Smoothbore shooters a question for ya.........

[New Hampshire]

Had an interesting conversation with the brother of a good friend this past weekend.  He is a 209 guy, and of course he was a know it all (his own brother admits he is.....so you know where this is going.)  He of course was knocking my Lyman sidelock while trying to be nice about it.  Now, everyone who sees my Lyman instantly thinks T/C Renegade till they get the gun in their hands.  I told him "I wish it were a T/C renegade.  If it had the 1" barrel channel I could get a .62 cal bbl for it!"  He asked what the hell I wanted one of them for.  "Its a 20 gauge, in essence, so I could shoot patched balls or shot depending on what kind of fun I wanted to have."  :lol:   Of course he laughed at this and began making dergoatory statements about the accuracy anyone could get from a patched ball in a smoothbore (remember he was already knocking my fully rifled patched ball shooter.)  I know guys can get great accuracy from them, but Im curious just HOW good they get.  So.......

What kind of accuracy do you smoothie shooters get from your bbls and guns?

Brian

[Slamfire]

Dixie Gun Works Blackpowder Annual is on the shelves, there's an article in there about loads for smoothbores, ball, buck and ball, and shot. That fellah knows more'n me.  

[DanielWGriggs]

I have a double 20ga and shooting both barrels alternately I get about 5" groups at 50. This is with a heavily patched .577 RB and 55gr of 2F. This will get smaller if I only shoot the left or right barrel The right only gives me about 3" at 50 and the left about 3.5" This is with a bead front sight only. I bet it could be better if I had front and rears on it but I was only playing around and this seemed good enough for me. You should see what this load does to a 1gal paint can full of water.

Maybe I should try to put the ball in a shot cup?

[slayer]

Does anyone know the bore diameter of a 12 gauge muzzleloader? thanks-Jack.

[Ramrod]

Does anyone know the bore diameter of a 12 gauge muzzleloader? thanks-Jack.

I think that .729 is industry standard.

[slayer]

Thank you So, I imagine I would use a .728 ball and .10-.15 patch in a smoothbore 12 gauge barrel? Jack.

[Ramrod]

slayer>No sir ! Superman would have a hard time getting a load like that down the tube. More common is a .690 ball, with a thick patch, or a naked .715 on top of a good thick wad, with a thin card over. Don't forget, there are no rifling grooves to take up the patch thickness, or even any fouling.

[roundball]

What kind of accuracy do you smoothie shooters get from your bbls and guns?

FWIW, I just recently got a .54cal Green Mountain Flint smoothbore drop-in barrel for a TC Hawken stock...was shocked to find that it shoots about as accurately as a rilfe up to 70grns Goex 3F, but above that, (80/90/100grn charges) the groups start opening up, flyers begin to appear, etc...so I settled on:

70grns Goex 3F
Oxyoke wonderwad
.015" prelubed cotton patch
Hornady .530

A ragged hole at 30yds...and at 50yds some holes touching and/or cloverleafs...will be fine for normal woods shots on deer.
After the season, planning to experiment with different combinations of overpowder wads to see what effects that will bring with larger powder charges.

PS:  Here's an excellent info site on smoothbores:

http://members.aye.net/~bspen/SmoothboreLoads.html

[lostid]

"Its a 20 gauge, in essence,

 .58  

[lostid]

bore diameter of a 12 gauge.

.72  

[New Hampshire]

"Its a 20 gauge, in essence,

 .58  

It is?  My bad. I coulda thought some guy wrote an article in the IBHA magazine about a dual Caribou grouse hunt in Canada with his 62 cal and he said it was like a 20ga.  Oh well, learn somthin new every day!

DanielWGriggs and roundball, as far as Im concerned thats perfect deer killing accuracy.  Exactly what I expected.

I really shoulda called the guy out, but I was trying to be nice to my buddy since I didnt want to insult his brother.  He was poking at my 3" groups at 50 yards (with some kind of support, like in the sitting position or offhand with sling support) using the folding leaf and front sight standard on a Lyman.  He was boasting about his 4" groups at 200 yards.  But he has a scope, shoots 150 grain charges, and I highly doubt he is talking about "off the bench" shooting, nor do I think he has actually SHOT AT 200 yards (since almost all the ranges up here only have 100 yard ranges at the longest.)  :roll: .  Oh well, I just let it pass and eventually he moved on his way and I enjoyed a few hours in the woods all nice and quiet.

Brian

[Ramrod]

"Its a 20 gauge, in essence,

 .58  

Sorry, but New Hampshire was right in his first post. The .62 is a 20 gauge. For anyone else who is curious, the .58 is a 24 gauge, and the .54 is a 28 gauge.

[roundball]

I also have a .62cal(.20ga) Flint smoothbore barrel from Green Mountain...I have it set up for long range Turkey loads...haven't used it for patched balls.

That URL I posted is all about the .62cal/.20ga...has a lot of good load info in there for both shot and ball

[kjg]

hey round ball you follow me everywere, what's up? could have answer for ya i also have a 12 ga, single shot Traditions. I use a charge of 70 grains 2fg goex and a .0125 thick linnen patch lubed with t/c bore butter and a .715 round ball, this is the only ml that I use a short starter with, one tap and it slides down nice and smooth, cap it of with a cci mag and it put 3 rounds off hand into 50 yards into a 3-4" groups depending on how much recoil my shoulder can handle, bear in mind this thing weighs 5 1/2 lbs. and really packs a punch, I have never as of yet used a wad but one day will try it I haven't used 1fg yet but bet recoil should drop some, if your smooth bore is a SXS yu can also try a winchester wad and a .69 ball goes down like one of them sabot and works too, just have fun with it and be safe.  kjg