Hello from a new member

[marvin54]

Hello everyone,
I've been lurking here for awhile and decided to join so I could ask questions about casting and loading roundballs for deer hunting.

It looks like .678 roundball is one of the best bets out of a smoothbore, so thats where my interest is.
Thanks for all the great information, i'll probably be asking lots of questions in the near future.

Thanks,
Scott

[hatcreek]

Hey Scott, welcome you'll find alot great people here to help you out, this reloading is a real blast (no pun intended). Shoot straight and good luck. HC

[littlejack]

Scott
Welcome to the CastBoolits.
What are your other components. The .678 ball is a good place to start, providing the other components will be right for the "mix".
What hull are you using, powder and weight, wad and primer. Do you have a good/recent shotshell reloading manual?
Jack

[Hogtamer]

Talk to Longbow about those roundballs. Welcome!

[marvin54]

Thanks everyone. I don't have any components yet but i do have some manuals on the way. And i've been looking around here for loads also, finding something accurate is what i need to do now.

Thanks,
Scott

[1876dan]

Me too!

Hello....

Anybody know where I can buy 10 ga brass shotshell for my recently purchased 1887 Winchester Shotgun????

I am coming up empty at Brownells and MidwayUSA.

Does Magtech even make a 10 ga, 2.5" brass shotshell???

Thanks

[Wickyd]

checked Magtechs website no 10 gauge listed

[cpileri]

welcome, sir!
you came to the right place
C-

[longbow]

I have had good result using Fiocchi hulls and 0.662" and 0.678" RB's in shotcups. My choice of powder is mostly Blue Dot and SR4756. So far good results with both.

I started off seriously with 0.735" RB's because I figured bore size balls would be easier to load and give better accuracy. Well, true to a certain extent but I had to build hard card wad columns as I found cushion leg wads with petals cut off did not work for me and any soft wad column didn't work well.

My load was taken from Precision Rifle's published pressure tested 610 gr. Piledrive load of up to 44 grs. Blue Dot in "any" straight walled hull. Pressure for that load is listed at 12,500 PSI which is a little high for my liking.

So I started at 36 grs. in Fiocchi 2 3/4" hulls with the 575 gr. RB. Accuracy was very good to 50 yards giving 3" to 4" groups. I also had a 0.662" RB mould so gave that a try in a shotcup and cloth patched to take up slop because it is a little small. That also gave good accuracy and was easier to load so... I stuck with that and more recently got a 0.678" RB mould that fits my Winchester wads perfectly. Again, accuracy is on par with the other two to 50 yards.

I have shot to 100 yards but find that I get too many fliers out that far. Some groups are good and some are not. Not consistent enough for me anyway.

Accuracy is very good and consistent to at least 50 yards and I will try to determine where it goes awry after 50. My belief is that the balls pick up random spin from air drag and that results in a "curve ball" trajectory. Just my opinion. Whatever the cause, the balls do very well to 50 or 60 yards then groups start to open up.

I have read reports of smoothbore musket shooters claiming 3" groups with PRB to 75 yards and have no reason to doubt them so if they can do it, we should be able to do it! Gotta keep trying.

I am hoping to get out shooting this weekend as I have some RB's to shoot in Uniwads Hogtamer sent me and I have some slugs to shoot up. I have not had time to load or shoot lately due to plumbing problems, vehicle problems and most recently furnace problems. Time for some fun now!

Oh, I should add that one of the reasons I like the 0.662" and 0.678" RB's is weight. They weigh pretty much 1 oz (0.678" a bit over) so there is lots of reloading data available. Once you get over about 1 1/4 or maybe 1 3/8 oz. load data becomes scarce. Recoil is another factor. Even that 0.735" RB over 38 grs. of Blue Dot was as much fun as I could take for many shots in a light gun.

Now cpileri and littlejack have been venturing into the heavyweight territory normally inhabited by the likes of Ed Hubel. They can answer questions on heavy slugs and large charges of slow burning powders better than I can. I have not ventured that far from "normal" loads except to do a bit of experimenting with some 800 gr. slugs.

Welcome and enjoy! Lots of info here and good people to learn from and share with.

Longbow

[marvin54]

Longbow, thanks for the load data. A couple of questions.

My load was taken from Precision Rifle's published pressure tested 610 gr. Piledrive load of up to 44 grs. Blue Dot in "any" straight walled hull.

Is Precision Rifle a website or a manual?



I stuck with that and more recently got a 0.678" RB mould that fits my Winchester wads perfectly. Again, accuracy is on par with the other two to 50 yards.

What Winchester wads are you using?


I have read reports of smoothbore musket shooters claiming 3" groups with PRB to 75 yards and have no reason to doubt them so if they can do it, we should be able to do it! Gotta keep trying.

That would be nice, but around here 50 yards is probably plenty.

Thanks,
Scott