bare ball

[sb 54 cal.]

am shooting my 54 smooth bore with bare ball and over powder wad and over shot card on ball. has anyone ever done this :hmm: with good results. pappy

 

[Blackfingers]

My experience says, use a harder lead ball than one used for patched ball. Reason is there will be less leading of the bore. Using the correct sized ball, say .530 in your .54cal musket should give acceptable results depending on the amount of practice.

 

[hanshi]

I've tried bare ball in my .62 smoothbore and got accuracy out to 50 yards that would easily take deer. I'd suggest WW or similar metal for ball. The reason being that the ball will cast larger than a pure lead ball and will be a closer/tighter fit in the bore as well as not being prone to leading. I lubed a 1/2" cushion and carefully placed the ball on that and seated it. An os card wad was then seated over the ball.

 

[blackpowderscout]

I was just in IN delivering a .66 smoothie to a friend.

All weekend he shot a .648 ball over a whole wad with a 1/4 wad or less over it with 60gr of 3f and was hitting very nicely out to 90 yrds or so.

I was very impressed! I will be trying this with my .62 and hoping it shoots as nicely.

 

[tg]

I have had good results with this method, nearly the same grouping as a PRB with .58 and .62 guns,3"-4" at 40-50 yds. I do like the prb for the security of the ball staying put with the barrel pointed down, just a preference of mine.

 

[Bob E]

N-SSA matches include a smoothbore event that is shot with .69 cal military smoothbores using a completely naked ball. no patches or wadding is permitted. These matches are shot at 25 and 50 yds offhand. Competitors are expected to hit breakable targets in a timed competition. This includes clay pigeons and 4inch ceramic tiles at 25 yds and 6inch tiles at 50 yds. Its very doable if one takes the time to develop a load and learns to shoot offhand. If I were going to hunt with a smoothbore I would however hold the ball in place with paper wadding.Cheers, Bob E

 

[matt denison]

"....a completely naked ball. no patches or wadding is permitted. "

How odd. And it sounds dangerous. It also seems like a barrel fouling mess to me. Just my humble judgement. When shooting any projectile I like something compressable behind the ball for an efficient burn. To each his own I guess.

 

[majg1234]

I shoot my 62 cal and 56cal with felt over powder wad and felt wad over ball,In bith my SB this is as accurate as with the ball patched.Haven't tried any other wads over the ball but plan to soon.Spence 10 here uses FLAX TOW and ceder bark to good effect too

 

[Britsmoothy]

In my 58 I too can drop a .570 ball on top of a stack of OS cards with one to hold the ball down of course.

Taken game with it but never really tested it on paper(small game).

B.

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

Bore diameter bare ball shoots good in a couple of my muskets. I just hate all of the leading in my bore. It is worse than shooting lead shoot.

 

[Rifleman1776]

with good results

Depends on yer definition of "good".
If hitting a five foot circle at 25 yards is good, then I guess it probably has been done. If yer after an eight inch circle at 25 yards, then probably not.

 

[Shine]

I shoot this way. .600 balls are close to bore diameter for me. I use a greased wad and a card over ball. I shoot into an inch or so at at 25 yards. This will load and shoot all day without wiping. Loading a smoothbore with wadding is the traditional way, not patching like a rifle.

 

[Matt85]

i dunno about not using an over shot wad... sounds dangerous.

-Matt

 

[buzz]

i shoot my bess naked alot and it work just fine if i not shooting it right away then i drop a little wading on top of the ball jsut so it wont roll out or loose from the powder

 

[Bob E]

Sometimes I think we really overthink this. Muzzleloading military longarms (both muskets and rifle muskets)were meant to be fired as rapidly as possible which precluded patching and wadding. The ammunition was manufactured under bore size to facilitate loading in a dirty bore. The only real danger to a soldier was the enemies counter fire. There was no need to depress the muzzle and allow the ball to unseat itself.. As I previously stated, if hunting , I would hold the ball in place with a wad. The N-SSA's rules regarding patching and wadding were born out of safety concerns. It is felt that paper or fabric material would increase the possibility of cookoffs durind rapid fire events, hence the ban.

I have never observed leading in a muzzleloader that is using properly lubed ammo.

Cheers! Bob E

 

[curator]

I have shot many a .565 "bare" round ball in my .54 Mortimer rifle with excellent accuracy and NO leading whatsoever. A sharp rap on the short starter seats the ball into the rifling and it slides down to the breech with only the weight of the ramrod. I have also shot .515 balls in several of my .50 caliber rifles with equally good results. No need for a patch if you wipe the bore with a damp cloth after each shot. Having a ball that is at least groove diameter may be necessary to get the same accuracy as a correctly patched ball will give. This was the same method used by the German Jaeger rifle that was the precursor to the "Pennsylvania" rifle. They were loaded with a much oversize ball and a mallet.

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

I have never observed leading in a muzzleloader that is using properly lubed ammo.

When I shoot shot in a smoothbore, loading with a wad column the lead shot is scraped along the bore on its way out. After a twelve round match there is lead smears on the bore. I am talking traditional wad loading with no shot cup. I use a heavily lubed fiber wad. I have to get this lead out before I can shoot patched round ball accurately. With my favorite musket I have used it on Seneca runs just using the bare ball to decrease my loading time. I do not increase the ball size. The ball just falls into the barrel I do drop the ramrod behind the ball but the weight of the metal ramrod seats the ball. Even with this loose load I get leading in my barrel.

 

[bud in pa]

Here in the Pocono Mts. 50 yds. is a long shot. I use a .575 ball in a paper ctg. with 70 gr. of 1F and i am good to 50 yds, the length of my range. The plus with these paper ctgs. is the fast reload. I have a hammer stall on my frizzen and prime from the ctg. military style. Works for me. :wink:

 

[fyrfyter43]

I'm sure the other smoothbore shooters in my club, and especially last year's SB champion, would agree that I get pretty good accuracy with a bare ball and tow wadding.