Question for smoothbore gurus

[Clark Badgett]

Been shooting my trade gun lately and after 4-5 shots the vegetable lubed patched round ball starts to get extremely hard to load, both with .015 and .010 patches. When that happens I just start bare balling it. What would be the best loading protocol? I ask this because while I can shoot at the target board and the ball not roll out, my good friend that owns the range is a decent amount taller than me and when he aims at the same target the ball rolls out. I got all the wads for when I get around to playing around with shot, ie, fiber wads, nitro cards and over shot cards. Would any of these be good to put in front of the ball or should I just wad up a piece of lubed newspaper?

And just so y'all know, in this particular trade gun, the bare ball loads shot best at 50 yds.

[Natureboy]

  Try experimenting with other lubes.  Even saliva, if you're shooting right after loading.  Mr. Flintlock and Lehigh Valley work really well, and I haven't had any problem with fouling or difficult loading, and I don't wipe between shots.  Daryl wouldn't forgive me if I did.  I once used a friend's "Bore Butter," and after 1 shot I couldn't load the next one, and my attempt at wiping the barrel required help to get the ramrod and patch out.  Lubes are one of those questions that has a thousand answers.

[Hungry Horse]

Clark;

 A couple of things might help your problem. First smoothbore fowlers, muskets, and trade guns, rarely shot a patched ball in the past. So, either the ball was dropped right on top of the powder, and held in with a piece of old blanket, or paper cartridges were rolled up, and used. This is why modern smoothbore shooters are always struggling with the patch ball loads.
 Secondly, vegetable oil tends to polymerize when subjected to intense heat, like in a smoothbore barrel. Think about it, what do you use to season cast iron cookware? Tallow will take a lot more heat before it starts to build a hard coating on the barrels interior. Venison, or mutton tallow work well, while bear lard is the best, it’s a little hard for most of us to get. Good luck.

  Hungry Horse

[Mike Brooks]

I had a gun I shot only bare ball. I'd fowl the barrel with just powder first then start bare balling. Once the barrel was fouled I never had a problem with the ball rolling out. Unless I was shooting straight down.....

[Pukka Bundook]

When we use our muskets, some of us use a thick felt wad below the ball, then a great gob of "Udderly Smooth"  (From Wallyworld amongst other places) on top of this wad, then the ball squashed into it, and another thinner wad on top.
Not historic or anything, but you can shoot all day and never foul.
(First found out about the U-Sm. for my S-Enfield, and been pushing it ever since!.)

[hanshi]

When I load bare-ball I put it on top of a lubed felt or cushion wad with a card wad on top.  I push it down as one unit and accuracy is quite good.  When I shoot prb I use .012" to .015" patches and lube with mink oil or Hoppe's BP Lube.  I don't wipe the bore and can shoot a session with accuracy unaffected and easy seating. 

Lube is important; a change could help.  Stuff such as Bore Butter always left a mess in the bore and made loading very difficult.

[Frank]

Clark;

 A couple of things might help your problem. First smoothbore fowlers, muskets, and trade guns, rarely shot a patched ball in the past. So, either the ball was dropped right on top of the powder, and held in with a piece of old blanket, or paper cartridges were rolled up, and used. This is why modern smoothbore shooters are always struggling with the patch ball loads.
 Secondly, vegetable oil tends to polymerize when subjected to intense heat, like in a smoothbore barrel. Think about it, what do you use to season cast iron cookware? Tallow will take a lot more heat before it starts to build a hard coating on the barrels interior. Venison, or mutton tallow work well, while bear lard is the best, it’s a little hard for most of us to get. Good luck.

  Hungry Horse

What about grass fed beef tallow? It is readily available and cheap.

[Hungry Horse]

Beef tallow is too hard, and when it gets cold it is like a rock. Venison, or mutton tallow, work great. But if you have a bunch of beef tallow you may be able to use it if you mix something else into it. Bear oil, or even maybe some lard, might do the trick. Melt some together and give it a try.

  Hungry Horse

[Mike Brooks]

I just blew down the barrel between shots to keep fouling soft. I could usually get 50 or 60 shots off before I had to swab it out a bit.

[Clark Badgett]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I was already planning on making a cartridge forming dowel to make up some paper cartridges. I am quite familiar with the process of making both US and English style .58 Cal cartridges and I've made quite a few .69 ball, buck and ball and shot military cartridges in the past. Still have my .58 and .69 dowels in my garage. Since military balls were somewhere in the general vicinity of .040 undersize I think I'll skip the arsenal method of tying the ball into the cartridge for this trade gun, and that will make it much easier to use the paper for wadding.

Hungry Horse, the vegetable oil was just used because that is what was in my friends kitchen. It worked amazingly for his Hawken, but not as grand for my trade gun. I was planning on trying some olive oil next time out. I only have a small jar of bear grease but I'll probably save it for my rifle when I get around to finishing it someday. Got plenty of lard.