Good article about roundball loading in smoothbores

[Maven]

Mike Beliveau has an excellent article ("Old-School Smoothbore Loading: Part I: Round Ball") in the July/August "Muzzleloader" magazine. He also posted a video of his procedures some months ago on the Traditional ML Forum, http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/index.php?. Mike's screen name on that forum is duelist1954 and his video on the subject can be found in the subform, Muzzleloading & History in the Media. If you're a smoothbore shooter, the article and/or video are well worth your time.

[dromia]

Maven is the "Muzleloader" article available in electronic format for download anywhere?

[rfd]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8AtaQGYQDk

[rfd]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gqxhoXegSc

[dromia]

Thanks.

I've seen the films but it was the written word I'm after.

[Maven]

dromia, I just checked their website, www.muzzleloadermagazine.com, doesn't offer a digital option.

[dromia]

Ok that is a shame, thank you for checking it out for me though.

[Maven]

dromia, The 1st video (loading the RB) shows exactly (virtually word for word) what Mike wrote in his article.

[waksupi]

Good overview~! I do wish he would have used a patterning board with the shot loads, to see the kind of patterns he was getting with the various methods.

[Maven]

dromia, & ric, I attempted to duplicate one aspect of Mike's roundball loading procedure yesterday.* To wit, I varied the powder charges (80- 90-, 100-, and 110grs. Diamondback FFg) but used the same patch thickness (.014" - .015"), ball diameter (.597", Tanner mould), and 1/4" felt over powder wad, which I cut & lubed. Since I only took 3 shots with each powder charge, I'm hesitant to draw hard & fast conclusions, but my impression is there wasn't a huge difference in what I saw on my target (set @ 50 yd.). However, the 90gr. load showed promise as I got 2 touching @ 9 o'clock (correct elevation), but one ~6" - 7" away @ 4 o'clock. Btw, none of the other loads hit the target at the correct elevation: 80gr. was low v. 110gr. was way high. The 90gr. load bears closer examination/replication and is on my "to do" list. I'd also like to try the .610" ball with tow OP and OS (ball) as shown in the video and described in Mike's article.


* gun was my GRF 20ga. trade gun, which I think is a close copy of a Barnett trade gun.

[Fly]

Ya the clay bird deal does not tell you much. It,s all about the pattern.

Fly

[rfd]

maven - was yer testing with the musket benched or off hand?

[Maven]

rfd, Thanks for reminding me of that: It was fired with me kneeling, but with my right elbow resting atop a shooting bench. I figured I'd duplicate how I hold the gun when I fire it offhand. Next time I'll use an 8" black circle for an aiming point instead of a red 4" outline of a diamond from one of those sighter targets with 1" grid.* The center diamond was untouched when I cut it out and stapled it to my backer.


*We shoot to the southeast, which isn't the best for open sights or a front sight only trade gun.

[Maven]

Thanks to Norbrat's generosity, I got enough .610" (.611" in fact) RB's to try with tow [fiber] wads as Mike Beliveau did. Like Mike, I did my shooting @ 50 yd. using 100- and 110gr. FFg from a semi-rested position (knee on ground, elbows on bench). To my surprise, both loads grouped into 6", but when the bore fouled, I got flyers, which easily doubled the group size. However, with the exception of the flyers, both the 100- and 110gr. loads impacted the target slightly high, but 6" - 8" to the right of [my] point of aim. Btw, with no lube, the bore fouled quickly. Next time I'll damp swab it after every other shot. I should also add that of that there wasn't much difference in accuracy between the 100- and 110gr. charges.

[smoked turkey]

Good video and good information on shooting smooth bore with PRB and shot. I have always thought the powder charge on a square load tends to "blow" the pattern. As such I tend to lean towards the more shot (volume measure) than powder. That may be what he was doing with a 100 grain powder charge and 2 oz of shot. I have a TC New Englander 12 gauge with a cyclinder bore. I have used it to take squirrel but I can't seem to be successful on turkey with it having missed two different birds at 30 yards. I am thinking about trying the heavy charge of powder and 2 oz of shot to see what it will do for me at 35 yards using Mike's technique. I will use a pattern board to check it out. I have done that before and as Mike said sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. I just hate to see a large gobbler run off after a miss at 30 yards. I have Knight TK2000 which I use with good success but I really want to use the open bore TC if I can. Thanks for posting this good information.

[dlbarr]

I shot this offhand @ 25 yds with a .62 cal smooth bore. Load was 70gr 3fg behind a .500" fiber wad and a .600" bare ball - no patch - it just dropped right down the barrel. Held in place by thin shot card on top.

This is not about my shooting ability as I've never shot that good since. But it does show the consistency that is possible from a smooth bore barrel.

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