.498 ball in a .54cal rifle

[Ted W. Coombs]

Was diggen in a box of molds I have and came up with a .498 round ball mold. What's the chance of this size ball working ina .54 cal. rifle? Am I wasting my time or has anyone got this undersize ball to work with fairly good accuracy. Thanks for your input. Teton Ted

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you double your patches, you can usually get fair accuracy, but you will generally lose velocity, and the POI will be lower than if you used a larger diameter ball.

 

[roundball]

Was diggen in a box of molds I have and came up with a .498 round ball mold. What's the chance of this size ball working ina .54 cal. rifle? Am I wasting my time or has anyone got this undersize ball to work with fairly good accuracy. Thanks for your input. Teton Ted

Can't hurt to try with some .022-.025" patches...if not competition bullseye accuracy, still might be fine for steel targets, coke cans, etc

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Why even ask, try it out and then you can tell us. I've never tried balls much more than .010" under bore size except in smoothbores. I do recall reading in "Born Out of Season" by Marshal Ralph Hooker that he mentioned carrying a .44 caliber rifle and shooting .375" balls. He made no comment on accuracy except to say "most people will tell you that can't work, but they've never tried it".

 

[Sparks Stone]

You may get it to perform ok with the right patch.

You might not be able to hunt with it, however. For instance, Idaho has a rule saying a projectile has to be within .01 the bore size to be legal for big game. Hence, in a .54 it has to be a .53 projectile or it ain't legal. Course, if you are not hunting in Idaho you're fine.