I'd like to try a buck and ball load in a 24gauge (.58) smoothbore musket. I'm going to use a .562 ball with a .015 patch. Would the patch and ball go in 1st, acting as a gas check for the 3 smaller balls of ( what? ) size. I would assume a wad would be on top of it all. Thanks.
Buck and ball loads
- Thread starter lyman54
- Start date
stevejones
Regular
- Location
- Courtenay, BC
I think the original load was a made up in a cartridge form. A bore size tube was made of paper and one end twisted tight. A charge of powder was poured in and then a ball was placed in with buck shot pellets on top and the open end of the tube twisted. I believe it was meant as a close range effort. The buck shot pellets you will have use should be as small as you can get which will be size O buck as you have a much smaller bore (.69, 72,...) than the buck and ball load was meant. I played with this a bit and have no idea were the pellets went past 25 yards on a standard target frame. Anyway, that's my piece. Steve.
- Location
- Golden Lake
I've used "buck and ball" in my .62 cal musket. I used 3 O Buckshot pellets from a 16 ga shotgun shell I took apart. Yes, the ball goes in 1st , then the buckshot, then a wad.
At close range the buck shot hits fairly close to the ball. It's not really very practical for anything except "anti-personnel" useage.
I would imagine you could use OO Buck too or smaller even.
At close range the buck shot hits fairly close to the ball. It's not really very practical for anything except "anti-personnel" useage.
I would imagine you could use OO Buck too or smaller even.
I've used 3 .36 cal balls on top of a .69 out of a French 1728 infantry musket, as 25 they hit all within 4 incus of the ball' but by 50 yards only about 25% of the shot will hit a man sized target. The increase in recoil is very noticable
Thanks guys. I read somewhere what Stevejones said. I'll try that. It's a smooth bore Enfield percussion, with a 39" barrel. I realize most were in a larger caliber. From what I read, some were bored smooth for hunting. I will get some smaller shot from a 16 gauge, good idea.
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You want the buckshot to sit in even layers, or they deform BADLY on firing. Even with layers of 2, the deformation tends to be significant. The original official B&B loads were layers of 3 on top of the ball in a cartridge, or sometimes a layer of 4 if smaller buckshot was used, especially in home-grown loads. In your 24ga, you'll need #2 buck to get it to get a flat layer of 3 if you're loading this separately, certainly nothing larger, and maybe even #3. If you want to try a cartridge, you need #3 buck or more likely #4, and possibly a smaller ball. Loaded separately, #4 would likely sit in a layer of 4.
I put this together a while ago:
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buckshot size for loading in even layers:
- 2: 1/2 * the minimun diameter of bore, choke, or inside of shotcup
- 3: .4639 * the minimum diameter " " "
- 4: .4142 * the minimum diameter " " "
- 5(+1 in centre between layers): .36± * the minimum diameter "
- 7: 1/3 * the minimum diameter " " "
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I realize that I'm kind of late with this, but I don't get to CGN too often at the moment.
Regards,
Joel
