Patched round ball shooting

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. I used a powder measure set for 1 14 ounces, by volume, of shot filled with pyrodex rs. Constant thickness, weave, diameter, weight and thread count help eliminate these variables from your shooting. Good evening all, just sitting here musing about a weekend of shooting a new reproduction rifle. The trick is to load them down to levels where the patches are not torn up. It was by far the most accurate load in that gun, and while labeled light by a lot of guys, it killed with alacrity.

Most fast twist guns have shallower grooves than are usually seen with slow twist rifles primarily meant to shoot round balls. Again, i used the same rifle for this bull as i did for the deer. I understand that less powder or a single pellet should be used, but am looking for recommendations on patches, balls, etc. For deer hunting i still prefer the patched round ball in a. Patched round ball gun and game the friendliest gun. 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. 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. The easiest method to choose the right patch for your round ball rifle. Please note that what patch thickness you use will also play a part in what ball size to use. I would recommend it, especially to those new in round ball shooting. Theres so many sizes i dont know what exact one i need for round ball. 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.

Use whatever gives you the best 100 yard groups at a recoil level you can live with. Precision made from special tightly woven cotton, to insure uniformity. Loading the plr or muzzleloader with a patched 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. Its not, its perfectly center, right behind the shoulder. 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. I have taken deer with both but never studied the numbers on these. The best hunting gun is the gun you enjoy shooting and can afford to shoot a lot. All you knows about patch thickness alaska outdoors forums. As previously mentioned, shooting a flintlock requires holding the rifle steady all the way through the shot. 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. Many black powder shooters have once in their career shot a rifle or musket loaded with a patched roundball. A round ball doesnt touch the rifling itself, the patch does. November 28, 2009 december 21, 2010 brent macarthur charles 5 comments on.

With some practice that distance can be extended to 75 yards. This is true whether a person was shot with a conical round or a patched round ball. 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. When i went to load the rifle i found the patched bullet to be an extremely tight fit. I found this relatively easy to do when using a rest. Depends on lube too but a blown patch fails as a gas seal and accuracy suffers.

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. A 50 cal runs 190 or 195 round ball depending on bore itself of course,but also patch thickness. A quality linen or cotton ticking type patch can survive a reasonable load of powder. 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. Typically, loads of about 55 grains of ffg and a patched round ball are about right in. To decide weather you can shoot roundballs from your rifle accurately. These nonlubricated shooting patches are 100% cotton, come in uniform thickness of. The thompson center round ball shooting patches are designed for use in. Not true, as my turkey hunting experience has shown. A minie should easily drop into the barrel, with just a nudge from a ramrod. 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. Aug 04, 2014 the patching material is the key to be accurate with a round ball load. At ranges from 100 to 200 yards either will do well, depending entirely how an individual rifle works with them. The patch round ball challenge long range hunting forum.

For slow twist barrels 1 turn in 56 to 72 inches use a patched round ball. National shooting sports foundation nssf 1,107,158 views. Patched round balls punched 2inch groups at 75 yards with 70 grains of goex ffg blackpowder and goex ffffg primer. With 6070 grains of powder it took an evilly tight patch and ball combo that was heck to load to get reasonable accuracy.

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. I generally save the patched balls for new shooters not hunting loads. 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. Using readly available patches and balls the only combo that would work was. Round balls may be used in a muzzleloader with a fast twist with good results. Precision shooting patches for round ball precision shooting patches. Too deep and there is a lot of surplus patching material to catch on your short starter or ramrod. Now, for some reason, is throwing fliers really bad, but only occasionally.

Pour the measured powder charge down the barrel and load a patched round ball directly on top of. I recently post a question about the accuracy of my armi sport 1853 with round balls. 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. Im going to start with round ball because its cheaper practice and then mo. Ever since i started hunting with a muzzleloader about 15 years ago, ive been using patched round balls. 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. You can buy good quality patches in your local blackpowder shop, but you can also make your own.

Offered as dry, oiled, wonderlubed, or premium lubed on select sizes. Thompson center black powder cotton shooting patches. These prelubricated shooting patches are 100% cotton, come in uniform thickness of. The 5 calibers to claim the most powerful handgun in the world title reupload duration. Im trying to determine the midrange and point black distances for my. 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. Killing power of patched round ball prb the high road. 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. On the other hand, you can cut down on your amount of powder and shoot patched round balls. I even tried backing my powder down to 50 grains with the same results. Shooting muzzleloading rifles to various distances from 40150 meters offhand, without modern shooting gear is a great challenge. Id use about 3 drams of ffg and seat the patched roun ball on the powder. Question for round ball shooters gunboards dot com.

Since pa started allowing other types of ball, i started using a. I am not new to the tc or maxisminies, just patched round ball prb. Large variations in powder charge dont seem to make much difference. 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. 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.

One method is to load the gun in the same manner as loading a shotgun, substituting the round ball in place of the shot. However as the balls get softer they tend to flatten and some have been recovered at angling shots on simular size animals. Does most people shoot round ball in thompson center. When you load a charge everything must be uniform each time to get uniform results. Mar 17, 2015 i recently post a question about the accuracy of my armi sport 1853 with round balls. After skidding the little distance that i could see, the coyote completely disappeared.

For revisiting the loading and shooting of two patched round balls, i decided to drop the charge of goex ffg to 100grains. Back when i shot my old renegade still got it too it didnt seem to like the heavy loads and the groups would spread. I won some local matches with this gun, and also took five squirrels with as many shots. 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. A little heavy but worth it when the barrel is dirty and it becomes tough to seat a ball. So, im about to start shooting muzzle loader for the first time and am wondering what size patch i need to get for my. Does most people shoot round ball in thompson center hawkens. Muzzle loaders shooting roundballs are fun and cheap to shoot.

I then tried attaching a 12 felt wad to the patched round ball with a drywall screw. I have been cutting roughly square pillow ticking patches, and got to thinking. Patched ball has a lapping effect, and as you shoot the sharp edges will wear with time. This evening i skinned and quartered the carcass of the deer. A good patch is made of good quality, dense natural material. Somewhat the opposite is true with round balls in fast twist barrels. Today, shooters use different approaches to loading the smoothbore with round ball. This leaves the slow twist shooter with only the task of finding proper ball size and patch thickness without having to worry a whole. Precision shooting patches for round ball track of the wolf. Apr 30, 2008 how to load a round ball into a muzzleloader. Being the round ball is used in a shot shell, the lead the round ball is made from isnt critical. Rifle sightin process long range shooting technique duration. 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.

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. Medium twist barrels are designed to shoot both patched round balls and conical bullets. 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. My problem was being able to seat the patch ball combo down the barrel. If you have a 148 twist youll likely find your best accuracy between 50 and 80 grs. 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. Muzzleloader round ball shooters trap shooters forum. 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. Ive always thought that the thicker the patch, within reason, the more accurate the shots. 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. 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.

Accuracy for me is to hit a golf ball at 100 yards off a benchrest all day long. That really tightened up my groups, something like less than 4 inches at 50 yards. Thompson center 100% cotton round ball shooting patches. Patched round balls punched 2inch groups at 75 yards with 70 grains of goex ffg blackpowder and. The patching material is the key to be accurate with a round ball load. Please check with your firearms manufacturer for recommended lead ball and patch sizes. Today there are a number of methods plastic shot cup wads, center cut fiber wads, etc. I was wondering if loading the patched rb as if you were shooting shot employing cards would tighten the groups read more. Also, traditional muzzleloader only shooting orgnizations generally require the use of patched round ball only during official muzzleloading target competition. I used in a few senaca run shoots where we had various. Round balls in fast twist rifles white muzzle loading. 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.

These lowvelocity loads shoot very accurately out to 75 yards and are effective on turkeys. Blackpowder and pyrodex shoot much, much better on a fouled barrel than they shoot on a clean barrel. 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. 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 lubricated round ball shooting patches.