Pour the measured powder charge down the barrel and load a patched round ball directly on top of. One method is to load the gun in the same manner as loading a shotgun, substituting the round ball in place of the shot. National shooting sports foundation nssf 1,107,158 views. I then tried attaching a 12 felt wad to the patched round ball with a drywall screw. Now, for some reason, is throwing fliers really bad, but only occasionally. I am not new to the tc or maxisminies, just patched round ball prb. This habit has been cause for derision from some of my hunting companions, who believe that round balls are marginal andor obsolete, and that i must therefore be daft to use them. These lowvelocity loads shoot very accurately out to 75 yards and are effective on turkeys. So, im about to start shooting muzzle loader for the first time and am wondering what size patch i need to get for my. Any cylinder bore smoothbore which puts the center of its pattern right where the bead is pointed will shoot a round ball with enough accuracy to take large game out to 50 yards. I have taken deer with both but never studied the numbers on these. Precision made from special tightly woven cotton, to insure uniformity.
As previously mentioned, shooting a flintlock requires holding the rifle steady all the way through the shot. Use a tight patch, however, as you dont want the recoil of the first shot to move the ball off the powder for the second one. For fast twist barrels 1 turn in 16 to 28 inches use a conical bullet. How in the world did some of our countrys patriots, in the late 1700s and early 1800s, make reliable head and chest shots on british officers at 200 to 300 yards using patched ball rifles, thus, cutting the snakes head off, as it were.
For slow twist barrels 1 turn in 56 to 72 inches use a patched round ball. For revisiting the loading and shooting of two patched round balls, i decided to drop the charge of goex ffg to 100grains. On the other hand, you can cut down on your amount of powder and shoot patched round balls. Round balls in fast twist rifles white muzzle loading. Precision shooting patches for round ball track of the wolf. Patched round balls punched 2inch groups at 75 yards with 70 grains of goex ffg blackpowder and. The best hunting gun is the gun you enjoy shooting and can afford to shoot a lot. Blackpowder and pyrodex shoot much, much better on a fouled barrel than they shoot on a clean barrel. Somewhat the opposite is true with round balls in fast twist barrels. Today there are a number of methods plastic shot cup wads, center cut fiber wads, etc.
I would recommend it, especially to those new in round ball shooting. Being the round ball is used in a shot shell, the lead the round ball is made from isnt critical. I recently post a question about the accuracy of my armi sport 1853 with round balls. Constant thickness, weave, diameter, weight and thread count help eliminate these variables from your shooting. That really tightened up my groups, something like less than 4 inches at 50 yards. 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. The easiest method to choose the right patch for your round ball rifle. We load one of our precision long rifles with a patched round ball. Intrigued by how nicely the two 183grain balls had slammed the buck to the ground, through the winter i played around with purposely shooting double ball loads out of that. If you have a 148 twist youll likely find your best accuracy between 50 and 80 grs.
A minie should easily drop into the barrel, with just a nudge from a ramrod. Of course you need to have a proper ballset that seats the ball flush with the muzzle and does not deform it at the same time. In fact, i cannot remember suspecting that the recoil had been a bit stiffer than when shooting a single patched ball out of that rifle. This evening i skinned and quartered the carcass of the. Killing power of patched round ball prb the high road. Certainly a patched round ball loads were used in muzzleloading smoothbores, however, i was refering to full bore round ball cartridge shotgun loads prior to the common use of the choke bore. This leaves the slow twist shooter with only the task of finding proper ball size and patch thickness without having to worry a whole lot about exact powder charge. Question for round ball shooters gunboards dot com.
Large variations in powder charge dont seem to make much difference. You can buy good quality patches in your local blackpowder shop, but you can also make your own. Does most people shoot round ball in thompson center hawkens. I take a look at the top four reasons i am a big fan of the ole patched lead round ball for muzzleloader shooting. Thompson center 100% cotton round ball shooting patches. Thompson center black powder cotton shooting patches. Many black powder shooters have once in their career shot a rifle or musket loaded with a patched roundball. I have used a patched round ball since the mid 70s, when i started shooting black powder, and it took a while, but have landed upon a formula for excellent accuracy, out of any of my muzzle loaders it is very old fashion but believe me it works fantastic. It was by far the most accurate load in that gun, and while labeled light by a lot of guys, it killed with alacrity. Also, traditional muzzleloader only shooting orgnizations generally require the use of patched round ball only during official muzzleloading target competition. Back when i shot my old renegade still got it too it didnt seem to like the heavy loads and the groups would spread. Today, shooters use different approaches to loading the smoothbore with round ball.
Also, when im gonna shoot 25 to 30 shots at a session, i find that a tight patch is problematic, as in hard to load, although i can be done. Ive always thought that the thicker the patch, within reason, the more accurate the shots. Rifle sightin process long range shooting technique duration. A good shooting load eluded me, until i ultimately found an accurate load consisting of 85 grains of ffg, 30 grains by volume of cream of wheat followed by a patched round ball. The big flintlock rifle fired without any hesitation at all and i saw the dead coyote go skidding out from behind the rifles cloud of smoke.
Use whatever gives you the best 100 yard groups at a recoil level you can live with. I used in a few senaca run shoots where we had various. I generally save the patched balls for new shooters not hunting loads. Apr 30, 2008 how to load a round ball into a muzzleloader. Offered as dry, oiled, wonderlubed, or premium lubed on select sizes. I understand that less powder or a single pellet should be used, but am looking for recommendations on patches, balls, etc. That is a real flying ashtray ive shot hundreds of round ball from a shotgun, but its been all patched round ball out of flintlock and percussion shotguns. Early on, i never had much luck with plastic patched round ball which my kentucky shooting friends were using, so i went exclusively to maxis since 81. When i went to load the rifle i found the patched bullet to be an extremely tight fit. I chose to start with patched round balls to get a feel for the rifle before i decide if i want to experiment with conical bullets. Does most people shoot round ball in thompson center. Again, i used the same rifle for this bull as i did for the deer.
With some practice that distance can be extended to 75 yards. At ranges from 100 to 200 yards either will do well, depending entirely how an individual rifle works with them. Patched ball has a lapping effect, and as you shoot the sharp edges will wear with time. I used a powder measure set for 1 14 ounces, by volume, of shot filled with pyrodex rs. November 28, 2009 december 21, 2010 brent macarthur charles 5 comments on.
What stroke of insanity caused me to embark on something like this ill never know, but one things for sure, my friends all agree im nuts. A round ball doesnt touch the rifling itself, the patch does. A 50 cal runs 190 or 195 round ball depending on bore itself of course,but also patch thickness. Theres so many sizes i dont know what exact one i need for round ball. 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. Ive put a swagged round ball through a 300 lb hog at 80 yards with my 50 cal tc, using 90 grns of pyro p. Since pa started allowing other types of ball, i started using a. Typically, loads of about 55 grains of ffg and a patched round ball are about right in. Depends on lube too but a blown patch fails as a gas seal and accuracy suffers. Its not, its perfectly center, right behind the shoulder. These nonlubricated shooting patches are 100% cotton, come in uniform thickness of.
Most fast twist guns have shallower grooves than are usually seen with slow twist rifles primarily meant to shoot round balls. That ball isnt made for big game all the typical brain washed fubar where some think you need plastic, ss, scoped and high priced pretty shaped bullets in order to. Please note that what patch thickness you use will also play a part in what ball size to use. Personally, i believe that a heavier conical round fired from a riflecarbine would prove superior to the round ball in terms of energy foot pounds. The patch round ball challenge long range hunting forum. Patched round balls punched 2inch groups at 75 yards with 70 grains of goex ffg blackpowder and goex ffffg primer. After skidding the little distance that i could see, the coyote completely disappeared.
The thompson center round ball shooting patches are designed for use in. Accuracy for me is to hit a golf ball at 100 yards off a benchrest all day long. The 5 calibers to claim the most powerful handgun in the world title reupload duration. This evening i skinned and quartered the carcass of the deer. With 6070 grains of powder it took an evilly tight patch and ball combo that was heck to load to get reasonable accuracy. Originally, they likely would have fired minie balls which dont take a patch, so they are usually a bit larger than the comparable round ball for my original 1863 springfield, i use 575 minies without a patch. The problem is made worse because hunters are less likely to practice if the gun is not fun to shoot and it costs a dollar every time they pull the trigger. A good patch is made of good quality, dense natural material. Precision shooting patches for round ball precision shooting patches. Round balls may be used in a muzzleloader with a fast twist with good results. Not true, as my turkey hunting experience has shown. Medium twist barrels are designed to shoot both patched round balls and conical bullets. I was wondering if loading the patched rb as if you were shooting shot employing cards would tighten the groups read more. Too deep and there is a lot of surplus patching material to catch on your short starter or ramrod.
Aug 04, 2014 the patching material is the key to be accurate with a round ball load. Well, come on now, the whole idea of shooting the round ball in the first place is so that you can be proud of the work you did there, if you happen to be shooting a round ball shooter. This is true whether a person was shot with a conical round or a patched round ball. Shooting muzzleloading rifles to various distances from 40150 meters offhand, without modern shooting gear is a great challenge. Im going to start with round ball because its cheaper practice and then mo. Loading the plr or muzzleloader with a patched round ball. To decide weather you can shoot roundballs from your rifle accurately.
For deer hunting i still prefer the patched round ball in a. However as the balls get softer they tend to flatten and some have been recovered at angling shots on simular size animals. These prelubricated shooting patches are 100% cotton, come in uniform thickness of. Good evening all, just sitting here musing about a weekend of shooting a new reproduction rifle. Please check with your firearms manufacturer for recommended lead ball and patch sizes. This leaves the slow twist shooter with only the task of finding proper ball size and patch thickness without having to worry a whole. Ive taken sever old ground rakers, those that make you look silly, they fly out into a field at first light and stay till fly up. This way, patches are always centered and exactly the right size. I found this relatively easy to do when using a rest. A little heavy but worth it when the barrel is dirty and it becomes tough to seat a ball.
The secret of muzzleloader accuracy these words on how to achieve muzzleloader accuracy come from cecil epp and i have put them to the test and found that following. Im trying to determine the midrange and point black distances for my. I have been cutting roughly square pillow ticking patches, and got to thinking. The trick is to load them down to levels where the patches are not torn up. Patched round ball gun and game the friendliest gun.
A quality linen or cotton ticking type patch can survive a reasonable load of powder. Id use about 3 drams of ffg and seat the patched roun ball on the powder. Out of a quality bore, a properly loaded patched round ball can prove deadly accurate at the ranges it was truly intended for and that is 25 to 50 yards. Thompson center lubricated round ball shooting patches. I have been reading that some people have success in shooting a patched round ball out of a faster twist barrel and am just looking for any insights that the arfcom community might be able to provide. Muzzle loaders shooting roundballs are fun and cheap to shoot. Last two weeks after initial clean bore shots, was shooting one ragged hole groups if i did my part on the bench good bench discipline. The patching material is the key to be accurate with a round ball load. Mar 17, 2015 i recently post a question about the accuracy of my armi sport 1853 with round balls. I even tried backing my powder down to 50 grains with the same results. All you knows about patch thickness alaska outdoors forums. My problem was being able to seat the patch ball combo down the barrel.