What's your longest shot with a smoothbore?

[Daryl]

Like Bob- I used the tapered ctgs. as after the small end is torn off, it can easily be stuffed into the bore and sit there until you get the rod out. The powder will drain down into the breech by the time you are ready to ram it home. The paper becomes wadded up between the powder and the ball.  From my shooting and total lack of the paper catching fire nor smoldering, I must assume that it actually sealed the bore behind the slightly undersized load.  The ball seems to be ejected out of the paper at the muzzle.

I made paper ctgs. for my 14 bore rifle, with the paper wrapped to give a very snug fit in the rifling. The rifling actually impressed into the paper hard, but a short starter was not needed - just faster.  I obtained the same accuracy with paper ctgs. in my 14 bore, as I did with normal patched round balls. The only detractor, if there was such a thing, was every 10 shots of paper ctgs. I'd load 82gr. (3drams) of 2F and and normal patched ball. That was my cleaning load and would clean the bore so I could shoot another 10 paper ctgs. with identical accuracy.

My 14 bore ctgs. were loaded with 165gr. 2f and a .684 ball. 2 wraps (per side) of 3 thou paper, ie: 4x.003" = .012" and was a snug fit (.684" + .012" = .696") in the .690" bore with 12 thou rifling. That .003" purchase (per side) on the rifling was all that was necessary for spinning the ball in the rifling, using either pure lead or WW alloy, it can sometimes be found in one piece.

[smylee grouch]

So Daryl and Bob, are you using a regular patched ball for the first shot when you go hunting or do you use the ctgs. right from the get-go?

[Daryl]

Last couple times I moose hunted with the .69, I loaded the first shot with cloth-patched round ball with Track's Mink Oil for patch lube. I needed a second shot on the first moose and had that one into the moose in less than 10 seconds (been timed a few times to get it down) using a paper ctg. He had time to merely turn around and give me his other side.  That was it.

In training I was able to make the 2nd aimed shot in 8 seconds, using the noted tapered paper ctg. I kept my priming wheel (capper) filled so there were no blank spots. Capping was simple and fast.

The British solder, had to pull the cock to full bent, then rip the end of a ctg. off with his teeth, then prime, then close the 'hammer', then shove the remainder of the paper ctg. with the ball into the muzzle, then pull out 40" of rod, then ram the ball home, and throw the rod on it 3 times. He then raised the gun, pointed it and fired. Usually these loading and firing was on and by command, I think, thus would take longer than someone practicing and doing it on his own at his own pace.

 I did not test to see how many I could get off in one hour - that would have been interesting indeed, considering the British Musket shooters were required only 3 per minute. I'm sure that even today, 25 years later, I could still do 4 in a minute - shooting on a plate (deer kill zone size) at 50yards - or 100 on a moose's kill area zone.

Note, to be accurate, ie: as accurate as patched round balls, they have to be snug in the lands with the lands actually impressing into the paper patch. 

The Americana Military found out about tighter meaning better accuracy after enlarging the ball's size a mere .010", to .650" from .640". (Firearms of the American West 1805- 1865).  The increase of .010" doubled the hits on their test targets at 100 yards out of 10 shots, from one hit in 10 to 2 hits in ten, consistently, so they increased the size that amount - sometime around 1820, I think it was. Considering their muskets ran the gauntlet of size from .69 to 70, they still had considerable 'windage'.  Going to a swaged ball increased the hits as well, as it removed the sprue which can cause spinning & curve balls by the air the ball is passing through.

[bob in the woods]

I was hunting bears today. Just got back in.  I had my 20 bore with me this day, and it was loaded with a cartridge.
If I  am using my rifle, I'll load first with a patched ball, and any follow up shots are done using the cartridges.
As mentioned, if carrying a smoothbore, I'll just load the cartridge right off.  Daryl was mentioning about the rate of fire.
Just for interest...We have done timed [ 2 minute ]  rapid fire events. 25 yards..count the number of hits in the 6 in black circle.  Most I've done is 12, although 10 is very doable with practice . The barrel gets very hot! 
The smoothbores rule at this competition. No one shooting a rifle has ever won.

[Dphariss]

The longest hit was on a 150 yard plate about 2' square. The longest attempt was at a plate about 4' square at some 250yards. The first ball hit about 30' to the right, proper elevation. The next shot hit about 15' short of the gong, but right on for windage.  Hitting at long range with a smoothbore, is purely accidental, but sometime accidents happen. Please limit hunting shots at big game to the range you can consistently keep ALL the balls on a  9" pie plate, rifle or smoothbore - THAT is your effective range and also the range of your firearm.

As an addition to this very good advice, is that shooting in the field is never like shooting on the range. There is MECHANICAL accuracy that the firearm is capable of and that of the shooter-firearm combination in a given situation. So its best if the hunter spend some time shooting in field conditions on PAPER targets to get an accurate idea of what the capabilities are. The problem with smoothbore with no hindsights is that in field conditions the shooters head may not be ideally indexed on the stock. Shooting uphill, downhill side hill. Sitting or standing. Does shooting prone change the impact point/accuracy?  This applies to all firearms, even "moderns" with sophisticated sights.
Many, probably the majority, of trade guns seen in Museums in Montana have rear sights. Even one cut  down into a horse pistol  in the US Park Service Museum at Mammoth, WY. If people hunt with a smoothbore shooting solid shot a rear sight is a good idea. On Trade Guns many simply had a chisel drive in the top flat to erupt the sight blade then this is notched. Some are very low. The one I took a photo of in Cody has a very low rear sight and a very tiny front. I realize that the NMLRA rules frown on this but for hunting its important. Proper sight alignment will place the ball where the sights are. Improper sight alignment results in and increasing error as the range increases.

Dan

[hanshi]

If one's aim (pardon the pun) is to shoot as accurately as possible, then a rear sight makes great sense.  Everyone can't shoot with rifle accuracy by relying on cheek placement to serve as the rear sight.  I WANT to hit my target; and that's the reason I had it built with a rear sight installed.  Or if one had rather handicap one's self, for some reason or another, use a pistol.

[Tony N]

I had trouble with  consistency and had a rear sight installed. I'm now very comfortable hunting out to 75yds.
It made a huge difference for me. I love hunting with my .62 smooth bore , I plan on taking it next weekend for our early BP season.

~Tony

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I killed my first moose with a Brown Bess musket .75 cal with a .735" soft lead ball and 100 gr. Fg GOEX at 100 paces.  Perfect lung hit with ball under the hide on far side.  I've never shot at game farther away than that with a smoothbore, but I've made consistent hits on our 14" gong at 109 yards (laser'd) with a Chambers' Penn. fowler in 20 gauge...tight combo again and .609" soft lead ball.

[bob in the woods]

Thanks for your post, Taylor.  I would definitely take a shot at a moose at 100 yds.  For deer, my limit is 1/2 that.  I very confident with my 10 bore, and plan to use it for moose if at all possible this year.
Lately, I've grown extremely fond of the Chamber's English fowler/Officer's fusil that I built last year.
It is perhaps the best handling gun I own. I highly recommend it, and would sincerely love to see more examples of this build completed by others. It deserves to be more popular.

[Vomitus]

   I've recently switched to a ladies calibre smoothie. What a pleasure to shoot. It's a .540 bore built around a early Colonial Penn. fowling piece. I shoot a .510 RB with a 30thou. patch. A little tough to start, but with 80 grains of Goex 2f, on gongs(which is what I shoot at most), out to a hundred yards she shoots like a rifle.(if I do my part,hehe) It definitely is a handicap having only a front sight but I like this variable. It adds a little extra fun. Game isn't as plentiful here and shots are generally long for deer and moose due to massive clear cuts so I use those demon suppository guns to hunt with. I hit a 250 yard 4'X4' steel gong on the first try ONCE,lol! Other times needed to "dial" in with a couple of try's. Smoothbores are a lot of fun, rifles are more accurate generally, but who cares.