This Might be Boring but How About the Hole Truth!

[Rasch Chronicles]

Howdy fellows!

Long week! Comm down, locals in arms, near shootout with our erstwhile allies... again.

Anyway, as I do have long periods of boredom broken up by short spasms of heart stopping, hair graying, wrinkle making, pucker factor 10 on the Richter scale excitement, I was thinking...

What was considered small bore in LongRifles?

It couldn't have been too small, you still had to ramrod patch and ball down a bore!

Once again my curiosity compells!

Regards,
Albert A Rasch
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles
The Range Reviews: Tactical

[James]

I have none of the knowledge of the other folks here ,but I have heard of .25s and in a recent rereading of Foxfire 5 about Hacker Martin, there is a photo of him holding the smallest flint gun I've ever seen. Made it for a grandson. Had to be in the .20s I would guess. By the way I can relate to the boredom part of which you speak. Then we get stupid and wish something would happen before we lose our mind. Boredom is usually safer though 

[Paddlefoot]

I'm thinkin' .40 might be a good break point. We know .40 will kill a deer but maybe not as reliably as we'd like. .45 seems to fall pretty well into the good for deer catagory but a bit much for bustin' rabbits, squirrels and such unless you hit 'em right. Yeah some of you will talk about smackin' squirrels with a .62 but I'm not talkin' about the trick stuff just how you might load to go for a walk in the woods.

[Dave B]

I was lucky enough to see a Iron mounted mountain rifle that was brought in for examination at the Oregon Gun makers fair ten or so years ago. It was a twenty caliber. It was built as a poor boy no butt plate no entry pipe. The ramrod was Of iron the barrel was only about 3/4" across the flats. It was in percussion and had double set triggers. I was able to take impressions of the little rifle to document the architecture. I always figured to some day make my self one using that 25 cal that Rayle has available. What a hoot.



You know you have your fore stock profile right when it will fit inside the shape of the Quarter

[Rasch Chronicles]

Thanks fellows!

I was under the impression that 32 was about the smallest, but it seems I was a bit off!

Best Regards,
Albert “Afghanus” Rasch
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles™
Best Hog Hunting in Florida!!

[Bob F]

I am currently working on finishing a .25 using one or Ed Rayles 42" barrels.  Should be a lot of fun to shoot and will be real slim.  Yes, they are 3/4" across the flats and the ramrod will be for show.  I already have a range rod purchased for doing range time.

[Kermit]

I've got a .25 Rayle barreled rifle w/ 44" barrel. Love it. #4 buck for RB.

I too have heard of .20s, but have never seen one. Pedersoli makes some .177 percussion pistols (not available in North America last I checked--not the little derringers from Cabelas) that use only a cap to drive the ball. Zimmersheutzen rifles are a blast, also .177 IIRC.

Many years back a friend built a little fullstock for his son when the kid was about 5. Used a salvaged .22LR barrel. Little brass ramrod and used the thinnest patches I ever saw. The fun part was that he handmade two locks for it: one flint, one percussion.

[David Veith]

I have a couple of friends that own .25. The only proplem the one had with his was it wouldn't cut playing card at shoots. The ball is so small the card would move out of the way.:-(
David

[James]

That's funny David, I had a Sgt. Maj. that used to tell me to stand sideways if anyone shot at me- as I was a little narrow in the shoulder and light in the arse at that time 

[Don Getz]

I would say that the 32 cal. is probably the most common smallbore among muzzleloading guns.   I know, there are  25's
out there, but,  I feel are somewhat impractical, merely because of the small size.   32's have been around for years............Don

[Kermit]

Don, to like a .25 you have to be able to imagine a .22 short magnum. Light ball, high velocity. 

[Daryl]

The smallest I have seen in orders to makers, is 180 balls to the pound.  The gauge of 180 to the pound is .296".  I'd think that gun might shoot a 200 to 210 to the pound, ball - approximately 33gr. weight(at 210)- the same weight as one of the newer 'hyper' velcoity .22's, some 7gr. lighter than a .22 LR. The ball would be around .285". These are guesstimates - as my downloaded chart (The Los Angeles Silhouette Club) only indicates from 1 ball to the pound at 1.671" & 7,000gr., to .296" at 38.9gr. the is is the most accurate chart I've seen.  The chart in Ned's book is incorrect with the balls I checked.

The buck-shot Taylor purchased for his .25 Rayle barrel, weigh 22gr. ea. That is a current weight for .17 calibre bullets used in handloads for CF rifles.