Ball size

[Theditchman]

I just bought an Accura in .50 cal and want to cast my own balls...do I have to slug the barrel or should I assume the barrel is .50 and just deduct the patch thickness x2 from the size of themold...thank you for any help as I am new to BP shooting....also do you have to clean out your barrel after every shot if you use mm sabots

[oldracer]

The way I did mine was to mic the barrel(s) to get the bore and also get the land diameters. That only works if the number of lands is an even number though. The gun maker should be able to tell you the inner dimensions if you can get hold of them.

As for cleaning/wiping/blowing between shots, you will have to try each one to see what the gun likes. My patched round ball guns can use a blow tube well while the slug guns want a wipe between shots.

[northern smith]

I dont know about the accura rifle. someone else can tell you about the size. About the cleaning I can say it all depends upon what kind of powder and what kind of shooting. Really you have to figure it out at the range . It comes down to variables of components. not the answer you wanted .. Im sorry bp. can sometimes take some time to figure out. it is rewarding though. nice boooom......
ssorry for my bad french.

[johnson1942]

.495 round ball. pillow ticking cut in squares and not round. to get the square size use pecut round patch and use that diam. lube with lee alox and let dry. then pelube again with thompson bore butter. this combo will shoot very very accurate. if you use real black wipe one damp and two dry between rounds. the rest wont need as much of wipeing. good luck. have fun.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I supply the balls for a bunch of 4H kids who bring their own guns , I cast .490 and have a .010 and .015 patch available , haven't found one that didn't work well enough yet , there could be an odd ball but you can do a lot with patch thickness.

and your ball choices are really .490 or .495 I would juts order the mold if you were thinking 2 cavity , or if your looking at a 6 cavity mold , buy a box or beg a few from some one and see how they fit

actually if you buy the mold and don't like it for a 5 dollars loss you can sell it easily

[stu206]

For a 50 Cal Rifle, can use a 490, 495, 498, 500 round ball in the rifle. If using a sabot, usually a smaller round ball is to be used. In my 50 cal Hawken I use a 498 with a 15 to 18 thousand patch and use a hammer to start down the barrel for a tight combination. In my 45 cal I use a 445 ball with duck cloth patch, 22 thousand's and hammer start. For patch lube I use a oil/water patch and get around 50 shots before cleaning the barrel. I stay away from Bore Butter type of lubes as they tend to foul the barrel after six shots or so, and in hot weather 108 degree's it fouls even faster. If you find a patch lube that works use it and have fun shooting.

[Theditchman]

thank you all for the great response

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

1/3 rubbing alcohol , 1/3 hydrogen peroxide , 1/3 Murphy oil soap , mix and store in a dark colored spray bottle , i found an aluminum spray bottle and store it in that so the light doesn't get the Hydrogen peroxide , this makes a good patch lube cheap and keeps the fouling soft , if you swab between shots with a dampened patch of this mix you can shoot all day patched round balls and they all load the same and shoot the same

I have tested it with all day shooting on real black and 777

after i had been using this a few years i found it has a name at the competitions , friendship speed juice

[Squeeze]

you can just adjust the patch to shoot almost anything close. I shoot a lot of .32 cal in roundball, and have molds in .310, .311, .315, .319 any will work, by just adjusting patch thickness to suit.

[Theditchman]

Anyone have any experience with the Lee REAL bullet...it says you don't need a patch

[Omnivore]

ditchman; You don't use a patch with any conical. I've done a little bit of shooting with both 50 cal REALs. Lots of discussion on them here of you do a search. I found that a felt wad (not a patch) between the powder and the REAL improves group size at 50 yards. I have yet to get the REALs to group well at 100 yards though, which is my benchmark, so to speak, for hunting. I have a lot more experimenting yet to do with the REALS. In the meantime I've used a patched round ball for deer and it works well anyway.

As for which ball size to use; I'd say, as has been said already, that you might want to buy some 490 and 495 balls and find a ball/patch/powder/lube/charge weight combination you like, and then buy a mold for that size. The lee molds are so cheap though, that it's not a major decision. You might could get both 490 and 495 molds, and then sell the mold you decide not to use.

I use a pre-lubed patch, but some swear by a spit patch (put the patch in your mount for a few seconds befor you load) or you can cut your own dry patches and then lube them anyway you like.

[Texantothecore]

Someone on this board has whipped up a loader with an upper section which has choreboy wrapped around it, supposedly it works fine.

Shooters used to use oakum to clean the rifles and you can get it in rope form at Home Depot or just use choreboy or bronze wool.

[Nobade]

Anybody here going to mention that that Accura is set up for conicals in sabots and isn't likely to shoot too well with patched balls? Very shallow rifling and even has a counterbored muzzle IIRC.

-Nobade

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I know lots of people have decided that fast twist is no good for round ball , but if you don't push them to hard , i think you could do just fine

it may never be a nice little group at 100 yards but but minute of pie plate should be achievable I have a 1:28 barrel that will shoot clover leafs at 50 with a patched round ball

I have seen a bunch of the very cheap inlines with faster twist barrels shoot patched round ball reasonably well certainly well enough for deer at 50-75 yards.

I think most try to put to much powder under them start low and work up see where the accuracy is

to may time things surprise you to not try.