallet to get it started and a metal range rod to seat it.

In a hunting situation, I load the tight combination, then I carry a different color patch for a follow up shot if needed. The thinner patch shoots okay, but just not as good as the .490/.022 combination. However I am shooting this out of a Colerain barrel.

 

[koauke]

Thank you for the replies and they are informative as always. I will continue to play around with this combination to see how well it shoots.

Still experimenting with the rifle to get things dialed in.

 

[Vaino]

I always judge the effort to load a PRB combo w/ a fouled bbl....I'm a hunter and don't swab the bore after every shot. Instead a wire brush is run down the bore and the debris dumped, if needed.

In my .54. the load in a clean bbl when starting out uses a .535 RB but the RBs in the loading block are .530.....both sizes shoot accurately w/ no change in POI. A .020 patch is used for both sizes.

Am considering coning the muzzle w/ Joe Wood's coning tool and am told that w/ the coning, the short starter can be eliminated.

When determining patch thickness, I measure the bore and groove dias and the select a patch thickness that will obturate the grooves by a few 001s oversize and then prove the combo at the range for accuracy and ease of loading.

I'm convinced that even tight fitting PRB combos don't completely seal off the grooves.....but at least an attempt is made to do so....to minimize blowby.....Fred