Author Topic: Purposely load a double ball  (Read 832 times)

Offline MuskratMike

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Purposely load a double ball
« on: February 05, 2025, 03:34:32 AM »
I've been doing this for enough decades I should know but has anyone purposely double balled a load?
I ask because I actually did it at the range. I put the powder in short started a patched round ball then got distracted helping a shooter on another bench. Must have been having a senior moment because you guessed it I short started another patched round ball. Because I was at the range I was using a heavy range rod and the ball/balls slid right down to the powder. I was shooting at a new "splatter" target and was at first confused because there were two holes in the target almost touching each other. Not sure if this increases the pressure but if not would anyone consider doing this while hunting? Two balls in the same point in an animal would certainly be better than one.
"Muskrat" Mike McGuire
Keep your eyes on the skyline, your flint sharp and powder dry.

Offline snapper

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2025, 03:39:28 AM »
I have purposely done this.  In a team match on who could cut a post in half the fastest.

Fleener
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Offline Daniel Coats

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2025, 04:06:50 AM »
I used to do it on purpose shooting clay pigeons out of the air and winning bets ;D
Dan

"Ain't no nipples on a man's rifle"

Offline MuskratMike

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2025, 04:35:05 AM »
Did either of you notice a change in point of impact over a single ball with the same charge at let's say 50 yards?
"Muskrat" Mike McGuire
Keep your eyes on the skyline, your flint sharp and powder dry.

Offline Daniel Coats

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2025, 04:44:37 AM »
Light charges were ok but normal to heavy charging often fused the projectiles together. Civil war battlefields have examples of fused balls and miniballs that have incorrectly been assumed to have met head-on in flight. I know better from actual experience double loading.
Dan

"Ain't no nipples on a man's rifle"

Offline Daniel Coats

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2025, 04:46:24 AM »
I might add Mike that when shooting clay pigeons I didn't use a patch
Dan

"Ain't no nipples on a man's rifle"

Online smylee grouch

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2025, 05:03:45 AM »
I did that a several times in cut the post off matches. A 570 ball with a 562 on top. We shot at 15 yds. It worked good but some times the balls printed atop or vertically.

Offline Darkhorse

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2025, 09:14:20 AM »
That old Lyman black powder handbook had a section on this but try as I might I can't find my copy. And of course I can't remember.
American horses of Arabian descent.

Offline recurve

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2025, 04:36:18 PM »
here you go





please note Herb here on our sight had worked up a  double ball load for one of his builds

Online rich pierce

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2025, 05:01:42 PM »
Heavy charges will burn out a touch hole more quickly. Of course the stainless and yellow alloy ones are pretty resistant to burning out. I have a rifle I coned internally and I accidentally double loaded it. Kicked pretty hard and the touch hole had grown from that one shot. Guess I coned it too close to the exterior. A liner fixed it of course.
Andover, Vermont

Offline recurve

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Offline recurve

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #11 on: February 05, 2025, 05:14:54 PM »
and this is why we mark our range rod every time I go to the range ! black marker for empty and red for the load(marded when first load is loaded, if I change the load I use a Blue marker for the  new load) I can see these marks to see if I dry ball  :o or double load  >:(   

Offline Daryl

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2025, 10:11:37 PM »
Yes - in .69, 2, 50's, 2, .58's, .1 .45 and 1 .40.
The first time I tried it, I could not keep the top ball on the bottom one that was loaded with a patch.
The rod & patched top ball followed my hand up off the bottom ball to 1/2 way up the barrel due to the trapped air between the balls. I had to
pull that ball. From then on, I dropped the first one into the bore, then loaded the patched ball.
Lyman did a test on this back in their first Black Powder Handbook. Their photograph showed both balls obturated to fill the grooves, the top ball
being patched, as they exited the bore. The balls were no longer round, but flatted into one another.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline Waksupi

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #13 on: February 06, 2025, 01:39:01 AM »
If you have access to the old "Buckskin Reports", Sam Fadala did quite a bit of testing on this.
Ric Carter
Somers, Montana

Offline alacran

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #14 on: February 06, 2025, 01:42:50 AM »
Well my question is, what is the point?
If you are planning to use it for hunting, you may want to read the game laws in your state.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline longcruise

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #15 on: February 06, 2025, 05:27:18 AM »
Well my question is, what is the point?
If you are planning to use it for hunting, you may want to read the game laws in your state.

Yes,  it's not legal in.my state.  I did try it at the range.  Fifty cal, both balls patched.  It was probably 70 gr of powder.   At 25 yards they consistently patterned one above the other about 3 inches apart.
Mike Lee

Offline Daryl

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #16 on: February 06, 2025, 10:21:14 AM »
Some states, apparently, have a .40 cal. lower limit for deer, but have a weight limit as well, something in the range of 120 gr., thus, a .40 needs to be double balled.
2, .69's driven by 130gr. of powder should work, as long as the range isn't too far.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline Daryl

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #17 on: February 06, 2025, 10:22:17 AM »
If you have access to the old "Buckskin Reports", Sam Fadala did quite a bit of testing on this.
He also did a lot of "things". ???
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline alacran

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #18 on: February 06, 2025, 05:12:26 PM »
In AZ you can only use a single projectile and a single barreled muzzleloader. In a couple of other states that I often hunt, double barreled muzzleloaders are allowed, but only a single projectile can be loaded in each barrel.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline Levy

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #19 on: February 10, 2025, 07:04:06 AM »
I cleaned out the bore of a shipwreck cannon once that had both a cannonball and a bar shot in it.  Does that count? I wonder what it sounded like going through the air?  James Levy
James Levy

Offline Bill in Md

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Re: Purposely load a double ball
« Reply #20 on: Today at 12:11:13 AM »
Never....simply no reason to
Every man is my superior in that I may learn from him.