Was thinking about trying a bigger dia. Ball in my 45 , now Im using the normal .440 with .018 patch of ticking material , was thinking though of trying .445 ball for an improvement in accuracy . Has anyone found an improvement either going to bigger ball or just using thicker patch? . The bore on my barrel is .452 X .480 when I slugged it . It's a round bottomed colerain my accuracy now with my best load is roughly 1.5 or a hair less for 3 shots at 5 Would like to do better than that but may just be all the better that skinny barrel will do ? Thoughts anyone ?
Tim
While changing ball or patch may or may not help, changing the
powder charge also made help. Instead of buying extra balls
try more or less powder with your ball and patch combination.
Try thicker patch with your ball. try all possibles befor spending
more money is my way of thinking. Good luck. chrrs
Quote from: cooter on November 03, 2013
While changing ball or patch may or may not help, changing the
powder charge also made help. Instead of buying extra balls
try more or less powder with your ball and patch combination.
Try thicker patch with your ball. try all possibles befor spending
more money is my way of thinking. Good luck. chrrs
Thanks,I have ran the charge weights up and down from 20 gr to 75 gr and 30 and 65 gr of 3F are my sweet spots with my current combo of patch and ball .
If you have already played with changing powder, then the next step is different patches, then if your still not happy go ahead and buy the new size ball especially if you have a mold for your current size, you can always melt them down and recast. I am looking for 62 cal roundball and looks like I am going to have to buy a box from track ( my local store does not support anything over .54 cal), I figure I will try the .615 balls and if they don't work melt 'em down and recast. Then when I find the ball I am happy with I will buy a mould for that size
If you have some old blue jeans that don't fit or can get some at a yard sale that may solve your problem. They are pretty thick and make a good patch if you have too much room in the bore.
Changing ball size definitely can make a difference in accuracy, but it might not, you will have to ask the gun if you really want to know. Changing patching or lube can also make a difference and the only way to know is to try a lot of combinations.
One of my rifles likes hand lotion and another likes spit. I have tried a lot of different combinations and those are my favorites but you and your rifle may prefer something else.
One of my .50s likes a .490 ball and another likes a .495-.498. A couple of rifles don't seem to care what I use.
Tim,
I have both Rayl and Green Mountain .45 barrels and both get the best accuracy with .445 ball and pre lubed .015 patches. Your charge range seems reasonable, I am shooting 45-50 grains of 3F.
Mark
Thanks all, I found some different patch material I'll give a try this weekend .020 from an old cotton work shirt and .022 denim material . Never thought to try different lube I always been using spit as I don't have to wipe the bore at all .
Tim
Haven't tried different lube??? Boy are you in for it!!! Everybody has the best lube (for their own taste and rifle). Jump on him guys...
Two parts sheep tallow
one part bees wax
one part Murphy"s oil soap
one part olive oil.
vary quantity of oil and tallow depending on temp. of shooting area...(more tallow in summer)
See other 100+ posts on lube...
Doug
Quote from: DandJofAZ on November 06, 2013
Haven't tried different lube??? Boy are you in for it!!! Everybody has the best lube (for their own taste and rifle). Jump on him guys...
Two parts sheep tallow
one part bees wax
one part Murphy"s oil soap
one part olive oil.
vary quantity of oil and tallow depending on temp. of shooting area...(more tallow in summer)
See other 100+ posts on lube...
Doug
Can't get to out of hand with those spit patch fellows. They have an overactive salavory gland. Bet they could spit in your eye at 50 paces into the wind. ;D
Quote from: DandJofAZ on November 06, 2013
Haven't tried different lube??? Boy are you in for it!!! Everybody has the best lube (for their own taste and rifle). Jump on him guys...
Two parts sheep tallow
one part bees wax
one part Murphy"s oil soap
one part olive oil.
vary quantity of oil and tallow depending on temp. of shooting area...(more tallow in summer)
See other 100+ posts on lube...
Doug
I know what your saying Doug , I have some lube I made up with soy wax and olive oil and yes it works ok for patch and conical lube buuuuuut I don't like the whole shoot three shots or I can't load another ball without Putting all 180 lbs of me on the rod to load another ! Lol, or have to swab the bore . With plain ole spit I can shoot all afternoon without swabbing with same amount of pressure on the rod when I load . To me that equals consistency and that in turn equals accuracy . I'll stick with my spit except if I load for a walk into the woods then I just use my other oil base lube on the patch but very sparingly . I did some testing and my first oil lube shot lands exactly in the same group as the following spit patches .
1 stick of butter
1 1/2 onion............
Never mind, that's my stuffing recipe, I just use spit as well. ;D
;D I have used about everything from spit to crisco to bore butter to olive oil to mink oil to bear oil even moose milk made from Ballistol........all have had varing degrees of success. The only bad thing about that is when ya fergit that your using a lube and stick the patch in yur mouth. :-& Speccialy the Ballistol......... :blech: ROFL
Fwwwweeewww! That stuff stinks bad enough wouldn't want to taste it.
Lately what I've been using is khaki pants. I got tired of luring individual patches. I melted the 1/2 beeswax to alox and threw a handful of patches in it. Got them out with tweezers and laid them on tinfoil. Did a whole freezer bag in about 5 minutes. The good thing is they are hard enough to be dry, don't melt on a sunny day. No nasty sticky stuff on your hands. Can't say it's any better than anyone else's lube but it works for me and gives tight groups. I used one of the snap pockets off the khakis to keep a handful in the possibles bag and they aren't leaching through it or sticking together. They are actually easy loading as well. No swabbing in between shots.
All of that is great but the most important part is tobacco juice and "whiskey".
Quote from: halfstock on November 07, 2013
All of that is great but the most important part is tobacco juice and "whiskey".
Hmmmmmmmm ! Southern comfort flavored spit patches ! I like it thmbsup
I'll hold off on the tabacco juice though !
if I`m hunting , olive oil . target shooting , spit ! no need to complicate matters ! ;D
Just to complicate things, I used to have an Ultra- Hi 45 caplock thad defied everything that was "normal" for loading. I cut the group size to less than 1/4 original by using 2f GOEX, & an .010 patch W/a .440 bal. This combo was so loose that I could push it down bore w/just my thumb & not closing my fist.
strpot
most of mine are thumb started , quit using a ball starter when I realized they are`nt really needed , and may not be pc . those old timers had to rely on getting of a quick second shot many times just to keep their hair , doubt they loaded anywhere near as tight as we usually do today ! unless you are driving an over sized lead bullet down the barrel without a patch , cant see why it should be hard to load !
Quote from: graybear on November 08, 2013
Just to complicate things, I used to have an Ultra- Hi 45 caplock thad defied everything that was "normal" for loading. I cut the group size to less than 1/4 original by using 2f GOEX, & an .010 patch W/a .440 bal. This combo was so loose that I could push it down bore w/just my thumb & not closing my fist.
strpot
I have a t/c cherokee 45 like that. I bought it with a known badly pitted bore because good ones are so high these days. I'd cast at a lower temp to not fill the mould out all the way. The balls came out .418 and loaded with a blue jean patch because thinner ones tore in the bore. There is a tree in the back yard with a hole dead center at 77 yards from the porch from that combo. It grouped pretty good on paper but was still objectional to load with the loose prb and the severe pitting. I put together a barrel for it and had to melt all the balls down and cast them to .445, couldn't hit anything with it with the loose patch and ball in a good bore.
I had an old CVA Kentucky that shot really well with .440. When I went to get supplies couldnt find that size and got .445. Hated it till I shot it. It went from 2 inch groups to 1 inch groups and for some reason seemed like I had less fouling. flwa
Quote from: tatman731 on December 05, 2013
I had an old CVA Kentucky that shot really well with .440. When I went to get supplies couldnt find that size and got .445. Hated it till I shot it. It went from 2 inch groups to 1 inch groups and for some reason seemed like I had less fouling. flwa
Maybe because you had more complete combustion with the tighter ball, less combustion gas getting by the ball in the barrel.
Search Dutch Schoultz Accuracy. thmbsup read, think [hmm] shoot hntr think [hmm] read again think [hmm] hntr [hmm] ..and so on...... no bs.
sweed
Quote from: sweed on February 04, 2014
Search Dutch Schoultz Accuracy. thmbsup read, think [hmm] shoot hntr think [hmm] read again think [hmm] hntr [hmm] ..and so on...... no bs.
sweed
I'll second Dutch Schoultz system. Here is the link www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com