Okay im going nuts over here. My custom barrel "54cal?" measured .534" land to land. An .018" patch with .530" ball is almost impossible to get down unless i beat the heck out of it with a short starter. I even tried the hornady great plains bullets and that was even worse.

What gives? Is this a .53cal?

MD try it with a .010" patch. It sure does sound tight. You may have to get yourself a custom mould or have the bore opened up to .540". My GM barrel measures .541" and my CVA comes out at about .543".
Maybe your balls are too hard also. Have you tries some of your own hand cast balls. I think you would be OK with a soft lead ball .530 and .010" patch.

Yes i cast some .530s today and they were super tight as well. I will try to find some .015" patches next time.

I would also try some .010" patches, it sounds like a tight custom barrel. there is no .53 cal to my knowledge

Jon, the rule of thumb I learned from my Grandfather [and that's all he shot] was that the ball must be at least 5 thousands smaller than the bore and the patch should be twice the thickness of the difference be tween the bore and the ball.
If it cuts a 10 th patch you may have to lap it.

boy a .010 patch though just seems like it would burn up.

Ray the santa fe hawken had a .53cal bore. I just think that bore size is extremely odd in this barrel.

Yep your right the .53 was a freak, if it is a .53 your going to need a .526 RB according to the info i found.Track the wolf sells the .526, 50ea $8.99 and there are molds for them also.

Even though the lands are tight, some makers label their bores by the groove to groove diameter. You may even want to try a .520 ball which Hornady makes and TOW also sells them cast.

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Catego...Size=25&Page=2

Well that helped! Some folks on another forum told me to go and smooth out the crown with some sand paper. I started with 220 and then finished with 600. Loaded a bit easier this time around! I am going to make some new patch lube tonight and soak some patches. I didn't have to use a ball starter at all, just a good deal of pressure on the ramrod and down she went.