Round ball loads...again

[peter nap]

Searching has turned up a lot of information but nothing concrete.

I'm going to try some .735 round ball in my rifled handi rifle.

Since there aren't any shot loads exactly that weight, I thought I'd ask. I want to try these in plastic hulls and if possible, use Blue Dot since I have plenty. Aside from Unique, I don't have any other suitable powder except for possibly 410 or Trail Boss. Those two are a real question mark.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[shotman]

You better check the rifling in the gun .735 may be VERY tight. Blue dot is fine I use 25gr under a .728 and it does a fine job. dont use a shot cup .

[peter nap]

You better check the rifling in the gun .735 may be VERY tight. Blue dot is fine I use 25gr under a .728 and it does a fine job. dont use a shot cup .

It is tight but the ball has so little surface area, I think it needs complete contact with the grooves to prevent stripping. I will have to watch my pressure carefully. The twist is borderline for a ball.

Do you use a filler/buffer ?

[longbow]

I got some good groups of 2" + at 50 yards using 0.735" round ball in a Remington 870 with 1:36" twist. Groove diameter was 0.727" so tight for that ball but no pressure signs.

- Balls were ACWW so reasonably hard (harder than pure lead for sure)
- 38 grs. of Blue Dot
- over powder plastic gas seal
- wad column was a stack of hard card wads

Load was based off a published load for a 610 gr. full bore slug with up to 44 grs. of Blue Dot at a pressure of 12,500 PSI. A little hot for my liking. I did not go over 38 grs. as recoil was enough for me.

A recovered ball showed a "belt" around the middle and good rifling. I figured 1:36" would be too fast for the ball but groups were good.

I had borrowed the gun so had limited testing time and did not shoot further than 50 yards but may borrow it again and try at 100 yards to see if accuracy holds up.

I wouldn't argue against a somewhat smaller ball though ~ maybe a thou or two over groove diameter. In comparison to equal weight or heavier slugs over the same charge these round balls seem to have a sharper recoil so I am thinking the swaging to bore size may cause a bit of a pressure spike. No sticky extraction though so I am inclined to think pressure is fine but I wouldn't push it any harder. In fact future testing will probably be over 35 grs. of Blue Dot so it doesn't slap me silly so much (light gun).

They shoot pretty well through my smoothbore with 0.729" barrel too and not quite as much squeeze.

There isn't a lot of meat around the equator of a ball but I do think 0.735" in a 0.727" barrel is pushing it ~ at least without pressure testing it which I may get done eventually.

Longbow

[peter nap]

Thanks Guys!
Longbow, that sounds like a pretty stiff load. I may start around 28 grains and work up from there.

Have you tried 2400?

I thought about Trail Boss, but the Tech said when they tried to work up loads, they couldn't get enough powder in.

[tommygirlMT]

Regarding the use of 2400 powder in the 12ga., long story short it don't work very often and when it does it don't work very well.

Thread with further explenation if your interested:

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=192340

[peter nap]

You're a wealth of information...Thanks!

[Nobade]

I've been shooting .715 balls patched with pillow ticking in my smoothbore 870, over a pretty stiff load of Blue Dot.(Don't remember how much, about max in the Lyman book) Just cut the petals off a AA wad, seat it over the powder, patched ball on top, then crimp. So far it works great, with surprisingly good accuracy.

[GBertolet]

I have had good luck with the .737 RB in my H&R 12 ga slug gun. I use pure lead, and upon firing you get flats on the ball where it sizes itself to the bore. I cut the gas seals of two AA shotcups. I use the first one over the powder, then a filler wad, and I invert the second gas seal to make a pocket for the round ball to sit in. I also wrap the ball with teflon tape so no leading occurs. I have had very good results with Blue Dot powder. I cut my once fired hulls to 2 1/2 inches to get rid of the star crimp and cut down on the amount of wadding needed, and roll crimp the loaded rounds with a BP roll crimper. A 2 1/2 inch long piece of 3/4 inch conduit works fine as a gauge and guide to trim the hulls. A sized hull fits right in and you cut it off using the end of the pipe as a guide using a razor knife. If you choose to use roll crimped rounds in a tubular magazine, extra caution is in order to insure the ball is seated below flush with the sides of the hull.