Date: 09 Jan 94  16:40:52
From: Ed Harris
To:   Black Powder Shhoers
Subj: Bare Balls Muzzleloading

"Bare Balls" Muzzle Loading 

The best two reasons I can think of to try "bare balls" are:
1) not having to fool with cutting patches, and;
2) being able to use common scrap lead, rather than having to use pure, 
dead-soft lead, which is increasingly hard to find these days.

I cast balls from indoor range scrap comprised mostly of air rifle pellets, 
.22 rimfire and factory .38 wadcutter bullets.  I have fired these without 
patching, unlubricated except for that provided by the Ox Yoke wad loaded 
under them, at velocities from 1800 to over 2100 f.p.s., in five black powder 
muzzle loading rifles from .36 to .54 caliber.  All gave good hunting 
accuracy, from slightly under 2" to 2-1/2", five-shot groups at 50 yards. 


The use of pre-lubricated Ox Yoke Wonder wads makes it practical
to fire an unlubricated, naked ball of sufficient diameter to
positively engrave the rifling, without patching, and without
leading.   Because powder fouling is effectively controlled by
the sweeping action of the lubricated wad, reloading with another
bare ball in a fouled bore does not require the effort which is
ascribed to it in folklore.

I first tried bare balls as a wild notion when a friend gave me a
66" round ball twist T/C .45 Hawken barrel which had frustrated
his efforts to find an accurate woodchuck load.  I knew the 66"
twist wouldn't stabilize a heavier Maxi or Lee R.E.A.L. bullet
acceptably, because I'd already tried it.  I also knew that a
round ball has  the aerodynamics of a brick!   Its striking
energy at 50 yards is about half what it is at the muzzle.  At
100 yards, it is only about 1/4 as much.  Even when driven to
maximum velocity, it is, at best, a 50-yard deer load.  Crunching
the numbers it was clear I needed to drive a .45 ball at least
1900 f.p.s., or preferably at 2000+ f.p.s. while obtaining iron
sight groups no worse than 3" at 50 yards in a fouled barrel, to
be suitable for deer at woods ranges.

I wanted to see if bare .457 (vs. the usual .445" when patched)
balls would hold the rifling and group at all when loaded up to 
all they would stand.   I started with the heaviest charged I dared,
105-grs. of Goex Ffg.   The bare balls held the rifling and gave
me 2" groups at 50 yards right off the bat.  I spit-patched the
bore between shots and found not a trace of leading, despite an
impressive velocity of 2105 f.p.s.  The Ox Yoke wads did the job.

Loading bare balls is easier than historical accounts of Hessians
with  Jaeger rifles, hammers and iron ramrods would suggest. 
After pouring the powder charge down the bore, thumb an Ox-Yoke
wad into the muzzle.   Place the bare ball directly on top of the
wad in the muzzle crown and give them a sharp rap together with a
short starter.  Once engraved, the combination rams with no more
difficulty than a patched ball.  It is actually much less
difficult than loading a tightly patched ball as normally used
for target work.  Once rammed home, give the ramrod a sharp whack
or two with a light rawhide hammer to compress the charge firmly,
and to upset the ball a bit.  Upon firing, the powder gases
finish upsetting the ball to full groove diameter.  Recovered
balls expand well and show distinct engraving from the rifling.

Pure lead isn't absolutely necessary, but alloy hardness should
be matched to the velocity of the load.   Soft lead is necessary
for mild loads below 1800 f.p.s. and over .45 caliber.  Harder
lead such as .22 backstop scrap (10BHN) can be used for heavier
loads from 1800-2000+ f.p.s. in calibers of .45 and smaller.  I
get fine results in my .45 using wheelweights (13 BHN) when
driving them over 2000 f.p.s.!  Yes, I know this defies all
conventional black powder wisdom, but it works.

In the 66" twist .45 T/C barrel best grouping required heavy
loads over 1800 f.p.s., using 105 grs. of Goex Ffg, or Pyrodex
RS, or 120 grs. of Pyrodex Select.  My "best" load, 105 grs. of
Goex Ffg, wet patching between shots, produced five consecutive
5-shot groups which averaged 1.9" with the smallest group just
over an inch and the largest 2.8," at a velocity of 2105 f.p.s. 
Fired continuously, without cleaning, the average opened to 2-
1/2", but loading was easy for as many as 50 shots.  I could not
get an acceptable bare ball load in the 66" twist barrel using
Pyrodex P or FFFg that met my worst case 3" accuracy criteria. 
Leading occurred by the time I got to 1800 f.p.s., and groups
opened to over 4" if the charges were reduced.

I obtained a .45 caliber, 48" twist T/C Hawken barrel and tested
my loads again.  As might be expected, the same heavy loads which
gave best results in the 66" twist barrel did not group as well
in the 48" twist, but they gave good "hunting" accuracy.  Five
consecutive 5-shot groups with 105 grs. of Ffg averaged 2.63"
with the smallest group 2.09" and the largest 3.3."  Velocity
dropped to just over 1900 f.p.s. in the 48" twist barrel.  Part
of this was because it was 2" shorter than T/C's round ball
barrel, but the rest is probably attributable to my changing
powder lots.  A difference of 200 f.p.s. seems extreme, but I
have seen it before when changing between different black powder
lots of the same brand and granulation.  When I repeated the
group series again in the 48" twist, without cleaning, the first
target was just over 3", but further groups deteriorated, even
though loading remained easy, opening the average of five targets
to over 4", which I felt was unacceptable.

I decided to try Triple-F in the 48" twist to see if it would
work better than it did in the 66" twist.  It did.   A charge of
80-grs. produced five consecutive 5-shot groups averaging 2.07,"
the smallest target 1.58" and the largest 2.27," at a velocity of
1937 f.p.s.

The most accurate load with bare balls in the 48" twist .45
caliber was 100 grs. of Pyrodex Select.  Five targets averaged
1.93" with the smallest group only 1.2" and the largest 2.1", at
a velocity of 1896 f.p.s. 

A friend bought a T/C .36 Seneca to bust bunnies, but found he
couldn't get acceptable 50-yd. groups under 2" without resorting
to heavy loads of 40 grs. of FFFg or Pyrodex P, which produced
1700 f.p.s. and literally took rabbits apart.  He wondered if
lighter loads would work with a bigger bare ball.  I got some Ox-
Yoke wads for the .36 and decided to try some .375 balls I had
cast for a .36 Navy Colt.  I started with the same 20-gr. charge
of FFFg I used in the 1851 Navy revolver.  This gave 1273 f.p.s.
and a 3" group at 50 yards, not accurate enough for a good small
game load.  Knowing the 48" twist is a bit marginal for a .36
roundball gun, we increased the charge to 25 grains and tried
again, getting 1407 f.p.s. and a 2-1/4" group.  We were moving in
the right direction.  We then tried 30 grains and got a 1-1/2"
group at 1514 f.p.s!   We repeated the test again, but using
wheelweight balls and substituting Pyrodex P, 30 grs. bulk
measure.  The wheelweights loaded with more difficulty than the
soft lead balls.  It took several whacks with the mallet to get
them started, but once engraved they loaded fine and shot well.
The average of five consecutive 5-shot groups was 1.94," with the
smallest group was only 1.1" and the largest 2.45."  The .36 was
an "instant replay" of my results with the .45 caliber!

I decided to try it in something bigger.  Another friend had a
CVA .54 Mountain Rifle, and was recovering from a broken his
wrist which left him without the strength to ram a tight patched
.535" ball.  He wanted something easier to load.  I wasn't sure
that bare balls were the answer, but he wanted to give it a try. 
Finding bare balls of a proper size to load in a .54 is a trick,
because standard ball sizes jump from .535 to .562 and there is
nothing readily available in the middle.  I called Walt Melander
at NEI, who is now back in business at 51583, Columbia River
Highway, Scappoose, OR 97056.  He sent a .542" mould which we
tried in the CVA.  While not quite as accurate as the tight-
patched .535" ball, it worked acceptably with 120 grs. of Goex
Ffg, giving 1750 f.p.s. and 2.2" groups.  Harder alloy than pure
lead was out of the question in the .54 because it is simply too
hard to load!  The same 120-gr. charge gave 1800 f.p.s. and 1.7"
groups with the patched .535 ball,  But the soft bare ball with
Ox-Yoke wad was much easier for my friend to load while
recovering from his injury.

To get a good cross section of rifles we decided we really needed
to shoot a .50 caliber, as this is the caliber of choice for most
Eastern black powder hunters.  Loading a bare ball in a .50
requires another nonstandard size, but NEI came to the rescue
again.  A .509" ball proved a perfect fit. The rifle's owner
expects 1-1/2" groups with patched .495" round balls in his 66"
twist barrel. Firing 105 grs. of Goex Ffg with bare balls, wiping
between shots, five targets averaged of 1.63" at 50 yards with
the largest group 1.78" and the smallest 1.47," at a velocity of
1967 f.p.s. 



--- msged 2.05
 * Origin: Home of Ed's Red (1:109/120.3006)

