Golf balls in BB motar?

[dougrunnels]

My BB mortar has a powder chamber 1.75". (Is that right?)  A golf ball just fits inside it.  I have shot golf balls several time from it. Sometimes they disappear into the stratoshere and sometimes only a few feet.  Are golf balls all made to the same specs or am I doing something wrong.  I even used paper towels for "patching" around the balls sometimes to no effect.  I know my bore is a little big but what can I do to make it shoot golf balls?  Golf balls are much cheeper and easier to find than bowling ball.  Thanks

[Victor3]

 I've found that they do vary a little in size, but only about +/- .015" on all the brands I've measured.

 How long is the chamber on your mortar? You might try a wad of aluminum foil on top of the charge and then smoosh the ball onto it (with a safe rammer of some sort; you don't want your arm down in there).

[Cat Whisperer]

Cool idea - using the powder chamber as a subcaliber.

1.75 requires SOMETHING to makeup for the difference in diameter.  Perhaps a disk of cardboard or plywood under the golf ball.

OR, you could make the 8.5" disk and pour in 150 golf balls.

Make sure that you use a sleeve around the 150 golf balls or you may create a very WIDE pattern.

Victor's recommendation on safety is a good practice.

[KABAR2]

Cool idea - using the powder chamber as a subcaliber.

1.75 requires SOMETHING to makeup for the difference in diameter.  Perhaps a disk of cardboard or plywood under the golf ball.

OR, you could make the 8.5" disk and pour in 150 golf balls.

Make sure that you use a sleeve around the 150 golf balls or you may create a very WIDE pattern.

Victor's recommendation on safety is a good practice.

Yes after a test shot go to your nearest country club on a busy Sat. set up out side of fence repeat loading process and report the results/mayhem............   

[dominick]

What type of powder are you using?

[Double D]

where are you shooting bowling balls that you can't find them?

[Rickk]

If you are using Cannon grade powder, you might want to try working up a load with 1F. The pressure no doubt drops as soon as the golf ball leaves the chamber, leaving very little time for the powder to "get going". 

Are you cutting way back on powder when you shoot the golf ball?  I found that charges that are very short compared to their diameter burn very erratically and getting consistency from shot to shot is near impossible.

[dan610324]

wouldnt it be possible to use fffg or even ffffg in extremely small charges ??

[Rickk]

If the granulation gets smaller, the powder charge length to diameter ratio gets smaller. When the column gets too small, ignition gets erratic.

It becomes a juggling act, lots of experimentation needed to get it to work.

I found a couple cardboard wads over short, fat charges under the projectile helps a bit with consistency, but that is probably a gun to gun variable that needs to be worked into the load.

Also, cardboard smolders and lights stuff (like my wife's garden) on fire. Soaking in a baking soda/water solution for a few minutes and drying in the sun before use seems to prevent that from happening.

Rick

[dougrunnels]

Sometime we shoot at deer lease in W Tx.  And sometimes we can not find them on the mountain.  Altho sometimes I have found the bowling balls near the base of ceder tree that has been demolished.  In E tx sometime when the ground is wet, the balls disappear into the ground.  And of course behind my house in the neighborhood I live in (nuthin behind me of course) they disappear into the woods

I'm still trying to figure how to shoot golf balls from my 1.75" chamber.  Should I use a packing, patching, wraping?
Golf balls are much cheeper to shoot.  What sort of powder load do ya'll use for golf balls.

My chamber hold about 3.5  (110mm film canisters) of powder.  I have measured it before but I forget.

For really high bowing ball shoots, I use 4 cannisters.

[subdjoe]

Cool idea - using the powder chamber as a subcaliber.

1.75 requires SOMETHING to makeup for the difference in diameter.  Perhaps a disk of cardboard or plywood under the golf ball.

OR, you could make the 8.5" disk and pour in 150 golf balls.

Make sure that you use a sleeve around the 150 golf balls or you may create a very WIDE pattern.

Victor's recommendation on safety is a good practice.

Superballs.  Use superballs.  Have your impact area hard packed earth.  Watch 'em bouncebouncebouncebounce.

[Victor3]

My chamber hold about 3.5  (110mm film canisters) of powder.  I have measured it before but I forget.

 IMO, your chamber is too short to mess with for shooting golf balls.

 Dom Carpenter makes golf ball mortars starting at $80. If I were you, I'd bite the bullet (or golf ball) and get one of those. A lot easier to get out to the range than a bowling ball mortar...

http://blackpowder-cannons.com/index.htm

[JeffG]

Yes after a test shot go to your nearest country club on a busy Sat. set up out side of fence repeat loading process and report the results/mayhem............   

The deer hunters are still trying to figure out the sightings of toasted golf balls in the woods behind the range...