Smoothbore Theory

[Jim Brady Knap's Battery]

Jim Lienike and I received the first Smoothbore DSSA's issued in the category at a National few years back. I don't know about what he shoots in his musket but in my H&P converted 1840 Springfield I shoot a close fitting soft ball out of an old Ideal .690 mold and push it with 78 grs of GOEX 2F. Lube is a soft mix of beeswax. Crisco, and olive oil. Ball is loaded into the tube the same as a rifle musket load, sprue down, with half the ball exposed and dipped thrice. No dimples in fact I try to insure that each ball has a clean surface and I weigh them to a few grains either side of nominal. As for bounding down the bore, I have found my soft lead balls in the backstop at my home range and they always have a flat band around them from obturating and filling the bore. Not blowing off or bragging but to make the point at a Gator shoot a few years back I shot a 25 yd 99 with the nine cutting the 10 ring and followed it at the fall Potomac with a 98 of course then went to the Fall National and tried to break the trigger off the musket during the string which really screwed up my scores but that was MY fault and not my load and lube. My scores have fallen a bit in the last year or so but it's been my fault and not my equipment or load. I always have confidence in my musket and ammo

You guys can file away and use the liquid alox, subcaliber hard balls and carbine length little guns but I aint changing a thing.

K.I.S.S

Jim Brady
2249V
Knap's Battery

[efritz]

Finally, expertise weighing in. Many thanks to Jim. Maybe this will help some of the others. But.
Personally, I need the real info for those shooting 90+ at 50 yd. I like Jim got some of my points early on. It's the only gun I don't have the DSSA for. But 50 yards is my self professed down fall. I also obtained those points with a 1842 repro with close fitting smooth ball, 80 grs. 3f GOEX, and a lube similar to Jims'. A few years ago I purchased an H&P and haven't been able to break into the SB agg. with it. I can hang with the pack at 25y. but get left behind at 50y. I feel technology has passed me by in some fashion.

I think that may be true with many shooters. 25y and your in the game but get separated at 50y.
So, can I narrow the request for the 50y 90+ shooters to way in?

Jim, thanks again.

[John Holland]

OK Fellas....Here is the "Elephant in the Room". As Chairman of the Small Arms Committee (SAC) I receive no less than 850 SAC emails per year, plus uncounted PM's off the BB, and some 100 + phone calls. Do you want to know why the high scores are being turned in? Here is the latest "Grassy Knoll Conspiracy Theory". The high scores are due to CHEATING ! ! ! Yep, you heard me right! In case you don't know it, the people winning are having their smooth bored muskets "SCRATCH RIFLED" ! ! ! Yep, light rifling that can hardly be noticed by the naked eye! This started about two years ago. There is another whispered rumor says the barrels are being "Straight Rifled", by having a cutter drag faint straight lines in the bore, which look like simple scratches, and cause a round ball to go perfectly straight! But, wait! We're not done yet! Just this past weekend I heard yet another "Grassy Knoll Theory". Because the word was out on "SCRATCH RIFLING", and "Straight Rifling", now the "Cheaters" are having the bores rifled for just the first 4 to 6 inches at the breech, so when a light is dropped down the barrel it won't be able to be seen!

You know what I have to say....SERIOUSLY ? ? ? Good Lord....did any of you ever drop a round ball down the bore of a rifle musket and shoot it? Before you continue on this road to self-induced paranoia....Try it! It doesn't work! You want better scores? Work harder at it!

Here's what I'm being told by these "Conspiracy Theorists"...."YOU have to do something about this!" No, I don't, because first of all it is an IG issue, and secondly, here is how it really works. If YOU think someone is cheating it is up to YOU to file the protest. Just because YOU don't want YOUR finger prints on it, don't think we're going to throw your "Mud Ball" for you! So, either stop whining, or step up to the plate and work harder at shooting better!

John Holland
Chairman, Small Arms Committee

[Jim Brady Knap's Battery]

Holy Crap John. You better hope they never learn about LANCASTER OVAL BORE RIFLING. Sometimes it's almost invisible!

Hope this helps

Your Friend

Jim Brady
2249V
Knap's Battery

[hwaugh]

John, I wasn't the one to let the "secret" about the oval bore rifling out of the bag...It may be too late to put it back in the bag. Oh, by the way, your oval bore H & P that you ordered, will be ready at the Fulton shoot.

Harry Waugh - 3731 - Terry's Texas Rangers

[Michael T.]

I know how they get those good scores-----PRACTICE!

[John Holland]

I love you guys!

JDH

[Mike McDaniel]

Practice? Practice! Heaven forfend!

Seriously, a couple of points.

You'll see stippled round balls used over on the International side for smoothbores. It's all about drag...a stippled round ball has lower drag, like a golf ball. It's due to a more turbulent boundary layer reducing base drag (and if you want details, allow me to recommend a good Aerospace Engineering college).

As to scratch rifling, I can't speak to our smoothbore muskets, but it was known to be used on some duelling pistols. But the error budget on a pistol is dominated by the shooter. I've seen test targets shot with a repro smoothbore that have a 13-shot group less than 1.5 inches across.

Practice. Practice. Then practice some more. It's just like revolver. I shoot good revolver scores because I practice.

[Maillemaker]

For any kind of firearm, my first order of business is shooting off of a bench to see how accurate the firearm is.

Once you have developed a load that gives you the best consistent group, after that it's all up to you to hold still and let the firearm do it's job.

But first you have to have confidence in the equipment off the bench. If you don't have consistency off the bench, you'll never have it shooting off hand.

Steve

[John Holland]

Thank you, everyone, for understanding my point. The successful shooters are successful because they practice....all the time. Smoothbore is no different than any other shooting discipline, if you want to excell in it you are going to have to work at it. Do these guys you are going up against have a lot of raw talent? You bet they do! But, don't give up because each and every one of us has the ability to shoot very well if we are diligent in our efforts. I recently had a "B Team" shooter tell me he wished he could make the "A Team". I told him to practice more. His reply was "I can't, it costs too much." Don't think the top shooters spare any expense when it comes to practice. Yes, it is expensive, and if you want to be in the Winners Circle you know what you have to do!

John