Do soft patched balls obturate upon firing?

[Canuck Bob]

i'm going to try PBs in my PH P61 Enfield as soon as possible. It has progressive depth rifling so even a real tight loading PB loosens up substantially once fully treated. Searching indicates some have success and some don't shooting patched balls with this type of rifling.

[Nobade]

My Springfield shoots balls well but I never got the Enfield to work with them. The patches were always burnt through when I found them, I suspect the gas is leaking past before it ever gets a chance to seal. Any more I shoot Pritchett bullets like it was designed for, and it's extremely accurate.

[pietro]

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PRB's are a no-go in your Enfield...…

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[Good Cheer]

Once upon a time I found hard ball in a three groove .69 barrel to work if a shotgun fiber wad was used under it.
So for the five groove progressive depth rifling I'd probably try something like a card over the powder followed by cream of wheat and thin patched wheel weight ball before totally giving up. I haven't tried that in my HP but now that you made me think about it I reckon someday I might!

[indian joe]

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PRB's are a no-go in your Enfield...…

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My son shoots em ok in his italian repro two bander (its a 48"twist)

[Canuck Bob]

I've bumped into a couple of success stories but generally not too many favourable experiences. I'm researching a Burton bullet with paper patching. More appropriate for Dominion of Canada Artillery carbine.

I got an unused Lee .575 472 gr. mold, a 90476. Any opinions on its suitability. Sadly it is a couple hundred grains heavier than a patched ball! Time to start toughening up my shoulder ;-) .

[Nobade]

Weren't Burton's bullets grooved and designed to be shot naked with lube? Or did he design others that used a patch? After using the bigger Pritchett bullet for a while, I think the later smaller one would be better just like the Army decided. The larger one, .562", while giving fine accuracy, requires a fairly clean bore to work properly. From what I hear, the smaller .550" one is just as accurate but much more tolerant of fouling for long strings of fire.

[Outpost75]

I shot patched round balls all the time in my original W.J. Jeffery Volunteer rifle. I used bare .580 round ball cast 1 to 40 tin-lead, loaded with hammer and short starter having a 24-ga. fiber wad thumbed into the muzzle over the 80-grain Goex 2Fg powder charge and applying a pea-sized glob of 50-50 beeswax and olive oil over the wad before ramming down the ball. Killed truckloads of game with that load and it always shot well. Key is loading "Hessian" style with large enough ball to fill grooves. Requires mallet and short starter to get into muzzle, once engraved choke up on rammer and it goes all the way down. My buddy in Italy loads similar .600 round ball in cut-off 24-ga. all-brass shells in .577 Snider sporting carbine, his regular boar load.

[Canuck Bob]

Nobade my reference was to the raw bullet. I found out the bullets used during the ACW were in fact Burton bullets as the earlier Minie used a base plug. The P61 Enfield used a Pritchett bullet with a base plug but no grease grooves. It was paper patched. The Pritchett bullet is unobtanium for me. So I plan to use my Lee Minie mold for casting and paper patch it. Much like a rifleman might paper patch a GG 30-30 bullet. I think it was a mistake to call it a Burton bullet instead of the very commonly used Minie name. Sorry for the confusion.

[Canuck Bob]

Outpost may I ask why you didn't use non alloyed lead? I have no idea how hard a 1 in 40 alloy would be. I've been advised to use soft lead only for a front stuffer. Also was that volunteer rifle fitted with progressive depth rifling? Your procedure is unique, I'll give it a try if early trials suck.

Good Cheer using wads is something I have no experience with. It makes sense though. My only muzzleloader is a lefty Lyman flint Deerstalker. It handles patched balls just fine. Why did you use WW lead, any particular reason?

[longcruise]

I shot the 50 cal version of the 476 and it was fine on accuracy but not so great with hotter loads. I attributed it to a thin skirt but also read somewhere that lee modified the mold to a thicker skirt.

[mooman76]

I have shot WW lead before and it worked fine. Just a little harder to get down the barrel but mostly because alloy comes out slightly larger. Some use WW lead because pure lead is getting harder to find unless you buy it.

[Oyeboten]

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PRB's are a no-go in your Enfield...…

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What about two or three Balls?

[Nobade]

Nobade my reference was to the raw bullet. I found out the bullets used during the ACW were in fact Burton bullets as the earlier Minie used a base plug. The P61 Enfield used a Pritchett bullet with a base plug but no grease grooves. It was paper patched. The Pritchett bullet is unobtanium for me. So I plan to use my Lee Minie mold for casting and paper patch it. Much like a rifleman might paper patch a GG 30-30 bullet. I think it was a mistake to call it a Burton bullet instead of the very commonly used Minie name. Sorry for the confusion.Gotcha! I don't know if NOE still has those pritchett moulds, but that's where I got mine if it helps. Also comes with a mould to make the plugs from bondo but they work fine without it.

[Canuck Bob]

I think a mould might be available from Brooks' Moulds as a special order. They made one for a YouTuber britishmuzzleloaders. He has an outstanding HC British Military Guns channel. I will check Brooks when I'm no longer a time waster. I truly hope to tune this gun into a PRB shooter to 100 metres.


Gotcha! I don't know if NOE still has those pritchett moulds, but that's where I got mine if it helps. Also comes with a mould to make the plugs from bondo but they work fine without it.

[indian joe]

i'm going to try PBs in my PH P61 Enfield as soon as possible. It has progressive depth rifling so even a real tight loading PB loosens up substantially once fully treated. Searching indicates some have success and some don't shooting patched balls with this type of rifling.

Do soft patched balls obturate on firing???
The conventional answer says yes ..................I wonder by how much ?...retrieving patches should tell us something ... do we see signs where the patch made contact with the bottom of the rifling?

[sackettboys]

I've tried PB in my PH 1861 musketoon and PH 1853 musket with so-so results.
Now my Navy Arms Zouave was a different story. I replaced the barrel with a Numerich Arms barrel and that was a tack driver with a .562 ball and patch.