Bare Ball In A Smoothie ?

[pa woods roamer]

I usually shoot a Patched Ball In my .62 Cal. Caywood. How tight does a bare ball have to be for accuracy? Also, what kind of Wad, the thin over the Powder type or thick cushion type Wad, Is used ?? The Ball size I use now Is from A .600 Lee Mold and It will roll rather loosely down the Barrel.

 

[tenngun]

Think this has been done a time or two. :haha: I use tow or hemp fibers crushed in to a ball and greased with mink oil or lard or unsalted butter. Pushed into the bore I force the ball into a nest on top then ram home. It shoot about the same as patched to 25 yards and bout 5 inch groups at 50.
No one ever wrote about using a patch in the old days in smooties but do speak of wads a lot. One MM jornal recods indians shooting so close the "blanket wads" were falling among the MM.
I think 'smooth rifles' were shot with patched PRB, and I shoot a patched ball when hunting, but you can do well with bare ball. Lot of folk swear by paper cartriges, lthough they are most likly no more correct for civilian guns then patchs, it dose give you the fastest reload.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

The French go-nogo gauges for a trade gun allow a bare ball .015" to .062" under bore size. This was to allow for the build up of fouling in the barrel and the variances in 18th century manufacturing.

The standard load was powder/wadding/ball/thin wad.

I have shot this combination with .015 and .050 under bore size bare balls and both produced hunting sized group of about 9 inches off the bench at 40 yards with a rear sight added. I did not try to optimize the load.

This is a traditional load but accuracy seems to come from a patched round ball.

If you are trying to take a deer from a stand at 20 yards, the traditional loading would be sufficient.

However, only you can be the judge of that.

 

[Many Klatch]

The only reason for shooting bare ball out of your smoothbore is being in a hurry. If you are in a timed match and need to get in one more shot then a bare ball will work. If the gun is already dirty, forget the patch, wad or whatever. Just dump in the powder, ram down the ball, throw the ramrod on the ground, prime and shoot. At out to 25 yards it should hit fairly close to point of aim.

IMHO There isn't any other good reason for shooting bare ball.

Many Klatch

 

[Joe Ruley]

I probably haven't shot enough to comment, but since I have the same smoothie as you, I thought I would. I've had pretty good results using a overpowder felt wad with lube on the edges, Chewed round ball, and jute fibers rolled into a ball and rammed home over the ball. The chewed ball is rolled between two coarse wood rasps and according to the fellow I saw do this, gives the ball a slightly large diameter from the pricked up surface. It still rolls down the barrel though. I think the ruffed up surface probably can help the ball fly straighter like a dimpled golfball, but I've certainly not done a study on it. I just like the results at 25 yards so far.

 

[54ball]

The best smoothbore shot I have ever seen on live game was a hog shot to point of aim with a 20 bore loaded with a .610 bare ball wadded with lubed Spanish Moss. The distance was 72 Yards.

 

[buzz]

In my 62 and 75 cal shoot 610 ball and i'm happy at 30 yards powder ball and wad of cotton rag
I have tried cards shoots close to the above at 40 yards cards help some but no worth my time
I shoot same in my bess only use735 ball

 

[Britsmoothy]

I have a few.570" and in my .58 on a wad of overshot cards do quite well.
If I stumbled on some .570" ball in a shop I would buy them.
Other han that I prefere to cast for a patch.

B.

 

[Rifleman1776]

My Jackie Brown fowler has a .600 bore. I have to pound patched .600" balls down the barrel to shoot. Might be a good candidate to try the bare ball thing.

 

[Billnpatti]

Like I said on another thread in answer to this same question, with a smoothbore, you can do it either way but a patched ball is more accurate. When using a wad, my personal favorite is a greased felt wad that I cut myself from Duro-Felt. They sell a felt that is just right for making wads and in their online site, they designate it as such. www.durofelt.com You can buy a set of hollow punches from Harbor Freight that will cut your patches for you and they are very reasonably priced. Or, you can buy one from "Ohio Ramrod" on this forum. He will custom make one for you at an extremely reasonable price.

 

[robinsroost]

I have read that a skilled shooter could reload and shoot three to five times in one minute, during a battle. Further investigation revealed that they would put several lead balls in their mouth. They would fire, dump in the next powder charge, then load one of the balls, wet with saliva, and push it down into the powder charge, with the ramrod. The saliva was apparently enough to make the ball stick to the powder, for the next shot. I have not tried this my self, and with my luck, I would probably swallow one of the balls, LOL.....Robin :stir:

 

[hanshi]

I have the same Lee mold you have. Mine throws a nice .600" ball in pure lead. With WW the ball comes out about .606" and is a tighter fit in my gun. Patching this larger WW ball makes it impossible to seat; A thin patch WILL seat the .600" soft lead ball but it's still a tight fit. I bought a Tanner mold for a .590" ball and that ball will accept a good patch.

For bare ball loads I seat the larger WW ball down on a lubed 1/2" cushion wad or a 1/4" felt wad; this is a more "bore filling" size. At 50 yards I get pretty consistent groups about paper plate size. Often I get 5" to 6" groups. Patched balls seem to produce more fliers and inconsistent groups even though they average smaller.

Bare ball loading in my gun is quite capable of taking deer at upwards of 50 yards; patched ball some farther. Bare ball loading is, in general, is sufficient for deer at up to 50 or so yards. The last deer I killed with my smoothbore was a 20 yard (running) shot - him, not me. Where I hunt a 20 to 35 yard shot is typical.

 

[54ball]

Like I said on another thread in answer to this same question, with a smoothbore, you can do it either way but a patched ball is more accurate.

That's based on your experience. My experience is different. I have found in my son's 20 bore, using a tight bare ball that requires ever so slight thumb pressure to start on top of a Spanish moss wad and covered by a Moss wad is impressively accurate.

I can't compare that load with a patch as it is impossible to get a patch on that ball.

Now on my 28, the patch balls seem to have the edge slightly on the wads. I suspect if I tried a very tight bare ball in that gun, it may have similar results to the 20bore.

IMHO accuracy with wads require a very tight bare ball.

Comparing the guns, my son's 20 with bare ball and wads out shoots my 28 with PRB.

Like all things BP, some may shoot better with patches, some with wads, there are no absolutes and always...

 

[Many Klatch]

I have gotten 5 aimed rounds off in one minute with my .60 smoothbore. Of course I worked the rules a bit. I started loaded and put 4 ball in my mouth. Time started at the first shot. Dumped in powder and spit in two ball, rammed home and shot. Dumped in more powder, spit in two ball, rammed home, threw ramrod on ground and shot. Got the last shot off with about 2 seconds to spare. That isn't really 5 shots in a minute, but the target wouldn't know the difference. The rules didn't say I could double ball, but then they didn't say I couldn't.

Target was a paper plate at about 15 yards. All 5 ball hit and scored. The double balls printed one above the other with about an inch between.

I might be able to get 2-1/2 shots off a minute if I was using cartridges but I'd have to practice.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I bought a Tanner mold for a .590" ball and that ball will accept a good patch.

Thanks for sharing your experience. That is the route I'm going to go.

 

[Leatherbark]

I've tried many different combinations in my 20 gauge Carolina Fowler. So far my best grouping at 25 and 50 yards is with a wheelweight ball out of a Lee .600 mold. I use a lubed fiber wad with 1/2 under the ball and the other half over the ball.

I believe it settles down while traveling down the bore and the ball centers itself with the wads sort of like a Sabot. I feel with the wad under and over the ball I get better consistency. Plus its super easy to load and I can shoot a gazillion shots. All I can say is that with careful aiming and trigger control they will stay in or around the black at 25 and 50 yards on standard NMLRA targets. Now 100 yards is different. I shoot about an 18 inch group.

Bob

 

[Grandpa Ron]

The biggest reason for shooting a bare ball in a smoothy is because you want to. It is historically accurate and about as simple as you can get.

I have a friend who chooses to shoot that way all the time. Most of his shooting is at gongs or similar knock down targets where a hit dead center counts the same as a hit off to the side. He does use a thin top wad.

Some people are only looking for a hunting size group.

Personally I do not care for bare ball because I like to chase the illusive tightest group.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Bare ball and powdah in a 62, I switch to FFg powdah ... hits and groups to 25-yards as good as YOU can hold. I've posted many pictures of such groups here in the past.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Are you using wads? I have had good sucess with bare ball over a wad colunm.

I was speaking of those who use powder and ball only.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Are you using wads? I have had good sucess with bare ball over a wad colunm.

I was speaking of those who use powder and ball only.

Ball and powdah only ... we didn't need no stinkin' wads or patches!

... it's much messier it clean up, but it's nit a big desk.