Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons > General Interest

References for patched ball in a smoothbore?

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tg:
Good example though in places the rifle was well known it may have been an inspiration, and at some time as rifleing was being developed what was being used before the patch? and what caused someone to think to use the patch , was it used to hold the ball in place or remove the fouling trapped in the straight rifling and later spiraled rifling, I have never heard much concerning the original usage of the patch in relationship with rifleing.which came first the chicken or the egg.

mario:
As far as being an inspriation in rifle-using areas...maybe. But there is no documentation to prove it that I know of.


From what I've been able to gather, rifled arms appeared before patched ball. The Swiss/Germans were loading a tight-fitting bare ball, sometimes hammered down the bore.

The PRB in a rifle is supposedly an American (Pennsylvania German) innovation, but I haven't nailed down anything specific.


Mario

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