Bore size, ball, and patch

[Mike from OK]

The rifle I shoot most often is my .32 flinter...

When I purchased the rifle I bought a box each of .310 and .315 diameter balls and a package each of .005, .010, and .015 round cotton patches.

I started out shooting the .310 balls and .015 patches. I didn't put any serious effort into tracking
the accuracy of the combo, but performance was acceptable.

Then I went to the .315 balls and .010 patches. Again, no serious effort/study into accuracy. But performance has been acceptable.

Both loads seem to be as accurate as my abilities allow them to be. ( been nearsighted most of my life and it ain't getting any better )

I haven't gauged my bore to see what the land-to-land diameter is. But being a modern production .32 I can reasonably assume it is pretty close to .320

Now for the question...

I see that TOTW sells cast balls in both .319 and .320 diameter. Has anyone here used round balls that are essentially the same diameter as their bore diameter?

I figure if I bought a box of each I could start with the .005 patches and see how difficult it is to load. And then possibly move to the .010 patches, etc...

Right now my major concerns are difficulty of seating the ball and whether or not a .005 patch will burn through upon firing.

If the experiment is a wash I should only be out $18 plus shipping. So not a huge amount of time money and effort is at stake here.

If I do purchase the .319 and .320 balls that will give me 4 different sizes of lead ball, 4 or 5 different thicknesses of patches, and 3 different brands of 3f powder to tinker with...

For someone who likes to tinker and can't leave well enough alone, I think I'll be in heaven. Lol

Edit: For some harebrained reason I thought I had .005 patches. I don't. So I guess .010 is what I'll start with.

Mike

[smylee grouch]

Welcome to the forum Mike. Don't forget the patch lube as a variant to test. I would make sure the crown on your rifle is nice and smooth first and then start your load development. There are a lot of people who shoot bore size balls with quite thick patches but to do so almost mandates having a nice smooth crown. Each gun seems to have its own personality so testing a lot of different combos is good and keep a load book with the results so you can go back and compare the results. Good luck and have fun with it.

[rich pierce]

How do these combos load and what do the fired patches look like?

[Daryl]

The rifle I shoot most often is my .32 flinter...

When I purchased the rifle I bought a box each of .310 and .315 diameter balls and a package each of .005, .010, and .015 round cotton patches.

I started out shooting the .310 balls and .015 patches. I didn't put any serious effort into tracking
the accuracy of the combo, but performance was acceptable.

Then I went to the .315 balls and .010 patches. Again, no serious effort/study into accuracy. But performance has been acceptable.

Both loads seem to be as accurate as my abilities allow them to be. ( been nearsighted most of my life and it ain't getting any better )

I haven't gauged my bore to see what the land-to-land diameter is. But being a modern production .32 I can reasonably assume it is pretty close to .320

Now for the question...

I see that TOTW sells cast balls in both .319 and .320 diameter. Has anyone here used round balls that are essentially the same diameter as their bore diameter?

I figure if I bought a box of each I could start with the .005 patches and see how difficult it is to load. And then possibly move to the .010 patches, etc...

Right now my major concerns are difficulty of seating the ball and whether or not a .005 patch will burn through upon firing.

If the experiment is a wash I should only be out $18 plus shipping. So not a huge amount of time money and effort is at stake here.

If I do purchase the .319 and .320 balls that will give me 4 different sizes of lead ball, 4 or 5 different thicknesses of patches, and 3 different brands of 3f powder to tinker with...

For someone who likes to tinker and can't leave well enough alone, I think I'll be in heaven. Lol

Mike

Hi Mike.  I-too had a flint .32 I purchased some years back.  The grooves were very narrow and lands wide, which is the opposite of what is usually desired today.  The wider the grooves, the easier loading, with any combination. 

Not to be discouraged, I purchased a DC Lee mould casting 2 .311" balls.  I greatly smoothed the barrels crown, making a nicely polished rounded entrance into the bore.  This smoothly radiused 'crown' allowed easy loading my chosen .022" (10 ounce) denim patching with the .311" balls.  I bought a box of Hornady 0 Buck Shot, which was .320" in diameter.  Due to the 3% antimony content, they were harder than the pure lead I was used to loading and were difficult to load.

I purchased a .319" Lee mould, which actually cast 2 .320" perfectly round balls with my soft lead.  These loaded almost as easily as the .311" balls and I switched over entirely to the larger balls.

My accuracy was best with 35.0gr. weigh of 3F, GOEX ran 1" for 5 shots at 50yards.



I should mention here that photobucket will not allow me access to my account there, to upload pictures back to my computer.

 

[Daryl]

Finally got in- after about 10- minutes of trying.

This is the crown after working on it, and the method of working on it. Easier with a lathe, but perfect results by hand.  Trun he barrel 90 degrees every now and then- as in 15 to 20 seconds. I use 320 grit wet-dry paper now. I used to use 320 grit emery- either works just fine. A finer polish can be had with crocus cloth or 400 or 600 wet/dry.

[Mike from OK]

Welcome to the forum Mike. Don't forget the patch lube as a variant to test. I would make sure the crown on your rifle is nice and smooth first and then start your load development. There are a lot of people who shoot bore size balls with quite thick patches but to do so almost mandates having a nice smooth crown. Each gun seems to have its own personality so testing a lot of different combos is good and keep a load book with the results so you can go back and compare the results. Good luck and have fun with it.

Thank you sir.

Mike

[Mike from OK]

How do these combos load and what do the fired patches look like?

Which loads are you referring to: the .310/.315 balls or the .319/.320 balls?

Mike

[Mike from OK]

Daryl thanks for the info.

Like I said in the OP I haven't put a lot of serious study into checking load accuracy yet. I travel for work and spend weeks away from home. So spare time to head to the range can be hard to come by.  Most of my outings are usually to the pasture where I set up a small target against a backstop... So plinking is probably a better description.

Here in a few weeks when the weather cools off and I am home, I plan to spend an afternoon at my local range going through all the combinations. I plan to keep a log as suggested above.

Depending on how those tests go I may ask for more info on coning the crown. Just have to see how it goes.

Mike

[Daryl]

The crowns as I have pictured load easily with very tight loads. The crown's depth is perhaps 1/8" at most.  There in no coning.

[hanshi]

Even .010" patches are kind of thin for best performance. IMHO.  I use .311" home cast ball and .020" patching.  I even use .025" denim when I lube with Hoppes BP lube; otherwise I use TOW mink oil.

[Daryl]

With the .320" balls, I was able to achieve the same accuracy with a thinner .019" (compressed) pocket drill patching, 100% cotton, but also shot the .022" and .0235" denim and mattress ticking with the same balls.

These small diameter balls contain not a lot of lead, thus there is not a lot of lead needing to be 'drawn' when introducing very tight loads into the muzzle. With a smoothly radiused and polished crown, the short stud on the starter's knob can be used and the ball and patch merely pushed into the bore with hand pressure.

This was possible in my .40 as well, which is the bottom barrel muzzle picture I posted. I did not need to hit the starter knob with my hand, only needing hand pressure.  As well, the ram-rod, choked up on, was all that was needed for a demo I made.  It's just handier to use a starter as I've been using one since 1972.