RB patching

[Mr Peabody]

I saw a man shoot a northwest pattern trade gun. Drop the powder, hornets nest on top of the powder. Drop a round ball, hornets nest on top of the ball. Hits a pie plate size target at 40 yards. Why patch a round ball in a smooth bore?

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

better accuracy. I had a 54cal smoothie that would hold 4" group at 75 yards with a .018 patch and a 530 round ball. Fun target shooting without a patch is one thing, but for hunting, i want consistent accuracy.

[Mr Peabody]

Would you put a lubed cushion wad under the patched ball?

[Maven]

Mr. Peabody, This thread may answer your questions: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?382383-Best-Way-to-load-a-flint-lock-for-accuracy

[waksupi]

Just patch it. I think that wadding over a ball may cause bulged barrels.

[arcticap]

I saw a man shoot a northwest pattern trade gun. Drop the powder, hornets nest on top of the powder. Drop a round ball, hornets nest on top of the ball. Hits a pie plate size target at 40 yards. Why patch a round ball in a smooth bore?

I think that patching the ball would help to produce more consistent velocity.

It would be interesting to see how many bare ball shots out of 10 would be able to hit a pie plate compared to firing a patched round ball out of the same gun.
And then see what happens to the accuracy as the target is moved farther away.
Muzzle loaders can be full of surprises and there are exceptions to every rule.
Some loads will shoot better more often than others, but if something works then it works.

[Mr Peabody]

Thanks guys

[1Hawkeye]

He used the nest material as a wad not a patch. It's a very old trick for when the original cast was out of cloth or other suitable wadding . They used hornets or wasp nest material cause it won't burn.

[indian joe]

Just patch it. I think that wadding over a ball may cause bulged barrels.

I dont own a smoothbore - most of the blokes I see at shoots load them like a shotgun - overpowder wad - lubed wad - bare ball - card wad on top - you need the overshot wad to keep the loose ball down on the powder or else you bulge a barrel for sure.

My instinct would be same as yours - patch it !

A mate and I were messing round many years ago with a $5 sawed off Belgian 12 gauge (16 inch was legal those days) - he had a rough 16 gauge ball mold he picked up at a yard sale and we wanted to make a pig load -- what to do ? We had read about muzzle loaders, watched Danl Boone and Davy Crocket movies, in the end we just took a sharp knife to some plastic shotshells already loaded, cut the crimp end off, dumped the shot out, but the ball was rattly loose in there, so we took some 303 cleaning flannel, slathered it in axle grease and loaded our grease lubed patched round ball into the plastic wad cup....With a rifle sight screwed to the rib that old clunker would shoot two three inch groups that overlapped at 50 yards (one barrel was a touch higher than the other but you could cover the lot with your hand)