WW Greener,68 Haymarket,London sxs 28 inch rifled barrels and 2-leaf express site.
Barrels slug at .785, rifling is very shallow, I have vintage Kynock brass that fits this gun,(thanks Terry).
I want to load modern powder with round balls.
I am looking for suggestions.
Nice example. Have you seen Sherman Bell's or Ross Seyfried's writings on loading for ball & shot? If not, I can look that up for you.
I recently read some things about loading for the bore rifles in a DGJ article by Ross Seyfreid from the Winter 1999 issue. He said the majority were built for use with round balls and paper cases. He felt it was most important to do a chamber cast to get chamber and throat dimensions, and to check the rate of twist of the rifling to determine the most suitable projectile, and whether it was built for paper or thin brass cases. He seemed to think black powder was the one and only propellant to use in the bore rifles.
Thanks I will check my back issues.
This gun has about 1 in 52" rate of twist in both barrels, it only weighs 9 1/2 lbs., which I am told is light for a bore rifle. What I want to do is order a ball mold but I'm not sure what diameter I need. Should the ball be the same dia as the bore .785? and be loaded as such, or should it be be a patched ball say about .755 with a .015 lubed patch, or I have RP10 plastic wads that I can use or something else?.
I would do a cast of the chamber and a short section of the bore. See what the lands and groove measure. I would start with a ball of groove diameter. Patched balls were not the norm for bore rifles but I did get an odd ball bore rifle to shoot well using them. Sometimes you just need to keep fiddling with them. I like black as a propellant as well and many folks have found that Olde Eynsford
http://www.goexpowder.com/olde-eynsford.html to be an excellent substitute for the old Curtis and Harvey #6 powder. Good luck with it, looks like a fun gun.
Steve
I would sure try a hollow base mould first
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lyman-1-Cavity-Shot-shell-Foster-Slug-Bullet-Mold-For-12-Gauge-475-Grain-Slug-Md/381953982172?epid=2254296811&hash=item58ee3b3edc:g:8bAAAOSwS35Zcgyt
For your smokeless load, what pressure are you wanting?
Mike
Before you do anything, make a chamber cast. This will tell you if it's a paper or thin brass case chamber. This will determine ball size, i.e. what will fit in the correct case.
If the ball is a few thou undersize for the bore, don't worry about it. 1 in 15 to 20 tin/lead will bump up with black powder.
That gun may very well be a light charge one, maybe 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 drams. Only shooting it will tell.
Make sure you wad it tight, and have adequate lubrication.
I'm almost ready for my first test run, I ended up ordering a ball mold of .775 dia, I cast some balls out of straight wheel weight lead for a start, hopefully they are soft enough to bump up,the ball goes though the right barrel with just a little push from a wooden dowel, the left barrel is not as tight. I have old never fired Kynoch thin wall brass that fits the chambers perfectly. There is a bit of an issue with a primer that will fit properly, I have settled on a small magnum pistol that fits snugly but is not deep enough for the pocket. When I dry fire them they push down into the pocket, I don't know if this will cause any problems.
The first test loads are 2 1/2 drams of 2F Goex black powder (all I can find where I live), 1 bottle cap shaped over powder card (harvested from a 8ga industrial shells), 2- 1/2 inch fiber wads, 1 of which is lubed, then a plain flat nitro card and a Ballistic Products plastic 10 ga gas seal for the ball to sit on then a little bit of COW to stabilize the ball ,then the whole thing is sealed with waterglass glue.
Any thought or comments?
Barrels say 11B 12M - So they should be slightly choked?
.751 in the bore and .729 at the muzzle, just might help with finding a ball size that works?
Be interesting to stick a micrometer in it and see what it says.
Demonwolf444; I believe this gun has had lot of would be gunsmith attentions over the years, I think .777 would be pretty close as most of the choke has been removed.