Smoothbore Theory

[Eggman]

The weekend is here Toot. Time enough to read this thread. The greatest thing since "War and Peace."

[Eggman]

I never did give away a free book with this thread. First five guys from the thread who PM me get one delivered at the natl. Pat (PJ) Kelly you get the 6th. I'm sure you can find somebody to read it to you.

[Jim Brady Knap's Battery]

im not a smoothbore master but i have some ideas as to what MAY be going on inside the bore. it would seem a tight fitting ball wont shoot as well as a loose fitting one. could this be because the gas flows around the ball and centers it in the bore? hard to say. but i do know every smoothbore i have had will shoot a looser ball better than a tight one. as for the dimples. i guess if they work for a golf ball they would work on a smoothy ball. the alox seems to work well because it drys hard. unlike a musket where you want the lube to keep the fouling soft the alox remains hard and the fouling is like dust instead of sludge. as for the ball upseting to bore dia. dont count on that. i dont think that happens. it takes a lot to upset a solid lead round ball. the fit that seems to work in my gun is one where the ball barely sits on the muzzle. it practicaly falls down the bore. in fact the very thin coat of alox seems to be the only thing keeping gravity from pulling the ball down the bore. one thing i consider important when working up the ball is to remove the sprue before rolling the ball. you want the ball to be as perfect as you can get it so that as it clears the crown on the muzzle there are no imperfections that will affect the balls flight. shooting a smoothbore is a game where you try to perfect a process then repeat that process over and over. all you have working for you with a smoothbore is the ammo. good ammo will hopefully give you the good shots you are looking for.

hp

I shoot a soft ball that is about .003 under bore. 78 grs (A double dip with a Lee dipper) 2F GOEX, no files, no alox, stick them in the tube sprue down and dip the bottom half in rather soft lube that I use on minnies (Thrice Dipped from the infamous Lefty on the old B/B), load them sprue up. They go where they are pointed. With the soft lube I only need to brush with the butt up between relays which lets the crud fall out all over your forearm instead of back into the barrel and it never fouls and cleans with soapy water. As for upsetting? Mine do. I find them in the local club backstop with a small band around them from upsetting in the bore. They're not bouncing as they travel down the bore they're coming out like a piston. Now the following is information about myself that I don't often mention and never brag about on this B/B and while not trying to impress anybody I offer it only as credentials as to my method of loading and shooting the smoothbore. I have had a team match or two where I missed nothing, shot a 99 at 25 yds a few years back at a Gator and followed it with a 98 at the Fall Potomac that same year, both with witnesses, won a bunch of other medals and also stood next to Jim Lineke as we received the first DSA's ever issued for smoothbore musket. If all that filing and hard lube stuff, hard lead, undersized balls etc works for you guys, great! I ain't changing a thing. I haven't shot individuals in a few years and for the last couple of years I have had to drop a few events due to some shoulder issues but if they get resolved I'll drag the smoothie back out and we'll have some fun.

[Eggman]

I think this may be the trend Jim. I still rough the balls but have dropped Alox (bore crudded up/became hard too load too fast) and gone to a soft lube like you. Great consistency and comfortable loading in this mode.