• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Double Balling

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Griz44Mag

70 Cal.
Joined
Nov 12, 2017
Messages
4,326
Reaction score
4,379
Location
Republic of Texas, District of Krum
Since the thread from a couple of years back I have been itching to try it.
So I finally did.
The Numrich underhammer I have has a massive barrel on it with wall thicknesses twice what any other gun I have is, so I picked it as the weapon to use.
I loaded it with my usual 80gr load of 2f and sent a patched .575 ball down the tube, followed by a second patched .575 ball.
Capped it, took aim (at 50 yards) and let her go.....
Recoil was about the same as a TC conical, not too bad but definitely more than a normal round ball load.
To my surprise, accuracy was not too bad either. One of the balls hit about an inch low and the other off to the right about 2"
Felt good so I repeated the load and fired again.
Four holes within the 3" ring around the X.
All in all, not too bad of a pattern.
Anyone ever try three?
 
Never tried shooting more than one at a time, myself.
Never felt the need, I suppose.
It was not really a "need" on my part. I ran across a fellow black powder hunter while at the range and he told me he always hunted (pig) with double balls and an extra 20gr of powder. That powder charge in a 54 is not in excess but is a very stout charge. Just for kicks (literally) I wanted to see what kind of accuracy it would produce.
 
Double Balled my GPR and Crockett .32, you know, for funsies. 50gr powder load in GPR, 25gr in the Crockett. I took my time ramming the second one home as to not create pressure that might move it off the other ball. Seemed to work without blowing up, and the balls were about 1" apart at 50 and 25 yds respectively. I'm not going to press my luck, though. Once was plenty.
 
Back when I was a teen, Thompson Center's Hawken manual had data for loading two, patched .440 round ball in their .45 caliber Hawken rifle. (They might also have had it for the .50...don't remember that). Seems the buying public wasn't sure the .45 would work well on whitetails, or maybe it was intended for mule deer out west...,

Today, in a lot of places, such as in my state, it's illegal if you're going for deer.

LD
 
Since the thread from a couple of years back I have been itching to try it.
So I finally did.
The Numrich underhammer I have has a massive barrel on it with wall thicknesses twice what any other gun I have is, so I picked it as the weapon to use.
I loaded it with my usual 80gr load of 2f and sent a patched .575 ball down the tube, followed by a second patched .575 ball.
Capped it, took aim (at 50 yards) and let her go.....
Recoil was about the same as a TC conical, not too bad but definitely more than a normal round ball load.
To my surprise, accuracy was not too bad either. One of the balls hit about an inch low and the other off to the right about 2"
Felt good so I repeated the load and fired again.
Four holes within the 3" ring around the X.
All in all, not too bad of a pattern.
Anyone ever try three?

Done it a few times on some shooting games, cut the plank in halve, knocking down bowling pins, etc. To me kicks more than it is worth.
 
Was at a match some time ago and by the end of the day was really tired. Had 2 shots left so double balled my .45, can't remember the load. Both balls hit in the black at 25 yards.
 
Since the thread from a couple of years back I have been itching to try it.
So I finally did.
The Numrich underhammer I have has a massive barrel on it with wall thicknesses twice what any other gun I have is, so I picked it as the weapon to use.
I loaded it with my usual 80gr load of 2f and sent a patched .575 ball down the tube, followed by a second patched .575 ball.
Capped it, took aim (at 50 yards) and let her go.....
Recoil was about the same as a TC conical, not too bad but definitely more than a normal round ball load.
To my surprise, accuracy was not too bad either. One of the balls hit about an inch low and the other off to the right about 2"
Felt good so I repeated the load and fired again.
Four holes within the 3" ring around the X.
All in all, not too bad of a pattern.
Anyone ever try three?

I DOUBLE BALLED ONE time and got a bad case of purple shoulder that spread about two feet.
I didn't look to see what happened on the target. I was trying to get my eyes to line up with their proper openings.
I do not think it is wise to replicate the British proof test so close to your head.
I didn't just double ball, I also double powdered, putting in 73 grains of 2ff twice.. That's when I learned not to visit while shooting at the range.

Dutch Schoultz
 
Dutch,
I think the double powder is probably what rang the bell so hard....
The double ball with a normal powder charge did not create a recoil that was unmanageable.
But then also considering, I am somewhat of a recoil junkie.
 
Dutch,
I think the double powder is probably what rang the bell so hard....
The double ball with a normal powder charge did not create a recoil that was unmanageable.

I would agree that was the case.

If you think about it, a .530 ball (I know you said you did a .575) is about half the weight of a Hornady GP Bullet in the same caliber. So as you stated in your first post, it felt about like shooting a conical, which makes a lot of sense.

Roundball's experiments with double balling, documented here a few years ago, resulted very much in the same accuracy as everyone is describing here...an inch or so apart at 50 yards. Unfortunately, all of his pictures are gone now, so the target pictures can't be viewed.

What would be interesting as a next step is to shoot single and double ball loads into something that would be able to measure if there is a penetration difference. I'm wondering if the same amount of powder is pushing the double ball load at a similar velocity....I doubt it. At closer ranges, doesn't matter enough, but at a little longer ranges, I suspect that with a slower start, they would be dropping faster and have less energy than a single ball from the same powder load. I was thinking one could measure by chronographing the load, but I wonder if the double ball would confuse the chrono. ???
 
I would agree that was the case.

If you think about it, a .530 ball (I know you said you did a .575) is about half the weight of a Hornady GP Bullet in the same caliber. So as you stated in your first post, it felt about like shooting a conical, which makes a lot of sense.

Roundball's experiments with double balling, documented here a few years ago, resulted very much in the same accuracy as everyone is describing here...an inch or so apart at 50 yards. Unfortunately, all of his pictures are gone now, so the target pictures can't be viewed.

What would be interesting as a next step is to shoot single and double ball loads into something that would be able to measure if there is a penetration difference. I'm wondering if the same amount of powder is pushing the double ball load at a similar velocity....I doubt it. At closer ranges, doesn't matter enough, but at a little longer ranges, I suspect that with a slower start, they would be dropping faster and have less energy than a single ball from the same powder load. I was thinking one could measure by chronographing the load, but I wonder if the double ball would confuse the chrono. ???

Interesting question. I have a magnetospeed and it has recorded three rounds bursts from a (unmentionable class 3).
One of the outings I will take it and see if I can get a reading on a doubleball, I suspect it will see the shot as a single shot since the balls should be stacked as they leave the muzzle. Simple physics should seem to dictate that the same energy used to push a double as used to push a single should produce half the speed, unless of course you have unused energy that exists the muzzle (flash is powder burning in the air and not pushing the load.) If the load is starting at half speed then the unused powder from a single may have time to burn off in the barrel in a double resulting in better use of available power.
 
Interesting question. I have a magnetospeed and it has recorded three rounds bursts from a (unmentionable class 3).
One of the outings I will take it and see if I can get a reading on a doubleball, I suspect it will see the shot as a single shot since the balls should be stacked as they leave the muzzle. Simple physics should seem to dictate that the same energy used to push a double as used to push a single should produce half the speed, unless of course you have unused energy that exists the muzzle (flash is powder burning in the air and not pushing the load.) If the load is starting at half speed then the unused powder from a single may have time to burn off in the barrel in a double resulting in better use of available power.
This is the good thing about black powder. It actually gets more efficient with more weight up front. To a point that is.
 
I, myself did the double ball test many years ago in a TC Hawken .50 percussion. Loaded 2 patched balls over 100gr Pyro RS. At 50 yards accuracy was not great at all. More like an 14” group if I recall correctly. Never tried again after that.
Walk
 
I DOUBLE BALLED ONE time and got a bad case of purple shoulder that spread about two feet.
I didn't look to see what happened on the target. I was trying to get my eyes to line up with their proper openings.
I do not think it is wise to replicate the British proof test so close to your head.
I didn't just double ball, I also double powdered, putting in 73 grains of 2ff twice.. That's when I learned not to visit while shooting at the range.

Dutch Schoultz
Like I had already mentioned earlier in this topic, I like Dutch had double loaded,twice everything! Just like Dutch, it was due to being distracted with others during the loading process.

Lastly, I had the snot knocked out of me the both times I did this! Sure it probably wont be my last time either?

Respectfully, Cowboy
 
Back
Top