Re: smooth bore tips & tricks
I once investigated and talked personally to a respected mould making company about having them make me a round ball mould with dimples in it like a golf ball. I was willing to pay the freight on such tooling amd manufacturing if it had merit. In short I was told the dimpling only works on golf balls because of the speed of the ball. Kind of slow compared to a projectile with 80 grs. of powder behind it. Therefore the endevor ended. Now logically speaking it will make the ball larger and provide lube adhesion when put between two rasps.
There seems to be 3 different opinions out there in shooter land. One is ram a round ball with some lube on it down the pipe. Two, take a perfectly round ball, roll it around between two rasps, throw some lube on it, ram it down the pipe. Three, take that nice round ball, rasp it or not, lube it and wrap it in tin foil, ram it down that same pipe. The answer lies with the people that are winning. What do they do? My guess is 5% know what they're doing and do it well. Another 5% do well by getting lucky on some days and then have problems on others. 25% do ok, not so lucky very often. The rest are filling the air with lead and hopfully at least having a good time doing it. Again hopfully 100% are having fun.
I myself have have tried two methods with degrees of success. With a model 1842 I used as perfect a round ball as I could make and as close to bore size as possible. Either dipped the ball in lube or insert the ball in the precharge tube and place melted lube on top of the ball taking as much as possible, (a cookie). On another smoothbore (sighted) I use a round ball dipped in Alox but the ball is approx. .012 undersized. The 1842 would begin fouling around the 8th shot. The sighted gun lasts a bit longer but this is because of the difference of sizes.
Suggestion. Talk to the winners. But remember, they're not only doing things right, they're good shooters too.
When in doubt, mumble, when in trouble, delegate.
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