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Question about 54 cal smooth bore
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Booshway
posted
On my NSW West I usually shoot a .530 ball with a wad over powder and ball, the other day I tried some .520 balls with a .012 and it was all I could do to get the ball down the barrel the 2nd shot was even harder and I didn even try a 3rd. It shouldn't be that hard to load any suggestions that would help.


The best thing about owning a dog is that someone is happy when you get home.
 
Posts: 959 | Location: Alabama | Registered: 09 December 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
Picture of Hanshi
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I wouldn't have thought those bores would be that tight. I ran into a similar problem with my .62 fowler. First I bought a .590" mold so I could use .018" patches; even .010" patches with a .600" ball are too snug for me. I started casting balls from WW and they measure approx .606" and work much better as a bare ball and quite usable to at least 50 yards. For a first load of the day a .600" ball and a .010" patch loads okay but reloads require either a bare ball or the patched .590" ball. I use WW exclusively in the fowler.


*Young guys should hang out with old guys; old guys know stuff.*
 
Posts: 3560 | Location: Maine (by way of Georgia then Va.) | Registered: 26 January 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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That's either a real tight bore or an oversized mold. Have you miked the .520 balls. Maybe stick with the wad bare ball wad.
 
Posts: 507 | Registered: 14 August 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Scoundrel it's rough getting old lol can't remember where I put my calipers.....Smiler


The best thing about owning a dog is that someone is happy when you get home.
 
Posts: 959 | Location: Alabama | Registered: 09 December 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
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When I tried patched .600 balls in my NSW .62 they were hard loading after a few shots and accuracy was only so-so. Went back to lubed wads and over the ball cards and groups tightened and loading was easy. Another person reported problems with patched balls from their NSW smoothie too. Some of their barrels seem to prefer wads over patching.
 
Posts: 214 | Location: Big Arm Montana | Registered: 17 September 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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I think that may be true. Most people recommend .562 balls for use with a patch in 24 gauge guns but that was too tight for good loading in my NSW northwest gun. Just about had to hammer them down. I had Larry Callahan build me a .557 mold and that's way better. Using a linen patch (don't know the thickness, but don't care 'cause I've got a lot of it) I can start the ball with my thumb and it loads easy. Shoots better as well. I have no use for hard to load ammo.
 
Posts: 507 | Registered: 14 August 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
<mtnmike>
posted
Course mine is a .62,but mine makes clovers with just op card .600 ball and os card. Like you say I don't think these NSW like a tight load.
 
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Pilgrim
Picture of Laughing Bear
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Mr Staley,
Howdy do? I shoot a .54 Chief's Grade I built from a North Star West Kit. The first year I shot it I had so much trouble loading it that I broke two ramrods. (Not so bad...It gave me a chance to learn to build nice ramrods, but that's another story.) I shoot .530 balls wrapped with .oo6, sometimes .oo9 patch. The first thing that helped was Trappers' Pure Mink Oil from TOW. With that she ate the balls smoothly, but that's a flammable lube so I can't use it at shoots during the summer and the moose milk still stuck after a shot or two. I finally tried the "burn test" on the patch material which showed that there was synthetic mixed in. (I'll revisit this thread later, so ask if you don't know what the burn test is.) Upshot is that with the right size, pure cotton material, ol' Deerslayer swallows balls smoothly and easily no matter how many shots I've taken.
So check your patch to make sure it's not melting and sticking to the barrel.

and that's all I have to say about that.
Now, if only I can get rid of that rough patch down there near the breech...
 
Posts: 61 | Location: Edmonton, Alberta | Registered: 16 March 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of NWTF Longhunter
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I shoot .600's in my .62 rifle and 590's in my .62 smoothbore, just the nature of the beast. Roll Eyes
 
Posts: 797 | Location: Michigan | Registered: 29 April 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Scoundrel I found my calipers they mike out at .520 so it must be a tight bore.


The best thing about owning a dog is that someone is happy when you get home.
 
Posts: 959 | Location: Alabama | Registered: 09 December 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Hivernant
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I would use the wads instead of a patch.
 
Posts: 109 | Location: NH | Registered: 05 July 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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A lot of us smoothbore shooter have found that a ball over a wad shoots better than a patched ball. Funny thing too is that so far nobody has found a reference to folks patching a ball for a smooth bore in the 18th century as they did a rifle ball. Some seem to think the fact the patch doesn't fold uniformly for each ball loaded so that contributes to reducing accuracy on the non-spinning ball.

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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