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Roundball accuracy

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I see the possibility of improvement in accuracy with the cornmeal, keeping the fire off the ball , either bare or patched.

What puzzles me however is the 1/2 soaked felt wad over the ball. Kinda see it with shot (Skycheif load) but wondering what happens with that feltwad over a ball?

Not saying I don't believe you, just seeking to understand.

Ted
It puzzles me too, I usually just use a thin shot card. I was up grouse hunting one day and I didn't have any patches.and only a few shot cards So I tried a bare ball with only one shot card on top of the corn meal then a 1/2in felt wad on top. It shot very well to my surprise.
 
I’ve played around some a few years
back with a damp wad over the ball but can’t seem too find pics of my targets..

Here’s a target shot during the same time frame, only this one was without the wad according too info written on the bottom..

I didn’t see any advantage with the wad on top, other than it holding the ball in place..

7F2612E3-CBC4-4234-A821-27AA1331D824.jpeg


The shot low & left was aimed at the 10 ring, the other 4 were using Ky windage aiming high & right..

I’ve flexed the barrel since this was shot and the gun shoots dead on….. when the nut behind the butt does his part..

Shot at 25 yards leaning against a small sapling.

D85D3DDA-4292-4B38-A904-C79D78ADB432.jpeg


Which hardly ever happens…🥴
 
Good shooting Ballshooter👍

No rear sight on mine & it’s a 16 gauge… supposedly.
The bore mics .653, the lower target above however was shot using a patched .625/.626 ball.
 
When a mate and myself tried the EIC percussion muskets from a rest at 50 metres, we found with Bill Curtis' old load,
(Full charge of powder, 125 grs, a thick felt wad, a .75 cal ball, a good dose of soft lube and another thick wad, )
We could keep the ten shots in 3 1/2 to four inch groups when we rested our elbows.
It wasn't nice shooting a musket from a rest, but we were trying the muskets for accuracy, not ourselves.

A Good friend who tragically died before his time shot the flint brown bess, (original) and took Gold for the Uk more than once, loaded a light charge of powder, (65 grs) and a smaller ball patched with denim,. On top of the powder he put the same measure of cornmeal to protect his patch.

This seemed wrong to me, but Mark shot scores in the top 90's off -hand with that load.
96 or 97's at any rate.
This was 50 metres, or 55 yards. 13 shots, best ten to count.

Rich.
 
Okay, so just for funzies, I played around with the above information,
we found with Bill Curtis' old load,
(Full charge of powder, 125 grs, a thick felt wad, a .75 cal ball, a good dose of soft lube and another thick wad, )
We could keep the ten shots in 3 1/2 to four inch groups
on some online calculators and Google. Trying to come close to an accurate reduction to a 20 gauge smoothbore load. Probably pointless, but maybe someone wants to try it at the range.....
Screenshot_20230311-103551_Chrome.jpg
Screenshot_20230311-103640_Chrome.jpg

this was about as close as I could come to a .615 bore, most guys posting about their 20 gauge smoothies are reporting having a bore of either .615 or .620 and balls being shot of .595 to .610 caliber.

I'm pretty sure some guys are using this powder charge, not sure if anyone has used it with the same loading method as Mr. Curtis amd wants to try.
 
Been pondering this for a long time ... along with you all.

Wonder if I have come up with a fairly good theory.

I along with others can get 2 shots that almost touch at say 45 yards. Then the 3rd shot goes its own way ... even off a bench rest. I get open groups with 3 shots of around4 to 6 inch at 40ish yards consistantly. Tight patched .595 , .600 ball over the powder and wad over the top, powder charges from 60 grains 3F to 90 grains and 70 grains 2F up to 100 grains. Wads between powder and ball as well as ball right down on the powder. Nothing changes much between any combo.

My theory is such. Might it be barrel flex what with the thin long round portion of the barrel. Might the heat of the thin barrel begin throwing balls in a very short time ... say within 2 shots?

I wonder if a pretty rigid heavy barrel would give better accuracy with the smooth bore. Say a 1.125 inch breech diameter tapered to a 1 inch at the Muzzle. Maybe even heavier barrels or shorter more rigid barrels.

There is my spewage. My fevered wonderings have now been released. What say yee? Am I batty as a loon or do ya think 🤔 my pondering has any merit?

Ted
See my recent post.(I.D. help wanted) Maybe somebody was working on that a long time ago.
 
Been pondering this for a long time ... along with you all.

Wonder if I have come up with a fairly good theory.

I along with others can get 2 shots that almost touch at say 45 yards. Then the 3rd shot goes its own way ... even off a bench rest. I get open groups with 3 shots of around4 to 6 inch at 40ish yards consistantly. Tight patched .595 , .600 ball over the powder and wad over the top, powder charges from 60 grains 3F to 90 grains and 70 grains 2F up to 100 grains. Wads between powder and ball as well as ball right down on the powder. Nothing changes much between any combo.

My theory is such. Might it be barrel flex what with the thin long round portion of the barrel. Might the heat of the thin barrel begin throwing balls in a very short time ... say within 2 shots?

I wonder if a pretty rigid heavy barrel would give better accuracy with the smooth bore. Say a 1.125 inch breech diameter tapered to a 1 inch at the Muzzle. Maybe even heavier barrels or shorter more rigid barrels.

There is my spewage. My fevered wonderings have now been released. What say yee? Am I batty as a loon or do ya think 🤔 my pondering has any merit?

Ted

Your barrel lugs may need to be slotted for the pins.
 
@Brokennock, I'm of the opinion that making adjustments should take into account ball weight, not ball diameter. A 0.595 Ball weighs 318 grains and a 0.710 ball weighs 539 grains. In other words, the 0.595 ball is 60% the weight of the 0.710. Keeping with the weight difference, I would speculate that the 125 grain load should be reduced to 74 grains. But in any event, that is what load development is all about.
 
Your barrel lugs may need to be slotted for the pins.
Lugs are slotted. I do need to file them tho as at some time in the past it looks like they have a peen mark on the underside.

Pondered this as to the reason and I speculate it was done to insure the pins stay put. Seems like if this is the reason, the pin could be slightly flattened on the right side to grab the wood.

Don't know but seems as tho the pins should have free rein to move forward and rearward at will as the barrel moves under heat when shooting?

Ted
 
When a mate and myself tried the EIC percussion muskets from a rest at 50 metres, we found with Bill Curtis' old load,
(Full charge of powder, 125 grs, a thick felt wad, a .75 cal ball, a good dose of soft lube and another thick wad, )
We could keep the ten shots in 3 1/2 to four inch groups when we rested our elbows.
It wasn't nice shooting a musket from a rest, but we were trying the muskets for accuracy, not ourselves.

A Good friend who tragically died before his time shot the flint brown bess, (original) and took Gold for the Uk more than once, loaded a light charge of powder, (65 grs) and a smaller ball patched with denim,. On top of the powder he put the same measure of cornmeal to protect his patch.

This seemed wrong to me, but Mark shot scores in the top 90's off -hand with that load.
96 or 97's at any rate.
This was 50 metres, or 55 yards. 13 shots, best ten to count.

Rich.
Only posting to say that, with the same type of musket, I too found it the best way both for accuracy and maintains a clean bore. The current owner uses Udderly Smooth udder cream whilst I used the cheapest hand cream in the supermarket. I believe Bill Curtis used an, um, intimate water based lubricant. I bought several tubes of that in a sale in the Pound Shop, earning an unwonted assumption from the cashier. It seems no better than my cheap hand cream. In my case I was taught the system by a French BP competition shooter at my local French club before I heard of Bill’s successes in competition.
 
@Brokennock, I'm of the opinion that making adjustments should take into account ball weight, not ball diameter. A 0.595 Ball weighs 318 grains and a 0.710 ball weighs 539 grains. In other words, the 0.595 ball is 60% the weight of the 0.710. Keeping with the weight difference, I would speculate that the 125 grain load should be reduced to 74 grains. But in any event, that is what load development is all about.
Excellent point.
Interestingly enough. That is roughly the powder charge I am working with.
 
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