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Ever fired without a patch?
- Thread starter DAVIDMAZZ
- Start date
Lots of Civil War soldiers fired without a patch. Just drop the ball down on the powder, aim, and hear the ball go clunk, clunk, clunk, down the barrell bouncing from one side to another.
AND, where did the ball go? Your guess is as good as mine. Somewhere downrange. Even tightly patched, a smoothbore is not accurate beyond about 50 yards, and that is a different meaning of accuracy than we expect, today. You might hit a 6 X 6 target a couple times with a smoothbore, tightly patched.
Cheers,
George
AND, where did the ball go? Your guess is as good as mine. Somewhere downrange. Even tightly patched, a smoothbore is not accurate beyond about 50 yards, and that is a different meaning of accuracy than we expect, today. You might hit a 6 X 6 target a couple times with a smoothbore, tightly patched.
Cheers,
George
DAVIDMAZZ
Yes, it is about like shooting an un-patched round ball in
a rifle. Maybe a why do you ask would get you a better answer.
I have also shot round balls in smooth bores using shotgun type
wads and shot cards. How can we help?
gmatov
Is that 6 inches or 6 foot? At how far?
If the bad guy is up close, even the ram rod works.
Tinker2
Yes, it is about like shooting an un-patched round ball in
a rifle. Maybe a why do you ask would get you a better answer.
I have also shot round balls in smooth bores using shotgun type
wads and shot cards. How can we help?
gmatov
“You might hit a 6 X 6 target a couple times with a smoothbore, tightly patched.”
Is that 6 inches or 6 foot? At how far?
If the bad guy is up close, even the ram rod works.
Tinker2
Sorry, Tinker, that's 6 foot by 6 foot.
A funny I read in "The Story of the Guns" was that the marksmanship instructors told recruits to aim 130 feet over the heads of their targets at 600 yards.
That was in a series of tests in England, in 1838, of the service musket.
At 150 yards, shooting at a 3foot X 11 1/2 foot target, 3 out of 4 hit with full charge, 1/2 with reduced charge.
At 250 yards, they had to widen the target to 6 feet and not a hit out of 10 shots. At 300, they couldn't even tell where the balls were going, no dirt being dug up by the balls.
Like saying if you want to hit a church door, aim at the weathercock, but 50/50 chance you would still miss because of the horizontal deviation.
Cheers,
George
A funny I read in "The Story of the Guns" was that the marksmanship instructors told recruits to aim 130 feet over the heads of their targets at 600 yards.
That was in a series of tests in England, in 1838, of the service musket.
At 150 yards, shooting at a 3foot X 11 1/2 foot target, 3 out of 4 hit with full charge, 1/2 with reduced charge.
At 250 yards, they had to widen the target to 6 feet and not a hit out of 10 shots. At 300, they couldn't even tell where the balls were going, no dirt being dug up by the balls.
Like saying if you want to hit a church door, aim at the weathercock, but 50/50 chance you would still miss because of the horizontal deviation.
Cheers,
George
ribbonstone
New member
As a kid, ever shoot a BB gun with bright strong sunlight behind you, low over your shoulder? Can see the streak of the brass colored BB, and how it tends to hook,splice, dive, or rise after a certain distance of travel.
Unpatched ball will gain rotation as it rubs along the barrel, hitting one side or another, and will exit with a bit of spin...but it will be top spin, bottom spin, or some kind of side spin, not the rotational spin of rifling.
Ball will eventually dive off in the opposite direction of the spin.
(odd effect of watching my Nephew shoot air soft...some have adjustable "hop up"..basically bending the barrel to impart a backspin...which tends to LIFT the little plastic balls and gain some range. Can adjust the " hop up" on some makes, giving it more or less. Interresting idea for a smoothbore and not ptach.)
It's how big league pitchers earn their money.
No ball is 100% perfect...can be darned near it before firing, but after a trip down a barrel without a patch, will certainly not be perfect when it esits.
Patch stops the spin...will pick up a bit in flight as even a great patch won't release 100% cleanly each time, with whatever side that hanges up for a micro-second imparting some type of spin.
Unpatched ball will gain rotation as it rubs along the barrel, hitting one side or another, and will exit with a bit of spin...but it will be top spin, bottom spin, or some kind of side spin, not the rotational spin of rifling.
Ball will eventually dive off in the opposite direction of the spin.
(odd effect of watching my Nephew shoot air soft...some have adjustable "hop up"..basically bending the barrel to impart a backspin...which tends to LIFT the little plastic balls and gain some range. Can adjust the " hop up" on some makes, giving it more or less. Interresting idea for a smoothbore and not ptach.)
It's how big league pitchers earn their money.
No ball is 100% perfect...can be darned near it before firing, but after a trip down a barrel without a patch, will certainly not be perfect when it esits.
Patch stops the spin...will pick up a bit in flight as even a great patch won't release 100% cleanly each time, with whatever side that hanges up for a micro-second imparting some type of spin.