size of ball to use in a .75 cal musket

JTF#

JTF#

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what size ball should I be using in my .75 cal?

I used .71 cals and got 3 shots the first round then I could only get one shot after that before cleaning.
I have .69 cal balls but should I go even smaller if i want to get a day of shooing in?
I was using un-lubed patches on the .71 but for the .69s I have pre lubed one.

also I have been using close to a full pan of powder to ignite my gun. is it to much? I am using a match cord so I just want to make sure of getting positive ignition.

I have very little experience in BP.

Thanks.
 
I think you need to accurately measure the bore. Normally a patched ball is .010" under bore diameter. I would use 2F powder and a water base lube on your patches to reduce the amount of cleaning while shooting. The greasier the lube and the coarser the powder, the more fouling you are going to need.

cheers mooncoon
 
Is this a military musket? You know they didn't use patched balls right? Well, the paper may be considered a "patch" but in reality its doubtful it was even in contact with the barrel. More of a wadding than anything to prevent the ball from rolling down the barrel away from the charge.

 
Good advice from mooncoon and, from an historical perspective, plinker 777 is correct. With an unpatched ball, the first shot fouls the bbl and subsequent shots should group better.

I use a .715 ball and approximately .016 spit lubed patches in my Pedersoli Bess. I only use spit lube if the load will not be left in the bbl for any length of time. In my experience, spit lubed patches reduce the amount of fouling to the point I can shoot an entire string without the need to clean between shots. If I were not patching, I would go to a .735 ball in the Bess. You only need a small amount of priming in a flintlock and excess priming can actually slow ignition. A matchlock may have different priming requirements.
 
the bore is .75 right on I measured it.
the gun is a matchlock and I had the flash hole drilled to the same size as a brown bess. so far lots of powder in the pan has worked so should I just not worry about it unless I have problems?

I would be worried about putting no patch down the barrel. wouldn't it be possible for the powder to flam out and go around the ball without moving it?
 
JTF# said:
I would be worried about putting no patch down the barrel. wouldn't it be possible for the powder to flam out and go around the ball without moving it?
Click to expand...

The big worry about unpatched balls is that if you drop the muzzle, the ball can roll forwards and if part way down the barrel when the gun is fired, will bulge or burst your barrel. Like JTF says, the ball ill come out if not patched and just sitting on the powder

cheers mooncoon
 
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