Brown Bess Ball Size

[RMAMYWAY]

Just picked up a very clean Pedersoli Brown Bess carbine. S/N is 6023. 31 inch barrel, which is shiny and clean.  According to Pedersoli web site the correct ball diameter is .7319. Cabelas, who sells the Pedersoli carbine says .735. I tried .735 and they only go down the barrel about 2 inches and stop. Did the older Pedersoli carbines have a smaller bore? I have been looking for someone who carries .731 and havent had any luck. Dixie lists .730, but havent had any in months. I have been shooting black powder rifles for years and am familiar with loading etc...The next size down is .715, from The Track, which I havent tried yet, thinking the tighter the ball to the bore, the more accurate. Anyone know where I can buy .730 or 731.?

[bob in the woods]

A couple guys here use patched .715 balls in their Pedersoli's   One uses a .690 with a canvas patch.
Can't say either is more accurate than the others.  The .690 is also used with a paper cartridge, waxed.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

What is the size of your bore?  My first Brown Bess was a japanese made gun, and it functioned very well.  It had a .75 cal bore (.750")  I have two molds - .715 and .735, and preferred the former.  I used .020" denim patches which gave me a compression of .005" (.0025" per side) and they worked perfectly.  I killed a moose at a paced off 100 yards with that musket and 100 grains FFg Meteor BP.  The ball stopped on the hide on the off side.

[Daryl]

If the Bess has a .750" bore, I'd use a heavy patch and a .715" ball.  If it is a .775" bore, then the .735" or .740" would work perfectly, with a heavy patch.  Nice thing about the smoothbores, is balls can be cast from cheap WW alloy. Cheapest large moulds come from Jeff Tanner in the UK. Shipping is a bit longer than it used to be, but an e-mail to him will have one in the mail almost next day.  I've one on the way now, and already have 3 of his moulds. They fit normal Lyman-type handles and have no sprue cutters. Instead you use side cutters with one ground side, or a pair of plyer's type wire strippers with the little cuttouts to trim off the sprue. You are left with a round spureless ball, which can be loaded any way and doesn't have a sprue to start it spinning like a curve ball.

[RMAMYWAY]

 The problem is the barrel measures .743.  Barrel has Pedersoli name and stamps. Tried contacting Pedersoli, but cant find any way.  Guess I would be using .690's or .715's.  Thanks for all the replies and all the help...

[Daryl]

.715's will work just fine - about perfect.  Lyman makes a mould, but they're considerably more expensive than a Tanner mould, ie: here - $84.00 + tax and shipping compared to $38.00 with shipping to US or Canada.

[J.D.]

My old Ped bess mics .748 and I have had the best accuracy with .718 ball cast out of ATM (anything that melts), and .018-.020 patching. I haven't' found that patch thickness matters all that much, as long as there is sufficient crush to the patch.

Generally speaking, smoothbores shoot best with a ball dia about .020-.030 smaller than the  bore dia. though even smaller balls can be used with good accuracy, as long as the patch thickness is sufficient.

A good way to determine a beginning patch thickness for your bess is to subtract the ball dia from bore dia, divide by two for the patch thickness.

For example,
.743-.715=. 028/2 = .014 patch thickness. Again, that is a place to start. IMHO, an .018 or .020 patch might provide better accuracy and still load easily, but maybe not.

God bless

[bob in the woods]

Like I said....Guys shoot the .715 and .690 balls here with good effect.  The .690 is froma Lee mold. They are not very expensive, compared to the Lyman.
The older Pedersoli Bess's were pretty popular.  I prefer my Chamber's New England Fowler today.

[Daryl]

My old Ped bess mics .748 and I have had the best accuracy with .718 ball cast out of ATM (anything that melts), and .018-.020 patching. I haven't' found that patch thickness matters all that much, as long as there is sufficient crush to the patch.

Generally speaking, smoothbores shoot best with a ball dia about .020-.030 smaller than the  bore dia. though even smaller balls can be used with good accuracy, as long as the patch thickness is sufficient.

A good way to determine a beginning patch thickness for your bess is to subtract the ball dia from bore dia, divide by two for the patch thickness.

For example,
.743-.715=. 028/2 = .014 patch thickness. Again, that is a place to start. IMHO, an .018 or .020 patch might provide better accuracy and still load easily, but maybe not.
God bless

Absolutely easy to load, using a starter, of course.  Taylor loads a .740" in his .774" bess. That's .774 - .740" = .034" / 2 = .14" - however he uses a .030" patch and gets almost rifle accuracy at 50 yards - better than some.  It loads beautifully with it's wooden rod (1st Model) and most any lube including spit - takes a lot.

[J.D.]

I don't shoot a patch/ball combination that tight and still get very good accuracy.  That .718 ball, oversize due to hard lead, with an .018 patch will thumb start and shoot quite a while without swabbing. The .018 patching is what I had on hand, since it's what I  shoot in a rifle, so I  tried it. The .018 loads easily and shoots well enough that I didn't see any reason to change it, though a tighter patch might shoot a bit better.

IMHO, with roughly 3 inch groups, off hand, at 50 yards, on a good day, the old bess shoots plenty good with that load, for my use.

God bless