sundance44s
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Thinking about buying a 58 cal smooth bore barrel for my Hawken ..anyone have one can tell me which size ball will be best with a pillow tickin patch .
58 cal Smooth bore which ball ?
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arcticap
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.562 sounds about right
I don't have one, but it depends on how tight or loose you want the load to be and your exact bore size.
Generally, it's said that you use a .02 smaller ball for a smoothbore (unlike a rifle) and use a thicker patch. Unlike using tighter fitting balls in a rifle, this allows for loading & shooting more balls without needing to swab as often because there are no rifling grooves to hold the powder fouling in a smoothbore.
And by using the tighter ball and patch combination, you may be able to get better accuracy, but will have to swab more often.
The .570 ball may be too tight with a .018 pillow ticking patch if you have a true .58 bore, so you would have to go to a thinner patch like a .015 or less. And if you go too thin, you're going to get burn through (patch failure) or you're going to need an overpowder wad of some kind. Or you might have to hammer it in.
Another option would be to use a .550 ball and the .018 pillow ticking. It may or may not be snug enough, but you can always increase the patch thickness to .020 or more if needed. Some folks use denim patching with large caliber smoothbores too, depending on the tightness desired.
The math would work out this way:
You would double (2X) the thickness of the .018 patch and add that to the .550 ball diameter and it would equal (.550 + .036) .586.
Track of the Wolf sells .562 balls, and those would seem to fit the original premise of using balls .020 under bore size in a smoothbore. Would you be willing to use a .015 patch if necessary?
But everything depends on the exact bore diameter of your barrel. With smoothbores, there aren't any rifling grooves to take up the extra patching thickness either, so it's all about how tight that you want the loading and ramming to be, the amount of swabbing per shots taken and the degree of accuracy desired.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(cn...ageSize=25&Page=3&Search=lead balls&Type=Desc
I don't have one, but it depends on how tight or loose you want the load to be and your exact bore size.
Generally, it's said that you use a .02 smaller ball for a smoothbore (unlike a rifle) and use a thicker patch. Unlike using tighter fitting balls in a rifle, this allows for loading & shooting more balls without needing to swab as often because there are no rifling grooves to hold the powder fouling in a smoothbore.
And by using the tighter ball and patch combination, you may be able to get better accuracy, but will have to swab more often.
The .570 ball may be too tight with a .018 pillow ticking patch if you have a true .58 bore, so you would have to go to a thinner patch like a .015 or less. And if you go too thin, you're going to get burn through (patch failure) or you're going to need an overpowder wad of some kind. Or you might have to hammer it in.
Another option would be to use a .550 ball and the .018 pillow ticking. It may or may not be snug enough, but you can always increase the patch thickness to .020 or more if needed. Some folks use denim patching with large caliber smoothbores too, depending on the tightness desired.
The math would work out this way:
You would double (2X) the thickness of the .018 patch and add that to the .550 ball diameter and it would equal (.550 + .036) .586.
Track of the Wolf sells .562 balls, and those would seem to fit the original premise of using balls .020 under bore size in a smoothbore. Would you be willing to use a .015 patch if necessary?
But everything depends on the exact bore diameter of your barrel. With smoothbores, there aren't any rifling grooves to take up the extra patching thickness either, so it's all about how tight that you want the loading and ramming to be, the amount of swabbing per shots taken and the degree of accuracy desired.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(cn...ageSize=25&Page=3&Search=lead balls&Type=Desc
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Loyalist Dave
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I'd mike the bore first, then try the .570 with the proper, lubed patching material, in a thickness to fit. Most of the after market barrel makers for T/C guns, as well as some others, understand when making drop-ins, that average folks don't want to be looking about for odd ball sizes, and will want to use stuff readily available OTC. In your case that's the .570 ball.
I found my 20 guage NCO fusil likes a combination that fits the .62 diameter bore, so if I use a .600 ball, it wants a .020 patch, and .610 ball wants a .010 patch.
Nothing says you cant place a wad between the powder and the patched ball, to protect the patch, if you find a thin patch works the best, to prevent burn through.
You should try 2Fg if you're not already using it.
LD
I found my 20 guage NCO fusil likes a combination that fits the .62 diameter bore, so if I use a .600 ball, it wants a .020 patch, and .610 ball wants a .010 patch.
Nothing says you cant place a wad between the powder and the patched ball, to protect the patch, if you find a thin patch works the best, to prevent burn through.
You should try 2Fg if you're not already using it.
LD
sundance44s
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Sundance44s
Not really planning on being a big fan of smooth bore shooting .. but one of the clubs i`m in does a smooth bore only shoot at times ..Thought i`d join in , they have been after me to join them ..most are shooting 54 cal or 62 cal can`t think of any shooting a 58 cal ..but found a used barrel cheap so thought i`d give it a try .... here`s what i`m looking at in ball molds ..Lee only sells a .562 or .575 , i`m thinking the .575 would be too large ...i know Lyman would probally have more to chose from in molds but ...i don`t buy Lyman molds because of the price . So with these choices go with the .562 and work with the patches ?
Not really planning on being a big fan of smooth bore shooting .. but one of the clubs i`m in does a smooth bore only shoot at times ..Thought i`d join in , they have been after me to join them ..most are shooting 54 cal or 62 cal can`t think of any shooting a 58 cal ..but found a used barrel cheap so thought i`d give it a try .... here`s what i`m looking at in ball molds ..Lee only sells a .562 or .575 , i`m thinking the .575 would be too large ...i know Lyman would probally have more to chose from in molds but ...i don`t buy Lyman molds because of the price . So with these choices go with the .562 and work with the patches ?
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