On any Sunday

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Only five of us shot our trail yesterday - Sunday January 14th.  But the weather has warmed up since Christmas...it was -5 C yesterday, which is around 75F I think.  Anyway, it was very pleasant.  Four of the five of us shot smoothbores without rear sights, and all with patched ball.  We were pretty consistently hitting targets out to 95 yards.  Our smoothbores are all 20 gauge (.620" bore).  Three of us shot .600" and Daryl shot .595" 'cause his has a choked muzzle.  The fellow on the far left shot a .50 cal flint half stocked rifle.  We are starved for snow this year.  We usually need snow shoes at this time of year, and  it is usually around -30 C.  We don't shoot at that temperature.  (anymore)

[somehippy]

Sounds bout as fine as Sundays come!  Some good shooting by the sounds of it as well.  A sunny day around -5 c feels great.

[WaterFowl]

No snow shoes in January?  Wow!!!.......Impressed with your smoothbore accuracy.
 Just something about shooting a smoothbore with no rear sight sounds like a challenge and appealing at the same time.
You guys still shooting 50 targets?
Thanks for sharing..Keep them coming.

[OldMtnMan]

Looks like fun. Please name everybody?

[Robby]

Looks good to me, wish I could be there for at least one go round!!!
Robby

[Standing Bear]

A balmy 23* F. Nice.  I’d like to know more about those 20 bore loads (have one in the works).
Thx
TC

[Daryl]

Hi TC - the guy on the far right uses 75gr. 2F GOEX, seems to me. Taylor and I use about 85gr. 2F GOEX, and guy between us, uses 85gr. 3F GOEX.

I might be changing my load to 85/90gr. 3F as that can be the ONLY reason he hits more targets than we do. 

I'm pretty sure Len needs to increase his charge a bit.  I have watched with binoculars, other guys shooting softer loads (than us) from

their 20 bores with the ball heading straight for the plate, arcing nicley to the 90 or 95yard target, seemingly in the last few yards, to spin/curve

off to the side, or up, or down or whatever, missing the target by 2-3 feet, just like watching a pitched baseball - same sudden curve-

 and missing by that same 2' to 3'. I am sure, as well that an inner defect like an air pocket could/would also cause this.  That is the reason

Norm, the guy between Taylor and I, weighs every ball, even for his smoothbore.  That wouldn't be the reason he hits more than we do, would it?

That curving ball looks really weird, but has happened more than once, almost but not quite every time the other guys shot.  The odd time, they seemed to fly straight.

With heavier loads, as with Taylor's Penn. Fowler, the ball seems to travel in quite a straight line to the same target, just like a rifle's shot.  The only difference was powder

charge. Ball diameter and patch virtually identical.  The curve ball was driven by 65gr. of 2F, with the straighter flying ball being driven by

85gr. 2F.  There might have been 150fps difference in speed, but for shooting to 100yards, it seemed to make all the difference in the world.

Yeah - going to use 90gr. 2F next time, just to see what happens, overall.  THAT could be interesting.

[Daryl]

Should have mentioned but didn't, I've found 8 ounce denim to be excellent. Those on the trail who tried it, also liked it - Taylor, in his smoothbore and the guy on the left, in his .50 rifle.
I measure the 8 ounce as .0185" to .019" compressed between forefinger and thumb on the jaws of my calipers, as hard as I can squeeze.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Ken and I bought a whole bolt of 8oz laundered denim at Fabricland this morning...$32/meter minus 20% for card carrying Fabricland member.

[OldMtnMan]

I'll ask again. Can someone name everybody?

[Standing Bear]

Great info thx Daryl.  So in your choked barrel you are using .595  ball + .019 + .019 patch = .633 in a .620 bore that has no rifling, right?  With no experience using a PRB in a smooth bore, my mental picture is one of swaging the ball to .587” and the others to .582” and no grooves to squeeze lead and material into. Am I off here?  So are you using a nubbin on a short start to pop into the bore?
Thx
TC

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Hey Pete:  Daryl made a stab at it but got side-tracked with ballistics...go figure.

From left to right:  Ken Bergestad with half stocked .50 cal flint Lancqaster profile rifle
                            Daryl with his 20 gauge smoothbore flint fowling piece, again half stocked by an American from Washington State.
                            Norm Pearen with left hand Pennsylvania fowling piece built from Chambers parts set....he's deadly with it
                            Taylor again with Chambers Penn fowling piece
                            Len McCrea with his Centre Mark 20 gauge smoothbore.e're all from Prince George British Columbia.

[OldMtnMan]

Thanks, Taylor. We have the same beard but mine is longer. I try to confuse a bear about what I am. I don't think it's working.

Daryl fooled me. He showed some videos of him loading/shooting who doesn't look like that at all. Must not have been him loading.

Anyway, thanks again. It's always nice to see what guys look like. It's never like I imagine. I'd show you me but I never take pictures and don't even own a camera. Something my dad hammered into me when I was a kid. It kind of stuck.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I have very few images of myself.  That's because I'm the guy with the camera, and get shots of everyone else.  I ofte never take my camera out when at a bp event, cause I'm having too much fun, and forget.

[Daryl]

That old video of me wearing a Green Parka along with Hatchet Jack in his Capotè, loading our guns, was taken a few years back during the winter, or early spring, with only a bit of snow. I did not have a beard at that time, but that was me. I was loading my .45 rifle, and HJ, his 20 bore fusil.

I think I also send a video of Taylor loading his Virginia with the long, wooden range rod, summer. I may also have sent the video of my loading my SxS .58 Kodiak rifle - or not.  Photobucket has now COPYRIGHTED and stolen my videos. I cannot retrieve them from that site- will not let me.


TC- yes - loading the .595" ball into the muzzle of my 'choked', 20 bore. The choke (just measured it) is .605" at it's tightest, but short part of the choke. This is 5/8" below the crown. At 3/4" below the crown, the bore is .620" again, thus has a fairly steeply angled .015" choke, relieved towards the muzzle.  At the muzzle's crown, the bore measures .620" - thus, has a cone of 5/8" length to it's tightest (.605") measurement, but that is a very short length of 'choke', which quickly opens to the regular bore size of .620". I do not know the make of the barrel, sorry. 

I put the patched ball on top the muzzle with the patch underneath, then the little peg (cupped to prevent ball damage) of the starter on the ball, then give that large knob a smack with the heal of my hand. That puts the patched ball's top surface down about .160" below the muzzle, thus, the large part of the ball is just above the tightest part of the choke.  The long end of the starter (cupped to prevent ball damage) is put on the ball then one smack puts the ball through the choke and into the larger bore. Then, 2 fingers on the rod can shove it down onto the powder as the patched ball is now smaller than the bore.  Obviously, the ball will be slightly oblong in shape and may be why my longer range accuracy suffers slightly compared to other smoothbores. I've thought of removing the choke all together to perhaps obtain better ball accuracy, but it shoots tight modified patterns with shot, and just powders clay birds.

I have recovered patches and they show no burning, nor cuts. This rather proves there is obturation of the 319.8gr. ball, to seal.  Just measured the balls cast in pure lead, at .595" x .600". They are out of round, but by the time I put them in, they are round.LOL

This is the muzzle of my 20 bore.





I think I might have found a way of retrieving my videos.
Got the videos back to my computer, but this image posting device will not allow MP4's, which Photobucket converted all my videos to.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

...so we'll take some new ones!

[Standing Bear]

Thx for the details Daryl. I’ve been shooting PRBs in rifles >40 years but the smooth bore with RBs will be a learning experience.  Waiting on arrival with great anticipation and many questions.
TC

[Daryl]

I've had more fun shooting the 20 bore with patched round balls over the last few Sundays, than I have had for a while now.