favoite smoothbore loads

[hp gregory, 9128]

well guys and gals looks like smoothbore may be more popular these days than repeater. for those of you who are just geting involved in this hair pulling sport it would be nice to have some good information on loads and such.
for you who wish to donate a little info. it would be good to know. hard lead or soft. what kind of barrel. what kind of fit ball to barrel. what dia ball. what brand mould, do you use files to role the ball. what kind of powder. what kind of lube. what kind of results are you geting. and of course have you ever traded your sole to satan to make your smoothbore shoot better.
to get the ball rolling. most of us on the 17th use a .678 ball rolled on the fine side of horse shoe files to get a slide fit. not to tight. we use a very thin coat of alox. some use hard lead some soft. 3f swiss powder in the 45 grn range. ours seem to shoot decent. and no so far we have had no dealings with satan.

hp gregory
17th va inf

[Steve Weems]

When I was actively shooting in competition at the regional level I used the .678 -rolled on files and covered in alox method. I was very happy with a
charge of 80 grains 2F Goex and won several medals. Of course this charge is not for the recoil sensitive! I was shooting an unmodified in any way from the
factory Armi Sport 1842. I will have to try the 45gr of Swiss-it will probably feel like shooting a .22.

[Greg Ogdan, 11444]

Hoyt lined Potsdam, .687 bore. .681 hard lead ball, rolled over fine side of hoof rasp. 2 coates of Lee liquid alox and 50gr of FFFg Schuetzen at 25 yds. at 50 yds, same ball and lube, 65gr of FFFg Swiss. Works OK, recoil getting bad at 50. Clean with very wet patches between events. YRMV

[Jim_Burgess_2078V]

HP: I'm not a serious smoothbore shooter. I haul out my M1842 Armi Sport only for the Nationals as I have enough other guns to clean for regular weekend shoots. I use a .672 ball only because it's a bullet mold I already had. A .678 ball would probably be better but the .672 ball seems to work OK after wrapping it in aluminm foil and leaving some extra foil on the ball to serve as wadding. That's the way musket balls were originally loaded in 1861 except they used the paper from the cartridge for wadding. One advantage of using aluminum foil is that I can add some crisco inside the foil before closing it over the ball to help mitigate fouling. The lube being inside the foil keeps my cartridge box and hands from getting greasey. I can shoot an entire smoothbore team match without cleaning the musket between relays. Powder charge is 75 grains Goex FFg. Despite the fact that I don't practice with it, I am in the sharpshooter class in smoothbore. In the interest of full disclosure, I have never won any smoothbore medals but I usually hold up my end of the line in the team matches.
Jim Burgess, 15th CVI.

[Scott Kurki, 12475]

I am shooting a James River 1842 Springfield "CS Macon" 30" with a .687 diameter bore. I am currently shooting a non-modified, .682 roundball, thrice dipped in 2/3 Crisco with 1/3 beeswax on top of 42 gr of GOEX 3F. The mold for the ball is from J T Bullet Moulds: http://www.jt-bullet-moulds.co.uk/index.htm email: jeff@ballmoulds.co.uk.

I have found that the fouling could be softer. This is my first attempt at smoothbore. The shots are zero windage, dead on hold at both 25 and 50 yards.

[R. McAuley 3014V]

Restored C.S. Richmond Cavalry carbine with .687 bore (Whitacre reline), using a Rapine .685-475gr round ball (lead-tin alloy casts a smaller .683-445gr), dipped twice in lube, and 45gr of Goex triple fine. Previously shot full-length M1842 but quite like the 24” barrel length, especially loading because can seat the ball in one stroke. Nice time saving measure.

[Gary B]

Hey HP,
apparently your load worked very well at the 121st National ! Congrats on your 1st place Smoothbore Aggregate !
Well done, maybe I'll get you next time :wink:
Gary B.