Patched round balls?

[JonnyReb]

  Hey guys
     Just curious if anyone has heard of or tried lubed patches for lead roundballs in your 9mm, .45 or .50cal.

  As i read about folks getting better accuracy and velocity out of their big bores using balls rather than slugs, i just wondered if what works better for blackpowder guns would apply to air rifles. If it sealed the ball better it seems you would increase shot number and increase velocity as well as possibly contribute to better accuracy. Anyone have thoughts on this?  J

[DaveShooter]

Hi JR,
 I used to have a 50-cal Dragon Slayer. I just used .490 Hornady without a patch. Some fellows will say the .495 work better, but mine shot pretty good with the 490's. Seems the Korean guns are setup for the lead roundballs without a patch. Now someone else may have a difference on that depending on what each rifle likes or dosen't like. You know how that is .It is the same with any rifle gotta shoot it with a different type of ammo to see what it likes best. Now their is a fellow named Brian Brown that made up some ammo for the Dragon that was getting some serious punch at say 75 to 100 yds. Nice to talk at ya.

[JonnyReb]

  Thanks Dave,  Guess it's just something that would have to be tried, i just wouldn't want to impede the ball from clearing the barrel on account of to tight a patch on the ball. The force produced by a blackpowder explosion and an air discharge are two different things for sure. It would seem that a very thin patch or a slightly smaller ball would allow it to be tried safely.

  In the .45 909 i'm waiting on, the previous owner had to block the gun at the breech, making it into a muzzleloader so he could legally hunt deer with it. As far as i know, it was then classified as a primitive weapon. Although i don't have to do this, i might leave it that way and try muzzleloading a .452 rather than the .454 ball. i'll wrap it in a lubed patch and chrony it. Then i'll compare accuracy and velocity to the unpatched ball.

  If anyone knows of any issues pertaining to the use of a patch, especially in reguards to safety, feel free to post.  J

[Jaymo]

I can't think of any reason not to try it. I've been thinking about running some .452-.454 RB patched with pillow ticking and lubed with bore butter or my home brew patch lube.  I've also thought about paper patching some .452 bullets and lubing them with liquid alox.

[JonnyReb]

 I'm not familiar with paper patches but i like your idea of a .452 ball, some t/c bore butter on a tick' patch. I'm going to say it needs to be sealed but not tight at all or it would lose velocity or might blow out a breech seal.??  I think it's definitely worth trying, soon as i have my 909 in hand i'll give it a shot.   J

[DaveShooter]

 JR- you lucky dog. I kinda wished I had gotten a 909 instead of the Dragon last year. Did ya get the sigle or double air-tube 909? Are ya still doing plumbing work? Enjoy your new rifle.
Dave

[JonnyReb]

 lol Do i know you  dave?  How in the world did you know that

  The gun is an older model i guess,2 tubes, i got it on the classifieds and the price was right.  The seller used it successfully on northern deer hunts so i figured it would do the job i've got intended for it down south where they are a bit smaller. I still don't have it in hand yet as it just shipped today, i'm imagining it's not going to be pristine but it's supposed to shoot straight.

  I drooled over the .50 for a good long while... i SOOO could see rebarreling that beauty(and they are beauties!!) in .308... in the end, a good price is why i've got the sam yang but as i look at ammo selection i'm sorta glad i did. Have you checked out the ammo selection at www.BigLube.com   ??  Pretty cool for anyone with a .45, can't wait to see what kind of velocities i can get from those 130gr. "pellets"       Take care,, Jeff