.662 rb

[sealer]

Just bought this mould ( mainly for the handles) and I didn't even know what the mould was for.
It wound up being a Lyman .662 RB mould. All the information that I can find says it's for black powder.
My question is - can this 1oz .662 RB be put into a regular shotgun wad, reloaded into a shotgun hull and be fired from a smoothbore or rifled barrel?
TIA, Dennis

[navyvet]

Check this thread.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?412680-Cloth-Patch-Round-Balls-(12-ga-)

[longbow]

Absolutely! 0.662" RB's are a little undersize for most standard trap wads so will rattle around a bit and not likely be very accurate unless you use a donut wad under the ball patch it to fit (I use cloth patch) or use a wrap like Teflon or multi wrap paper tube to keep the ball centered.

I like cloth patching the 0.662" RB's into shotcups. The cloth patch thickness can be adjusted if necessary to provide proper fit to your gun's bore. I patch much like for muzzleloader ~ load the hull up to the seating the plastic wad/shotcup then take off the press, lay cloth patch on the hull mouth and push ball with patch into the shotcup then crimp ~ I'd recommend fold crimp. I've had some of my best accuracy loading this way. Groups of under 4" at 50 yards are not too hard to get using smoothbore.

Also, in my experience the wads I have used generally distort around the ball if some support under the ball isn't added. I use at least one 1/8" nitro card wad and a small scoop of Cream 'O Wheat on top of the card wad then seat the patched ball. You just need enough COW to fill the empty space under the ball so the shotcup can't wrap around the ball under pressure.

Different brands and types of trap wads have different depth shotcups so you may have to raise the ball up in the shotcup by using nitro card wads and COW or cut petals back so they don't overhang the ball diameter.

Some sturdier wads may not require the support under the ball but so far any I have tried do. Light loads may also not require support under the ball.

Some wads may have a cup bottom that will center the ball so not require a patch.

Possibly a felt or soft cardboard wad seated before the ball then seat the ball hard on that to form a cup will center the ball as well.

Steel shot wads have thick petals that should be about right for 0.662" RB's with no patching required. I had some CSD wads that 0.662" RB's just fit into but have not tried them for "slug" use.

With adjustment for wad column height to crimp you can use any trap or field 1 oz. birdshot load data then adjust the ball position for crimp height or use a different wad that fits the height requirement.

Any 1 oz. slug load data should also be useable again by adjusting wad column height for crimp.

I load for smoothbore so no experience with use in rifled gun. However, if patched to correct fit they should grip the rifling and provide good accuracy. Since the cloth will give some and the plastic petals will squish some I suspect that fit in a rifled bore would have to be quite tight so the petals are well engraved and the ball doesn't skid as the wad spins in the rifling.

Randy Buchannan has posted about using his 0.665" RB's in standard trap wads over a charge of Green Dot ~ basically a payload change from 1 oz. of birdshot to 1 oz. round ball and he has had very good success with this load. A search should find it, he has mentioned it in several posts. Easy to cast, easy to load, low recoil and accurate to 50 yards or so.

Not sure if your gun(s) are choked or not. My experience is with cylinder bore guns but the patched 0.662" RB should go through a choke with no safety issues. The accuracy may not be good if the shotcup petals shear or distort badly though. I/C or modified shouldn't be an issue but a full choke might be.

Oh, about any lead you have from pure to range scrap should be good enough for an round ball in shotcup too. No fancy alloys required!

Cast some balls and giver 'er a go!

Longbow

[centershot]

Yes, you can!

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?369800-Centershot-Sabots&highlight=centershot+sabots

[W.R.Buchanan]

.662 is my standard Round Ball Load which I load with my Standard Trap Load of 18 gr of Green Dot, WAA12 wad 1/4" felt cushion under the ball, and fold crimp closed.

Works just fine, same mould as yours.

Randy

[sealer]

So far the results have been dismal through my 8 shot Mossberg.
Dennis

[longbow]

How are you loading?

Have you got a card or felt wad under the ball?

What wad are you using?

Smoothbore or rifled barrel?

[W.R.Buchanan]

The Felt Wad serves to keep the ball centered in the wad as it accelerates, You could also Wrap some Mylar around the inside of the Shot Cup to increase the overall diameter to better fill the bore.

The ball and wad measure .725 with the ball at that elevation in the shot cup. The ball will be pushed deeper into the shot cup during firing and since the wad petals are tapered that will increase the dia of the payload to at least .729-.730 which will be as good as it gets in a smoothbore barrel.

Accuracy for me has been Clay Pigeon at 50 yards using a barrel that has rifle sights.

YMMV

But keep in mind the round ball has been the Preferred Projectile in smooth bore guns for about 400 years so maybe there isn't anything that is any better?

Randy

[longbow]

Well that explains a thing or two Randy!

Your Winchester wads have thicker petals than mine! My Winchester wads are about 0.025" thick at the bottom of the petal and about 0.021" thick about where the ball would sit so ~ 0.662" + 0.022" + 0.022" = 0.704" or rattle fit! Even if I used the thickest petal measurement of 0.025" right at the bottom and assumed my RB's cast at 0.665" that is still only 0.715".

That's why I cloth patch the 0.662" RB's. Even my 0.678" RB's are a bit loose in these shotcups but a wrap of paper fixes that.

But as you say, with good fit accuracy should run around 4" groups at 50 yards.

Longbow

[missionary5155]

Make a paper sleeve to get your diameter "snug". A unattached paper patch slid into the cup first, then the ball.

[DanishM1Garand]

Score!

Finding what works and what falls on it’s face is half the fun.

[centershot]

But keep in mind the round ball has been the Preferred Projectile in smooth bore guns for about 400 years so maybe there isn't anything that is any better?

Randy

All things considered, yes, I agree!

[centershot]

Make a paper sleeve to get your diameter "snug". A unattached paper patch slid into the cup first, then the ball.

This is what made the difference for me in my "sabot" load. Until I got the O.D. of the sabot up to 0.739-0.740" the load wouldn't group. This was in a rifled bore, in a smoothbore a finished diameter of 0.729-0.730" should turn the trick. Keep the ball snugly centered and it should fly true. Randy took advantage of the taper in the wad petals to achieve good accuracy, most (if not all) Remington wads have an additional tapered rib on their wad petals that may be beneficial in this respect.

[longbow]

0.662" RB's also fit some thick petal steel shot wads nicely and can be used as discarding sabot in slit wads or attached tailwad/sabot un unslit wads.

Or 0.678" RB's are a better fit in some standard trap wads.

Some have had good results with 0.690" RB's in trap wads but I am not one. For the most part I find them too big for most wads I have tried and the ones they fit in sheared petals so accuracy was not good anyway. Having said that 725 uses 0.702" RB's in trap wads with great results! I think he uses Federal wads which seem to be tougher than wads I have tried.

And of course bore diameter round balls (I use 0.735") can be used naked on a wad column and can provide very good accuracy from both smoothbore and rifled guns.

Lots of ways to skin a cat as they say!

Longbow