Patched round ball load development

I use the heaviest groups of balls for load development and serious competition on paper targets. Model 1766 light model 1763 charleville normally came equipped with a buttonhead ramrod. During the early history of the development and use of shotguns and. Aug 04, 2014 the patching material is the key to be accurate with a round ball load. But good grief the options for powderprimersloadspatcheslubes etc have really expanded. The most accurate load is 115gr of olde eynsford 3f, 30gr cow over powder. I knew a very sucessful one in the medal count, his 50 ran a 505 patched ball started thrugh the false muzzle with a starter designed just for it. The lubed patch should be thick enough to hold the ball snugly on top of the powder charge and keep it centered in the bore. If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the faq by clicking the. Truth is, i dont consider it a problem, at least one that some load development wont cure. Just grab two pellets, drop them down the muzzle and load the bullet. Not long ago, i was consistently ringing an iron gong at 200 yards with this load, ten for ten shots from a bench rest. Use of the patched roundball in a singleshot pistol is virtually identical to its use in a long gun in terms.

It aint granddaddys old mauser, but you can still launch a. Ram a small ball of waxed paper on top of the cahrge. More than anything, it is the lackluster performance of patched round ball loads that make the majority of older guns unappealing to the modern muzzleloader hunter. Round ball loads i became interested in round ball loads and multiple round ball loads several years ago and experimented with them off an on for about a year in both rifles and revolvers. This same mind set infected the hunters of the day. Bumping a round ball to the proper diameter is the only way to get any accuracy from them. Loading blocks for patched round balls track of the wolf. Actually, a round ball is ballistically superior to a slug at 50 yds or less, and is more accurate. Medium twist barrels are designed to shoot both patched round balls and conical bullets. My experience with the tc hawkin built from a kit in the 1977 time frameis that it is not a great round ball rifle. Bill watts carefully loads a round ball gun, cutting the patch at the muzzle. A good patch is made of good quality, dense natural material. We load one of our precision long rifles with a patched round ball.

The ecoslug is not recommended for use in patched round ball barrels with a slow twist and deep rifling. These were the first muzzleloading gun designs to develop in the 1960s and 70s and the first wave of new age muzzleloading hunters tended to be history buffs. Up until 1860, firearm development was a slow process. Here, the versatility of the shotgun is evident, because every shot is essentially a custom handloaded one, the only difference being that it is done in the barrel, not in a shotgun shell. Cabelas blue ridge version of pedersoli frontier, round balls. If you switch to another powder, clean with one wet patch, patch dry, lightly lube the bore nonteflon oil or a damp patch with solvent so as to avoid sending bullets down a dry bore, then fire at least one fouler shot before continuing with load development. Before hunting, grease your patch, center it over a hole, press the ball into the patch, and seat it into the hole using a short starter. Killing power of patched round ball prb the high road. Ph0951 harpers ferry pistol percussion dixie gun works. Developing an accurate load for a black powder muzzleloading rifle. They lose significant velocity and therefore impact energy after a relatively short distance. I did mount a scope on the sxs for load development, but with that, i was able to repeatedly hit a 12 square plate at 100 meters, offhand, rightleft rightleft. Load development for the shotgun is, overall, easier than for a rifle shooting a.

It was by far the most accurate load in that gun, and while labeled light by a lot of guys, it killed with alacrity. Loading blocks for patched round balls this is a primitive riflemans ball loading block, shaped like a miniature bread board. To counter this inefficiency, designers created very large caliber guns to shoot heavy charges of powder. This removes pockets of air in the load and serves other purposes. Single ball loads single round balls can be loaded in almost any caliber without much fuss and bother with good results. This, however, results in an under load, and is not necessarily ideal. For me, round ball loads tend to shoot higher than point of aim in a revolver and lower than point of aim from a rifle. Patch material needs to be 100% natural fiber and depending on what your gun likes needs to be from. Longrange load development ladder testing at yards. Roundball 65 gr, lee real 75 gr jeffery r 300 grain sabot, 100grns loose powder, fff works if your gun is clean and dry. Many experts are going back to them for their short range loads.

Information contained in this document has been developed for the guidance of employees of the. For fast twist barrels 1 turn in 16 to 28 inches use a conical bullet. For slow twist barrels 1 turn in 56 to 72 inches use a patched round ball. Because the shot load is assembled as the gun is being loaded a muzzle loading. Talk about the patched round ball after multiple sight replacements, and load development. For example, a 230 grain patched lead round ball in a. Run one or two dry patches down both barrels and pop a couple of caps on each nipple. If all you can get is pyrodex, use it, since it is capable of superb accuracy i only use pyrodex in my. The round ball really poops out of energy fast due to its b. For a cartridge arm, you would need to extend the patch a bit further toward the front of the ball the unpatched or facesthewind part and then creasecrimp the folds down to fit the balls forward curve. On another page, to be published soon, we give the loads and ballistics data for.

The round ball bench rest shooters have been through all of this and if you want to learn go sit with them with a note book. Thoughts on the hunting rifle muzzle blasts online. Now, pull that round ball and add a 300grain conical and you have a load that approximates the old sharps. The little cva frontier rifle is a tack driver with 490 ball, 15 patch and 30 grains of goex.

At 5 yards distance the ball hits about the same with the three pellets grouping in about a 4\ pattern. With 6070 grains of powder it took an evilly tight patch and ball combo that was heck to load to get reasonable accuracy. Black powder load development using a pair of connecticut valley arms sidelock muzzle loaders. Steel ramrod with trumpet shaped head and 10x32 thread. Made of hard maple, it is drilled with six holes, to snugly hold your lubricated patched round balls. Speed loading techniques always included the short starter to bop the ball into the muzzle. Sightin at 50 yards i sightin any muzzleloader at 50 yards, trying to impact 3 inches above the bullseye.

Just sitting here musing about a weekend of shooting a new reproduction rifle. Load a sixpound rifle with a hundred grains of 2f black powder and a 180grain patched. Pour the measured powder charge down the barrel and load a patched round ball directly on top of the powder charge omitting all the cards and wads. He wanted a patched round ball rifle with lots of punch, and the 1516 diameter barrel provided the beefiness to permit shooting stout loads of fffg black powder, and the slow 1 turnin70 twist allows it to be loaded and shot at fairly high velocity without loss of accuracy. If you prefer a round ball, use the tapered muzzle system fostered by the real hunters of yesteryear. Information concerning load development for centerfire rifle ammunition is widely published. I chronographed some patched ball, miniball and maxiball loads fired out of. Shooting bags, black powder guns, bushcraft kit, man gear, powder horn, longhunter, american frontier, fur trade. With the various pellets, load development is rather limited. Repetitive, round robin ladder testing with multiple charge weights can reliably identify those loads which deliver minimal vertical dispersion at long range. The local walmart and the local gun shop both carry. This method tapers both the lands and the grooves at the muzzle so that the round ball and patch can be started and rammed with the ramrod alone. I use 90 grains ffg at that velocity, the midrange trajectory is very similar to my previous note. Poking a long hole in any animal smaller than a fullgrown holstein will put it on the ground.

Precision shooting patches for round ball track of the wolf. So after a couple of boxes of those small ball thick patch combinations, give the larger sized ball and thinner patch another try. I even tried backing my powder down to 50 grains with the same results. Completely uniform in size, weight, and roundness, hornady round balls. You will have to determine how many foulers it takes your barrel to settle in. May 10, 2020 talk about the patched round ball after multiple sight replacements, and load development. I am in the project of developing a good roundball and conical load for the rifle for hunting. I generally save the patched balls for new shooters not hunting loads. Nov 30, 2016 i use pillow ticking and cut at the muzzle on my rifles. These new shooters came into the sport to hunt the special muzzleloader seasons, not to relive history. Here, the versatility of the shotgun is evident, because every shot is essentially a custom handloaded one, the only difference being that.

Patched round ball anywhere from around 1250 to about 2000 fps. The patching material is the key to be accurate with a round ball load. Traditionalmldata1 north american muzzleloader hunting. Laod the ball with a lube soaked not just damp, but fully wet patch. This classic muzzleloader offers legendary quality such high quality features such as a 32 barrel with 1 in 60 twist for patched ball and hunting loads, double set triggers, and hawken style percussion snail with clean out screw. Loading the plr or muzzleloader with a patched round ball. I sighted the rear sight to be dead on at 50 yards and the flip up leaf to hit center at 150 yards. Feb 05, 2015 the first round you fire from your muzzle loader may not be the most accurate. Jul 6, 2012 this pin was discovered by debbie drephal. Patched ball has a lapping effect, and as you shoot the sharp edges will wear with time. However, shooting round balls from a choked barrel is not recommended. I recently post a question about the accuracy of my armi sport 1853 with round balls.

Waxed paper does a pretty good job of isolating the powder from the lube and it also tends to somewhat protect the patch form burn through. Cotton or linen patches are used when firing with round balls and are unnecessary when. He loaded 150 grains of dupont fffg which he had several 25lb kegs of from the same lot just for this rifle. Constant thickness, weave, diameter, weight and thread count help eliminate these variables from your shooting. Doing so deforms the ball and out of round balls may not fly true. Once you have your longrange ball load, shoot for grouping on paper, then use that load foreverafter as that rifles patched ball load, even though stiffer loads. And thats exactly the load i set out to use for taking the fallow buck shown in. Once you have your longrange ball load, shoot for grouping on paper, then use that load foreverafter as that rifles patched ball load, even though stiffer loads will still give short range accuracy.

Your accuracy load is either the lowest obturation charge or the one above that which gives you the smallest 200 yard groups. No other factoryassembled rifle or kit offers the authentic style and design of lymans great plains rifle. Id think that if the patched round ball in those calibers was ineffective they would have gone to guns with larger bores. You load them pigtail first and they shoot just fine. In chronograph tests, the ecoslug bullets muzzle velocity with a powder load of two hodgdon triple seven 50 grain muzzleloading propellant powder pellets 100 grains was approximately 2100 feet per second. Patched ball barrels wear out faster than naked lead barrles. Loading blocks for patched round balls with images.

Precision shooting patches for round ball precision shooting patches. Every hunters pouch came with patch knife in place. In all of these guns, i use one load for everything. I also experimented with cloth patched round balls in a straight rifled husqvarna sxs in brass ctgs. Load development for the shotgun is, overall, easier than for a rifle shooting a patched ball, but attention to some principles will yield better results. Black powder guns longhunter long rifle hunting gear. A load of 20 grains of fffg with patched round balls usually gives excellent results on both turkeys and squirrels in. Now im not sure if the patch gets spun off the ball or if patch and ball just skims the rifling but either way a round ball wont shoot for squat out of a fast twist barrel unless you cut the powder down to an absolute minimum which makes it impractical for most purposes. Charleville musket firing and cleaning bahrnoproducts. Firing at targets over the snow i was able to find fired patches and compare them with accuracy. I use pillow ticking and cut at the muzzle on my rifles. When first developing loads if two sizes of ball are available i. And most want a rifle and load thats at least effective from 100 to 150 yards.

They hit a ton, and shoot from a cylinder smoothbore better than any rifled slug. Loading blocks for patched round balls with images ball. I will be working on load development hopefully in a couple weeks. A round ball doesnt touch the rifling itself, the patch does. The first round you fire from your muzzle loader may not be the most accurate. My hunting load for the rifle was just 70grains of dupont fffg black powder behind a patched 128grain cast.

Jul 01, 2002 hodgdon recommends reducing the charge until patches are no longer damaged. Round balls may be used in a muzzleloader with a fast twist with good results. Granted, the inline rifles is designed to shoot a copper jacketed conical bullet, not the patched round balls used by traditional muzzleloaders, but what propellant should the hunter use to achieve optimal performance. Precision made from special tightly woven cotton, to insure uniformity. Trumpet shape usually came with model 1763 or 177377. When loading a patched ball, position the sprue up and centered. Traditional45rifles north american muzzleloader hunting. Patched round ball gun and game the friendliest gun.