My .60 cal Tri-Ball Load Results

[luke777]

The OPs accurate triball load used .602" balls, not 0.575". Since the .602" balls fit well in a tuprw 123 wad i would think there would be enough room for the 0.575" balls to be off centerline in the wad. OP also used Steel not Blue Dot and Steel tends to run less peak pressure Blue Dot for a given payload and velocity.

Just my thoughts, i am lucky when i can get 1 roundball to go where i point it.

BB

True! And my results were not as good as THE OP's. His patterns were amazing in that gun with that load. Here are my results out of a gun I no longer own. Range was only 25 metres.

I shot the last one a tad lower to make one pattern easier to see. All patterns were kind of "flat" like that.

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[Drakehammer]

Ok here’s the deal from the OP.

The load that generated that pattern was 3 1/2” with 32gr STEEL. I use 3” hulls with 28gr Blue Dot just the same. Both are roll crimped. Both have 1/4” cork or fiber in the bottom of the wad. An overshot card is not enough to protect the base of the shot-cup. Both use PSB. These loads were taken straight from info I gathered on this forum by James and RMC iirc.

That pattern is typical of my A400 with my .680 choke and 60 cal balls. I tend to get my best results with the 3 1/2” version, which also requires 1/8 or maybe 1/4” cork over the shot.

I doubt .575” balls will ever work well in this wad/gauge combo.

Patterns that you say are blown and wads that are shredded are due to a choke that is too tight. .670 choke diameter never patterned well in any of my guns. Damage to the base of the wad cup is due to lack of cushion...use cork or fiber wad (or maybe felt), OSC is too thin.

One of the most crucial steps is to split the wads as far as you can take a sharp pocket knife to the shot cup. The factory slits are not deep enough and will not release the bottom ball properly, often upsetting the entire shot or carrying the wad straight through the target (or animal).

Open the choke up. Your results should improve. These petals are .035”-.045” thick. Do the math and you can see why the recipe and recommendations are pretty specific.


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[Drakehammer]

True! And my results were not as good as THE OP's. His patterns were amazing in that gun with that load. Here are my results out of a gun I no longer own. Range was only 25 metres.

I shot the last one a tad lower to make one pattern easier to see. All patterns were kind of "flat" like that.

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Not a terrible pattern but distance is a little short.


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[luke777]

Ok here’s the deal from the OP.

The load that generated that pattern was 3 1/2” with 32gr STEEL. I use 3” hulls with 28gr Blue Dot just the same. Both are roll crimped. Both have cork in the bottom of the wad. An overshot card is not enough to protect the base of the shot-cup. Both use PSB. These loads were taken straight from info I gathered on this forum by James and RMC iirc.

That pattern is typical of my A400 with my .680 choke. I tend to get my best results with the 3 1/2” version.

Patterns that you say are blown and wads that are shredded are due to a choke that is too tight. .670 choke diameter never patterned well in any of my guns. Damage to the base of the wad cup is due to lack of cushion...use cork or fiber wad (or maybe felt), OSC is too thin.

Open the choke up. Your results should improve. These petals are .035”-.045” thick. Do the math and you can see why the recipe and recommendations are pretty specific.


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Excellent info. Thank you!

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[Drakehammer]

One more thing to complicate the issue a little more. My round balls have a sprue to deal with. I tumble 500 of these balls for 12 or more hours in my brass tumbler to smooth that sprue as much as possible. Amazingly enough, the balls are still .600”-.602” after tumbling. Nonetheless, I always place the sprue pointing up (toward the opening of the wad) and I stack the entire column that way. Kind of like the muzzleloaders do. Its a true pain in the ***. The last batch of balls I had made, i tumbled an extra long time so sprue is almost nonexistent. I will be dropping these without any specific orientation.


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[5Shot]

I picked up the .575 mold cheap, so I thought I'd try it and see how it shot. My reason being that with a 0.670 choke, the smaller balls would still be a relatively good fit, although should be a tad loose through the choke. James mentioned that any ball from 0.575 to 0.600 works, but that the 0.600 was opti I'll try adding some cork in the bottom (I'll have to order some fiber wads) and see how that goes. I'll also try the method of adding buffer as each ball is placed in the wad. I can take care of the sprue as well, and see if this helps any.

Drakehammer - are you using a vibratory tumbler or a Thumbler's?

[Drakehammer]

I’m using a standard Lyman vibratory tumbler.

Those .575 balls are what you need for 20ga, from what I can gather. I wish I had some bc I would love to eliminate these 2.25oz 12ga payloads.


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[5Shot]

I can send you some if you'd like. I did some digging, and the original Tri-Ball loads used a 0.570 ball, and over time ended up with a 0.600. I'm going to do some more testing before I give up on this combo. My intention is to have something I can pop in my gun in case a bear shows up while predator calling. Our bear season runs from August to November, so there is lots of opportunity.

[Drakehammer]

I can send you some if you'd like. I did some digging, and the original Tri-Ball loads used a 0.570 ball, and over time ended up with a 0.600.

Yes they did start at .570. I’ve seen those posts in the past.

If I were to chase the .570 / 12ga combo, i would definitely find a way to align those balls in a straight column inside your wad and stabilize with the PSB. Maybe thick mylar or teflon wraps will do the trick. Mylar is much cheaper. I would also keep the same concepts that we’ve been using with the .60 cal balls.


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[5Shot]

I do have mylar, but that added thickness may also require less choke, and I'll be chasing my tail again. I'll try a few combos this weekend. I did have some cork, so I can try that or I can use a leather disk until I get some fiber wads. I have a ton of dense veg tan leather and the perfect punch to make a filler under the ball. It is flexible and tough.

[longbow]

Paper wrap worked well enough for my two ball loads and should work for 3 ball loads. But my gun is cylinder bore so no choke. Not sure paper wrap would be very choke friendly.. for a tight choke anyway.

I made paper tubes then put them in the wads, added balls then slit the paper.

Also not sure why James didn't use a wrap instead of tight choke but of course it would take a bunch of testing to sort out results even if it worked and I'm sure there are more than one way to get good results. James was generous enough to share so that's what we use.

The Siarm 2 and 3 balL wads would save a lot of hassle:

http://www.siarm.com/product_info.ph...oducts_id=2038

They run about $4.40 US for 10 so not cheap but how many of these rounds is a guy going to shoot in a day? And at $.44 each not that bad if you're casting your own balls. Don't see which size balls these take though.

Longbow

[Drakehammer]

I do have mylar, but that added thickness may also require less choke, and I'll be chasing my tail again. I'll try a few combos this weekend. I did have some cork, so I can try that or I can use a leather disk until I get some fiber wads. I have a ton of dense veg tan leather and the perfect punch to make a filler under the ball. It is flexible and tough.

With .575 balls, the added thickness is what you need to center and align the balls.

Dense veg tan leather. I know a little about that. Used to do quite a bit with tannin extracts from the mimosa, acacia and quebracho trees. Some of the softest leather ever.


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[5Shot]

Did a little digging and I was surprised to see this group from Mr. Gates using a Trulock 0.660" Choke. This is back before he switched to the Orange Wads (I believe), as he states the wad petals are 0.030" and the ball at 0.600".

[Drakehammer]

20 inch slug barrel with chokes??? 30 yards. Hmmmm.
If those are 60 cal, thats more than 1.25” center to center.


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[5Shot]

20 inch slug barrel with chokes??? 30 yards. Hmmmm.
If those are 60 cal, thats more than 1.25” center to center.


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Now that you mention it, it is definitely more than 1.25"...maybe 1.25" BETWEEN the balls. Barrel is Remington's smooth bore slug barrel with sights. Not sure why they call it a slugger, but they do.

ETA: Remington actually referred to it as a "Deer" barrel.

[Drakehammer]

Now that you mention it, it is definitely more than 1.25"...maybe 1.25" BETWEEN the balls. Barrel is Remington's smooth bore slug barrel with sights. Not sure why they call it a slugger, but they do.

ETA: Remington actually referred to it as a "Deer" barrel.

With chokes. Interesting.


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[5Shot]

It has now been discontinued, but was available for a long time. Smooth bore, rifle sights and Remchoke...

[5Shot]

My wads (or more correctly...the pieces) looked just like these:

[Drakehammer]

My wads (or more correctly...the pieces) looked just like these:

Holy Smokes!

Pm sent with my phone #. Call me if you’d like to chat. I’m interested in this.


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