how many shoot round ball without using a patch?

[adkmountainken]

I will be receiving a smooth bore from Roy Stroh this week and when asking him about the loads he uses he told me he shoots this particular smoothbore "bare ball", no patch, call over powder and no over ball card or wad. I am very excited to try this as I have always used a very tight path/ball combo. I am game for anything that takes a step out of the loading process and WORKS !

[smylee grouch]

I have tried it in a couple of trade guns and it just wasn't as accurate as I wanted. I tried different loads,powder,ball size and even stippled the balls but could not achieve the accuracy that I wanted.

[Mike Brooks]

I had a smooth bore for years that I shot bare ball, couldn't get it to shoot well any other way. Just dumped down the powder and dropped in the ball and chased it with the RR.

[rfd]

though probably not 18th century period correct, i load smoothbores with a patched ball.  this gives me best accuracy and doesn't allow the lead to rub the tube.  with the right combination of ball diameter and patch cloth type and thickness, and with a good patch lube, i can load and shoot all day without wiping the bore, too.  no "ball starter" or hammer required or needed, either.

[Maven]

My smoothbore likes a patched RB as well, but it has definite preferences about RB diameter (.597" - .600").  Btw, I tried Mike Beliveau's bare ball + tow OP & OS "wads" with 110gr. FFg powder charges and got impressive 50 yd. groups, but they were 8" - 9" to the right of my point of aim!

[Hungry Horse]

 I shoot a .595 stippled ball on top of 90 grns. of 2f with a greased wool blanket wad on top. I bent my barrel to get the gun to shoot center, and with tight patched balls I had to re bend every so often. With the bare ball I am getting equal, or better performance, and I haven't had to rebend the barrel. This tells me bare ball put a lot less stress on the barrel.

  Hungry Horse

[Brokennock]

I will be receiving a smooth bore from Roy Stroh this week and when asking him about the loads he uses he told me he shoots this particular smoothbore "bare ball", no patch, call over powder and no over ball card or wad. I am very excited to try this as I have always used a very tight path/ball combo. I am game for anything that takes a step out of the loading process and WORKS !

I have two smooth bore 20 gauge flintlocks. A Centermark TFDC and a TVM "Early Virginia" smooth rifle. One groups best with a .010 patched .600 ball, the other, well, I tried 3 ball sizes and I'm not sure how many patch thickness and lube combos. Oddly, the loosest patch/ball combo shot best. So, I tried a bare ball with wads.  2 to 3 inch groups at 50 yards with a thin card over powder, then a lubed felt wad, a .610 ball, held in place with 2 thin "overshot" cards.
 Defies all logic and conventional wisdom about tight patch/ball combos, but what works, works.

[little joe]

 All I can say is I  shoot a 530 ball and 16-18 thou. ticking in 55 cal bore and that works for me. If I were you I would try to go to Friendship or some of the territorials or any other highly competitive competition and see what they are doing and then decide what you want to do.

[adkmountainken]

by all means I plan to spend a lot of range time trying different loads, patch's  ect... but I will first try what Roy had been using and see how it goes. I have been shooting black powder for quite awhile and MOST of my rifles and smooth bores shot best with a tight pillow ticking patch and ball BUT I am willing to try new things!

[bob in the woods]

My .54 smoothbore likes a patched ball.  My 10 bore shoots best with paper cartridges. I've not been able to equal that accuracy with any combination of patch/ball I've tried.  2nd best is a ball with wadding.  I gave up trying to figure out why...I just use what works.