Ball Starter

[PAT303]

I need a better ball starter,carrying on from my previous thread about tighter loads.Can anyone suggest ''the best'' starter,money isn't a problem if the scores improve.My rifle is a hawken with a .54 Green river barrel. Pat

[Bigjohn]

Pat,

I use a 'Uncle Mikes' ball starter which I built from a kit. It is basically a ball of wood with two holes drilled at 90 degrees to each other.
Into one hole is fitted a short stub of brass with a concave turned into one end and the other hole has a short length of dowelling with a brass concaved end.
You use the short stub to push the ball in just below the muzzle, then you trimmed the patch if you were using patching in strip form. Then with the dowelled end you pushed the ball approximately 6" down the bore and finished the job with the loading rod.

When I bought mine they were only a couple of dollars each and I bought several for various calibres I had at that time.

John.

[Pepe Ray]

Did you ever hear of "Backwodsman Magazine"?
The Jan/Feb. issue (Vol 28. No 1) on pg 66 begins an art. called "A Long Hunter's Ball Starter". It tell how and why. Not only a great ball starter but adapted for removing stuck ramrods when afield. The Ed. Charlie Richie, is a great guy. When I lost my job and couldn't afford to renew, he gave me a years subscription till I got back on my feet. Interesting AND therapeutic, a great combination.
Pepe Ray

[dromia]

Sam Fadala has a crudely elegant starter in the Complete Black Powder Handbook, a 6" length of 1x1 1/2" timber with a short and long suitable diameter dowel 1" from either end, use the flat middle of the block for starting and trimming and then away you go with the dowels. Works for me and cost naething but time.

[piwo]

Dromina, Pepe Ray, BigJohn,
I read with some interest each of your posts. Like pat303, I am looking for a Ball starter as well, and Pat303' s other thread described ball starters the fit the exact dimension of the projectile being used so as not to deform the ball when literally pounding the tight patched roundball into the barrel. What I think is implied in
Pat303's post but not said is that he is looking for a ball and short starter with an EXACT dimension of a patched roundball.

If this is not Pat's question, then I would like to expand on his thread and ask if anyone could additionally help with this request as well. I ask this for .54 and .58.

Thanks
piwo

[Baron von Trollwhack]

If you want a really tight combination, use a starting peg and a mallet, then a standard short starter and then a ramrod. for target work use a steel rod. Load a bit looser for hunting and the hickory rod. For the starting peg think of a 1" diameter 1 1/2 " long piece of dowell with one end turned down in diameter as a little cylindrical "peg" to fit the bore with clearance, made with a cupped tip and made long enough to set the ball to the desired depth in the muzzle. Play with ball and patch dimensions to load without tearing, then for the best shooting. Use the peg and mallet to set the patched ball in one moderate whack of the mallet, Then go to a standard style short starter to set the ball to the depth you like for use with your ramrod. The peg is the answer to making the initial muzzle to bore transition. I prefer a separate peg to the little pegs on commercial short starters. Once the patched ball is in there all is normal. BUT, You will need high quality patch material and well lubed too. I generally prefer thinner patches for shallower grooves and/or smaller calibers. An example is Ox-yoke 10 thousandths linen as against tough, tight woven pocket drill at 11 to 12 thousandths thickness. but sometimes 2K thicker is better. BTW I still have a GRRW .54 1/56 that's a tack driver with a .535 and 15 K ticking. BvT

[Bigjohn]

piwo,

Yes, I started yesterday by reading the threads "A$$ about" (taht maens bcak to fornt). :-D

After I had posted in this one I went on and read the previous. I have to admit that I don't load tight in my .40 cal.. I have only .395" RB Molds and use pillow ticking as patch (I bought a 'heap' of it some years back and still have some left; 20years.)

I have seen people 'belting' their RB's home just to get them seated and often wondered what effect it would have on the down range result.

John.

[PAT303]

Piwo your right about the ball starter being the right fit for the ball,curator mentioned this in my last post.I think it might be a home job.The reason for these post is that I'm being beaten regulary by a mere point or on a count back.Any thing that will help gain that back is money well spent. Pat

[Bigjohn]

Piwo your right about the ball starter being the right fit for the ball,curator mentioned this in my last post.I think it might be a home job.The reason for these post is that I'm being beaten regulary by a mere point or on a count back.Any thing that will help gain that back is money well spent. Pat

Pat,
I think you may have just discovered another part of the M/L sport, Making the items to your design and needs.

Some wood, brass and a little thought to what you need.

It should not be to hard to do; If you need machining of brass I know a good F&T in the area who likes a bit of a challenge and is a shooter of M/L's.

Anway, have fun,

John.

[PAT303]

Hey Big john I'll be down your way next year for the Nationals and hopefully the world titles. Hope you have some rain before then Pat

[Ohio Rusty]

I used a piece of deer antler and drilled a hole in the middle. I then used a piece of hickory ramrod and glued that into the hole in the center. The ball starter now looks like a 'T' with the handle across the top being the antler and the starter being hickory. It really starts ball easily and doesn't ever bother your palm, even on a tough ball on a fouled barrel. I made it in about 10 minues, and it was free.
Ohio Rusty
(Original author of the "Cheapskates Guide to Muzzleloading.")

[nicholst55]

If you're not above buying one, take a look at Track of the Wolf's website. They offer suitable size ball starters for most every caliber. Or, one could easily be made from a round woodern ball (Wal Mart crafts department), a section of suitable size dowel (or brass rod), and a concave tip from Track.

I also drill another hole in mine to fit the ramrod snugly. That way I can slip it over the rod to seat a ball when the bore is dirty. If the rod breaks, its much less likely to skewer my palm!

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(lcz4gd3z1wxj4frhagv0xabf))/categories/partList.aspx?catID=14&subID=161&styleID=1046

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(lcz4gd3z1wxj4frhagv0xabf))/categories/tableList.aspx?catID=14&subID=163&styleID=741

[Bigjohn]

Hey Big john I'll be down your way next year for the Nationals and hopefully the world titles. Hope you have some rain before then Pat

Pat, I'm forward casting my rosters now to see if I can be at one, the other or both.
If I'm at the world shoot, I would be working to help the event run smoothly. Must get my name on the list.

John.

[fiberoptik]

If you're cutting your patches on the muzzle, you don't want them precut & oversized. Get an old (or new) ceramic (or brass) doornob. They have a square hole. File down some cold rolled round stock (metal dowel) to fit. Epoxy on a shotgun tulip ramrod tip that you've spun in the drill and rounded a tad with a file. It set's 'em just deep enough to cut the patch with a nice sharp knife. Watch your accuracy (with an appropriately tight good but not mallet pounded tight patch) go up. This is a good start to Dutch Schultz's Blackpowder Accuracy info he sells. Best BP investment I ever made! His website escapes me at the moment.

[Maven]

I'll second what fiberoptik said about Dutch Schoultz' accuracy "system." Here's the website:

www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com

[twotoescharlie]

make your own starter tips, all you need is a correct size shell caseing and some epoxy putty and the correct size ball.

TTC

[d.thomson]

I use the Thompson T handel starter it has a ball starter a short starter and you can unsrew the end of the short starter and it is threaded 10 28 so I can screw it into the end of my under barrel rod to get a good grip on stuck balls and jages. David T.

[piwo]

make your own starter tips, all you need is a correct size shell caseing and some epoxy putty and the correct size ball.

TTC

BRILLIANT! Some acra-glass and a media to hold it, one could even make one the EXACT dimension of a conical so as to put no stress unevenly during the start...

Well done sir! :drinks: