Projectile question

[725]

If you can find the above .595 RB mold, powder coating will give you a few thou added to the ball.

[Maven]

TXgn, I googled the Nessler Ball/bullet and found few purveyors of said mould let alone one in 20ga. + great disagreement as to its actual design. OTOH, a patched RB can be quite accurate in your gun (I have the same one) and the Lee Precision .600" RB mould casts beautifully and is very attractively priced. Mine casts a .598" RB's + it has a sprue cutter, which my Jeff Tanner mould lacks.

[Texasgunnut]

Thank You Maven and all. Do you use them as cast with no patching?

[Maven]

TXgn, I almost always use a patch with RB's in my 20ga. GRF smoothbore. More specifically, a .014" - .018" (compressed measurement) pillow ticking patch with RB's between .597" - .603" as my particular gun doesn't shoot bare balls of that size very well, perhaps because the bore measures .618" .619" in diameter. However, several months ago I ordered a bore diameter, i.e., .618" -.619" RB mould from Jeff Tanner as I thought a bore sized projectile might be as accurate as a patched RB. In short, it wasn't as accurate as its smaller patched cousin and hit lower on the target @ 25 yd. than the former, but it did indeed group better than the smaller, but bare RB's. (I.e., it was almost as accurate as the patched RB.) Btw, the "bore riding" RB also had a greased felt OP wad and an 80gr. FFFg powder charge to raise the impact some. Lastly, since it fits my bore so tightly, I don't need an overshot wad (less accurate with the OS wad too), but do need to swab the bore after each shot. Hope this is helpful!

[ResearchPress]

During the Civil War there was a short conical named a Nessler Ball intended for smooth bores.

This was also used in the Crimean War in the 1850s.

David