28 ga smoothbore loads

[Jerry]

What size round balls do most shoot in a 28 ga smoothbore with minimal thickness patching? Thanks. Jerry

[Canute Rex]

I don't know about most people, but I went from large ball/thin patch to smaller ball/thicker patch.

My caliver has a 0.540 bore. I started with .535 ball and ultra thin patch but it shredded. Went to .530 and a .010" patch and now I use a .520 ball and a .018" patch lubed with Hoppes #9+. Starts tight, rams ok.

I also tried bare ball with various over and under wad combinations, but that resulted in scattering.

I'm loading 80 grains of 2f Goex, a beeswax/olive oil mix soaked felt wad, and patched .520 ball and the gun shoots better than me. The felt/wax wad added a snap to the report. No chrono, but I think I gained some velocity with that.

[smylee grouch]

One of my hunting partners uses a 520 ball also, not sure about patch but uses 2f swiss powder IIRC.

[Mike Brooks]

A true 28 bore s .55 I used a .535 RB, .020 patch and 60gr 3fff.

[Fyrstyk]

I use a .550 ball with a .010 patch over 70 grains of 2f to get 3" groups at 40-50 yards.

[Hungry Horse]

 65 grains or more of 2F, .530 ball, and lightly greased piece of wool blanket on top of ball to hold it down bore. NO WAD, NO PATCH, NO CARD, and NO 3F. Patched round balls are for rifled bores, not smoothies.

  Hungry Horse

[Mike Brooks]

 65 grains or more of 2F, .530 ball, and lightly greased piece of wool blanket on top of ball to hold it down bore. NO WAD, NO PATCH, NO CARD, and NO 3F. Patched round balls are for rifled bores, not smoothies.

  Hungry Horse

Depends on if you want it shoot as well as a rifle or not.

[Hungry Horse]

Exactly my point Mike thanks for agreeing.

  Hungry Horse

[Curt Lyles]

Hungry Horse how hard is a Smooth Bore Barrel to clean after it's been shot without a patch on the ball it seems like they would be pretty fouled up with lead

[Hungry Horse]

There is no lead fowling. Because the ball doesn’t touch the barrel as it exits. Its held in the center of the barrel in a cone of hot gas. Now there will be considerable powder fowlings, but no lead.

  Hungry Horse

[Mike Brooks]

There is no lead fowling. Because the ball doesn’t touch the barrel as it exits. Its held in the center of the barrel in a cone of hot gas. Now there will be considerable powder fowlings, but no lead.

  Hungry Horse

Ah,....that's BS. I used to run bare ball exclusively on a 20 bore I shot for many years. lots of fouling and lots of lead.

[Frank]

Very interested in this topic as I just completed a 20 gauge smoothbore and was intending to shoot bare ball exclusively but will not if there is heavy leading. Two very knowledgeable fellows on shooting a bare ball. One says no leading and the other says there is lots of leading. Why the difference? Could it be the powder charge or ball size? A lower powder charge may not center the ball in a cone of gas.  , or maybe a smaller ball is required. Thank you both for your comments.

[Mauser06]

Try bare ball and patches....



That's what I love about muzzleloading. Smoothbores even moreso. The combinations of loads to try..mboth shot and balls and how the loads are composed is endless...and it's just fun to play with and see what your gun likes.  Every time I'm at the range I try a few new loads to see how they shoot... sometimes I find something better than what I've already found. 

[Bigmon]

Just a thought.....?
If balls were held in the center by the hot gas wouldn't a smooth bore shoot near as well as a rifle.  I know there would be no stabilization from rifleing, but the ball being dead center should account for a lot??
Just thinking???

[Frank]

I will just leave this here, courtesy of Hungry Horse.


Oldtravler61 is right on the money when it comes to some smoothbore shooters being a threat to rifle shooters. Years ago I attended a Rendezvous up in Oregon called Frog Holler. It was a serious primitive event requiring participants to either walk in, or canoe in. The Canadians flocked down from up North to attend, and brought their smoothbores. Many laughed at them, but many, me included, got sent South with our tails between our legs. Those guys could make a smoothbore shoot like a rifle. Many of them carried one granulation of powder, round balls. And some little squares of old wool blanket, with a little bear grease on them to hold the ball in place on top of the powder. I had my first trade gun, and had a suitcase full of wads, cards, patches, and 4F powder. Those guys just laughed at me, and my buddies, and shot us into the dirt.

  Hungry Horse

[ddoyle]

I cannot speak to this from competition,target, trail experience as a shooter but as a hunter (hard to find an equal ) a bare ball and thick blanket wad is a no brainer (if it shoots to hunting accuracy at hunting ranges)
I have been waiting all winter for a summer of bare ball under wool shooting because it seems the benfits would be:

The ability to unload easily. makes a musket versatile.

The ability to unload easily. makes a wet musket small bother

The ability to unload easily. makes a musket safer

The ability to unload easily. means less tools in your pocket and less chance of a disaster.

The ability to load easily. means an unloaded musket becomes loaded faster.

The ability to load easily means you are not struggling with calipres trying to find a ball and patch that meets your exacting needs. " hey buddy got a ball? Mind if I borrow a bit of your shirt tail? OK lets go get em"

No doubt that a developed patch load would rule the day when target accuracy is required........but lungs are pretty big. 

[Hungry Horse]

If you’re really worried about leading, you can dimple the balls, and dip them in melted black powder cartridge bullet lube. I don’t find it gives me better accuracy than just the bare ball, but it allows me to shoot more shots without cleaning.

  Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

If you do not use a bore scrubbing patch, you are looking at a REALLY dirty bore - just as when using only thin card wads over and under shot charges in shotguns. That's all part of the game.

If you don't want that and actually want decent accuracy (for a smoothbore) then you will use rifle-like loads, as in a snug patch and ball combination according to your bore size. Thbis will usually be a ball up to .020 to .030" under bore size AND a thick 10 to 12 ounce patch. The smaller the ball, the thicker the patch.

.010" to .015" material has NO place as a patch and belongs in women's step-ins and men's cotton boxer shorts, not patches for round ball guns.

Flannelette can be used as terrific cleaning patches, or womens winter bed-clothes.

[Keb]

My smoothbore shooting goes back 30+ years. I did a lot of experimenting in the early days. I'm sure I tried every imaginable combination. I settled on what works best for accuracy, IMHO.
.020" under bore size ball, .018' pillow ticking, spit and from 60 to 80 gr. of 3F. (.530" ball in a .55" bore, .600" ball in a .62" bore)
80gr. 3F, same measure of shot, 2 damp nitro cards & thin overshot card.
It didn't take me long to rule out bare ball shooting.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Keb nailed it.

[Jerry]

Many Thanks, to those that added their proven loads for 28 ga smoothbore. Jerry

[varsity07840]

I guess shooting bare ball sussessfully depends on you being able to clean the bore after so many shots. I’ve read accounts of Civil War soldiers having to push the ram rod against a tree to seat a very undersized unlubed ball in an 1842 or other smoothbore. I know that N-SSA shooters usually dip lube the ball, dimpled or otherwise.