Loading Tight

[Frizzen]

Some of you have shown concern about loading bore size balls or some that are .005 under
bore dia. Some believe you have to hammer them all the way down the barrel. Well I found a
old video I made over 20 years ago of me loading a .454 dia. ball with .020 thick patching in
my measured .450 bore rifle. I use a 1/4 inch dia. steel loading rod. My wife uses a .410 dia.
ball with same .020 patching and it loads just as easy. I have been loading this way for over
50 years. Still do.  Watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV0qlOrMSZ0&feature=youtu.be

[ottawa]

the only hard part was for me was the starting after pass the muzzle easy going as well just a good lube

[P.W.Berkuta]

So - Phil -- has the bore been lapped? What make is the barrel? I have noticed some barrels have rough spots in them which would prevent the smooth insertion of the ball/patch combo as you show in your video. Also what were you using as a patch lube? Do you swab after each shot?

[Frizzen]

Yes, I wipe after each shot, barrel is a H&H  not lapped. Wife uses a Green Mountain 40 and
with a .410 dia ball it loads just as easy. Patch is .020 thick Teflon lube. I have loaded .457 dia
balls in mine just as easy.

[hanshi]

Did you polish the crown on the barrel as I've often heard recommended? 

[Roger Fisher]

Phil: Thanks for the tour, now I'll be the one to ask.  So what hoppen to all the black hair

[Frizzen]

Same thing that has happend to other things on my poor old body. You want more details?

[Roger Fisher]

Same thing that has happend to other things on my poor old body. You want more details?

Thanks just the same, I've got enough details of my own  

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I enjoyed your video Phil.  All of us here in the Great White North have had the same experience with loading - once the ball is started, it goes down easily, even with a 5/16" hickory rod.  Rather than use a little hammer as I saw in the video, we use a starter with a moose antler knob.  The antler is dense, and heavy for it's size, and starts a tight combo into the muzzle with one smack, and without flattening the ball.  Once in the bore, the patched ball offers insignificant resistance to being pushed down onto the powder.  Here, we do not shoot from the bench, but from the pouch.  We use lubes and patch material that does not require wiping at any point during a day's shooting.

[Frizzen]

FYI    The short starters that I use on everything have the same radius as the ball I'm starting,
so no matter how hard you have to hit it with the hammer the front of the ball will always
be the same. Round.

[Daryl]

FYI Phil - the little stud on the starter also has the ball's radius, as does the end of the starter shaft and the ram rod too. There is no damage to the ball.

[Dave B]

I just watched the video. Very cool. I was wondering about the cupping to protect the ball ,thats the smart way to do it.

Taylor,  do you have small nub of rod in that moose antler knob or just the flat of the antler to seat the ball?

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

All my starters have a brass stud cupped to fit the ball, protruding about 1/4" from the moose antler.  I seriously don't think that it matters.  I used to use starters with a flat top with which I started the ball flush with the muzzle, and had wonderful accuracy from all my rifles.  The stud is new to me (maybe six years). 

[Daryl]

I started using the stub after a brief test with a strip of normal patching material.  I laid the patching over the muzzle, ball on top and smack it as normal, then pull the ball out looking for off-centre 'moved' metal.  It just seemed logical that there would be some damage, although there appeared to be none on top of the ball. 

I found damage happened on every ball - a ridge of metal pushed up on one side due to the angle of the 'smack' of the stater top surface.  The other side of the bal showed no such metal movement. Too, the lands impressed harder on one side than the other.   This test was done in my .45 rifle.  I then testing the same scenario using the short stud to start the ball and checking those - no offcentre damage over a test of 10 ball starts. 

I started using the studs exclusively, which might take 2 seconds longer in loading, that's all.   I mentioned these tests to Taylor, suggesting that for chunk or other serious accuracy game, we'd be well advised to use the stud for starting the ball.

I repeated the test with my .69 rifle and found barely any damage to the ball from smacking it flush with the end of the starter. I still use the stud on that rifle's starter, but it really isn't necessary.  It's been a MOA rifle to 100 meters loaded with either method.