I have a single barrel twelve gauge smooth bore. It is not a new manufacture, but composite of good steel parts of twentieth century manufacturer and no choke tubes. I know the previous owner used .69 round balls and hornet's nest or tow wading to take a few deer. Anyone else have any experience with one of these?

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(q3r5zr553cglkou0w5tk5dvd))/Index.aspx


Try the above, track of the wolf can be very helpfull, you mite want to try Pacfic Arms also

Thanks, I'll give them a try.
Bfly

Black Fly: In "Wild Beasts and their Ways," (first published 1890) Samuel Baker expected a 12-bore muzzleloader to accept 10 drams (273 grains) of powder under a hardened ball for use on heavy game. YOW!

I've played with breechloading ballguns. If you are not a purist, the Federal 12s3 wad with the pedals trimmed to 1/4" should work very well. In the article that got me started down this road, Gil Singel used 4 drams of ffg black. That load gives about 1500 fps and enough recoil for any sane man.

.690 sounds small if your barrel is anywhere close to modern 12 gauge specs. The size is commonly used when there is a possibility that it will be fired through a choke. You'll get a lot better accuracy with a round ball that patches to bore size, probably a .720.

Dixie Gun Works will supply you with an RB mould of about any diameter you want. Their moulds are basic, but work. They lack a sprue cutter, so I use pruning shears on those balls from which the sprue does not break off on releasing from the mould. After the mould is at temperature, most of the sprues fall off anyway.

Assuming a tight fitting ball and decent sights, a smoothbore is perfectly adequate for deer hunting to 50 yards.

I used to shoot a Brown Bess. It is slightly larger than 12 gauge and used a 0.715" ball.

A 0.690 ball will work with a cloth patch -- try different thichnesses of cloth, but do not make it too tight or the second shot will be hard to load. I used 80 grains of 2 Fg black powder. Anything more and it would rattle my teeth!!! Never shot a deer, but this should be enough powder for up to 50 yards.

An alternate is to use lubed fiber and/or card wads under the ball, and an over-ball card. You need to seal the bore or all that gas will blow by the ball and you will have no velocity.

Thanks, again.
Walter, no danger of shooting more than fifty yards, the sights and old eyes limit me to that or a littl less. Any suggestion for what to use for an over ball wad. Should it be a wad with a center hole like the old pumkin ball wads, or a thin flat wad?
Bfly

quote:

Any suggestion for what to use for an over ball wad. Should it be a wad with a center hole like the old pumkin ball wads, or a thin flat wad?

My smoothbore experience is with a 20 bore fusil. I usually run a patched .600, but I've had reasonable success using a .610 with a fiber wad beneath and a thin card on top. Them as suggested that method said you can use your ball screw to remove the card and unload without shooting should you choose to.

The top card is there to keep the ball from rolling out. A thin card will work, or a thicker card -- whatever you have that fits tight. The hole helps the air to escape as you ram the card down. I used a thin card and drilled a small hole in them.


Good luck and be safe. Ram that ball down on the powder and keep it there.