Musket ball size?

[Steven Goselin]

there is NO doubt to me, after doing the testing, that a dual tow wadded ball gave me the better overall accuracy with all the smoothbores i've owned.  but again, i had barrel leading that needed attention and i did not appreciate the chore to clean it out, so i'm sticking with a careful patched ball and YMMV.

I am going to experiment with all of the methods and see what works best in my gun(s). I just acquired a repro French musket and am having a New England fowler built. I foresee a lot of smoothbore experimentation in my near future. I greatly appreciate everyone's help and will keep you guys informed as I learn. I am really looking forward to this process

[RobD]

if you love getting into our nation's earliest history, and you love guns, the smoothbore was THE weapon of its time, right up past the rev war and into the golden age.  the smoothbore is a jack of all trades and master of some.  always GOT to have at least one smoothie in the gun safe.   

[Ohio Joe]

A really big surprise came when I tried tow.  I frankly didn't expect much but it was historically correct so I gave it a go.  I dumped down a powder charge, stuffed a wad of tow in the muzzle, pushed a ball down on it and added another wad of tow.  The whole shebang was then rammed down to sit on the powder.  I'm guessing that the rear wad tended to get blown forward to surround the ball and center it in the bore.  Whatever happened, the result on the target was good and once again I could shoot single ball, buckshot, or birdshot.
 

John, my last outing a week or two back, the last three shots I took I loaded; Powder, pushed a paper (newspaper) wad down the bore a bit then put the ball center on top of the wad and pushed it down on the powder. I then followed with another newspaper wad on top the ball (the ball was a .575) for my .58 cal/24 ga.) I did my last three shots of the day that way and they actually got into the scoring rings of an NRA TQ-4 100 yard target I posted at 25 yards (2 - 8's and one 6)... It has been the best (offhand) accuracy I've had to this point... I'm still learning however as this is my first smoothie. I do believe there is something to what you're saying as I couldn't even get the performance I mentioned above with a patched ball.  So I'm going to try the above method for awhile and test some larger balls and heavier loads.

Perhaps I just got lucky that day, but the previous 4 shots (that were patched) didn't even get anywhere on the target. As a side note I did not swab the bore at any time during that 7 shot outing, so perhaps that helped at the point of going to the paper wadding?

[Stormrider51]

A really big surprise came when I tried tow.  I frankly didn't expect much but it was historically correct so I gave it a go.  I dumped down a powder charge, stuffed a wad of tow in the muzzle, pushed a ball down on it and added another wad of tow.  The whole shebang was then rammed down to sit on the powder.  I'm guessing that the rear wad tended to get blown forward to surround the ball and center it in the bore.  Whatever happened, the result on the target was good and once again I could shoot single ball, buckshot, or birdshot.
 

John, my last outing a week or two back, the last three shots I took I loaded; Powder, pushed a paper (newspaper) wad down the bore a bit then put the ball center on top of the wad and pushed it down on the powder. I then followed with another newspaper wad on top the ball (the ball was a .575) for my .58 cal/24 ga.) I did my last three shots of the day that way and they actually got into the scoring rings of an NRA TQ-4 100 yard target I posted at 25 yards (2 - 8's and one 6)... It has been the best (offhand) accuracy I've had to this point... I'm still learning however as this is my first smoothie. I do believe there is something to what you're saying as I couldn't even get the performance I mentioned above with a patched ball.  So I'm going to try the above method for awhile and test some larger balls and heavier loads.

Perhaps I just got lucky that day, but the previous 4 shots (that were patched) didn't even get anywhere on the target. As a side note I did not swab the bore at any time during that 7 shot outing, so perhaps that helped at the point of going to the paper wadding?

Joe,   Not bad at all!  A couple of things come to mind while reading earlier posts.  On a few occasions I nearly started a grass fire when using tow.  Things tend to get a mite dry in the summertime here in Texas.  You might want to keep an eye peeled when using newspaper as well although the grass in your photo still looks pretty green.  My second thought is actually for RobD.  I've always avoided using anything but soft lead in my rifle because it will conform with the patch to the rifling but smoothbores don't seem to care.  They don't have those squiggly grooves in the bore to contend with.  Balls cast from wheel weight metal don't seem to lead the bore in a smoothie nearly as much as the pure stuff.
John

[Ohio Joe]

You might want to keep an eye peeled when using newspaper as well although the grass in your photo still looks pretty green.

That's the very thing I do all the time, John. Regardless if it's green or brown I always watch and walk the Range area where my patches (and now wads) go from the muzzle. You just never know and a little scouting is always a good idea. 

[rollingb]

if you love getting into our nation's earliest history, and you love guns, the smoothbore was THE weapon of its time, right up past the rev war and into the golden age.  the smoothbore is a jack of all trades and master of some.  always GOT to have at least one smoothie in the gun safe.   

I haven't put any shots from my new NWTG on paper yet, but I've already made a bunch of "kills" with it. 

If you smoothbore fellas ain't tried dumpin' 30-35 grs. of FFFG down yore bore (no wad and no ball),.... primein' the pan,.... and drawin' a bead on a big ol'wasp nest covered with wasps, from about 6-8 feet away, yore missin a bunch of fun. 

I'm not sure what the 2017 legal "bag limit" is on wasps, but I sure got a bunch of'em yesterday. 

[Loyalist Dave]

Gus I'd suggest you try something like a .675 or a .672 ball.  You are correct.  The military ammo is for speed loading first, and accuracy second.  What men who were designated as "marksmen" did was to prepare a few cartridges with extra wraps of paper to snug up the ball for a few shots.  However, as with a rifle, fouling would mean they would either after a few shots need to swab the bore, OR they would switch to the less accurate military ammo.  Track of the Wolf sells ball near the bore size of your gun.  https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/127/3

LD

[Ohio Joe]

Now that sounds like some fun Rondo, and cheaper then a can of wasp spray!    

[Steven Goselin]

Ordered tow from Townsends on Monday and it arrived this morning (Wed.). Also got balls from Track of Wolf. Gonna do some shooting soon.

[rollingb]

Ordered tow from Townsends on Monday and it arrived this morning (Wed.). Also got balls from Track of Wolf. Gonna do some shooting soon.

Please keep us updated with reports.