Pre-patched round balls

[Ironhand]

Years ago I remember reading a story by a shooter about pre-patched round balls. IIRC he would place the ball on a square patch. He would then run a piece of thread through the 4 corners and tie the patch tight around the ball.

He would then melt lube and dip or paint the patched ball. When it cooled he was ready to load. The whole thing was loaded. The stress of firing broke the thread and the patch separated normally.

I am thinking of trying this with my new carbine.  Anyone ever heard of this?

Thanks
Ironhand

[ridjrunr]

Never heard of it but it sounds like alot of work.
But then again, I almost always use ball boards or bullet blocks.

[MountainDevil]

yeah way to much work, and all for no reason.

[Bigsmoke]

Actually, as I understand it, that was a pretty common practice for the "Great White Hunters" in Africa and India in the 1800's.  They would patch the ball with a silk patch and sew it loosely on and put some sort of lube on the patch and then have a half a dozen or so in a belt bag.  There was an open top leather pocket on their vest where they carried their powder.  They would scoop out a handful of powder and pour that down the bore, and then grab a patched ball and ram it down the bore, bring the rifle up and cap it and boom, ready for another loading process.  I would imagine they would be able to get off 3 or 4 shots per minute as a rate of fire.  I never heard much about that.

This all would be if they did not have a gun bearer to hand the fired rifle to and be handed a loaded one in return.  The gun bearer probably was set up like that.

I really am not familiar with any loading process like that "in the day" here on this continent.  I am sure that in contemporary days, more than one person has experimented with it.

If it floats your boat, go for it and let us know how it worked for you.

John

[Caddo]

Mark Baker talks about doing this in the Long hunter 5 series. I think he had documentation that some British soldiers did this during the revolutionary war. Sounds like a good idea for a quick second shot.

[Uncle Russ]

FWIW:
I admit to trying this sometime back in the early 70"s. In fact, I was with the Paso Del Norte Muzzleloaders, in El Paso, TX.
Back in those days the Mexicans could bring their Muzzleloaders across the border and participate in our version of a Silhouette Match.
During one particular match, a Mexican shooter showed up with these sewn patch balls, and everyone was practically dumbfounded....This particular shooter took a lot of time, I have to imagine, in putting that patch on those balls!
I also definitely remember that he was a good, probably even great, shooter.

Our only rules for participating in those matches were, open sights, no peeps, and no scope.
I clearly remember his rifle had a rough cut, obviously handmade, "Silhouette" sight...it was a slide blade type, much like that found on the Winchester 94 of those days, that had four notches zeroed in elevation for 50, 75, 100, and 125yds....he had obviously spent some time adjusting / filing that sight for those elevations while using pattern after pattern to get it right!
Nobody ever knew for sure if that sight was his secret, or if it was the sewn patch on the roundball. But he was clearly a hero for that day.
He shot an honest 19 out of 20, with a hit on a Ram that didn't fall over...otherwise he would have had a perfect score. Likely the highest score ever shot on that range with a Muzzleloader.
Was it in his fancy patch, his sight, or his skill?
My guess is it was in his skill, although that sight surely helped.

So, after that match, everybody had to give those patches a try...myself included.
To me, they were easy enough to put on, although nothing fancy like the ones he had put together.
But, if they ever did anything, other than possibly a wee bit of convenience, I was not smart enough to see it.

Like all the others, I went back to my old ball board, and that's where I stayed.
(A few years later, after I had retired from the Army, I inquired about that fellow, and although everyone knew who I was talking about nobody seem to know where he was or how I could get in touch with him....I got to thinking he was on to something with that sight, and I had hoped we could do a little business together.)

Uncle Russ...