Shootin a Smoothie
 

Well I had a chance to try some different loads out of my smoothbore .62 caliber. I first tried 80 grains of Pyrodex RS with a .018 patch and .600 diameter 324 grain round ball. Accuracy was very good at 25 yards. Then I tried shooting the same round ball and powder charge with a Nitro card, then a fiber wad, the ball of course and an over the shot card. Accuracy was exceptional.

Once I kicked the charge up to 90 grains the group began to open, so today when I shot I put 85 grains of RS and the same card set up. This is really getting accurate. If I can make good groups at 50 yards, I think I will give this a try deer season. I always wanted to hunt deer with a smoothbore rifle. I am guessing with the card set up it would be similar with a 20 gauge slug except it is a round ball.

Does anyone else shoot smoothies? If so what kind of loads do you use?

For bird hunting, I am loading 80 grains of RS a paper shot cup and 100 grains of #6 shot. This is a real good load and will be used for turkey hunting. I figure this would also work for upland birds.

RE: Shootin a Smoothie
 

I've got a Jim Chambers pennsylvania fowler in 20 bore. Great gun, and I've used it mostly as a shotgun. I have played with patched ball, and can get groups of 4 to 5 inches at 50 yards. Good enough, but not great. PRB is over 80 grains of GO FFg. Only taken one shot at a whitetail with it, I overshot her at about 30 yards. Killed another 15 minutes later at 45 yards with a .54 Harper's ferry I had with me as well.

RE: Shootin a Smoothie
 

I was shooting the smoothie and wanted to get to the 50 yard line to see how mine compared to yours Charley. At 25 it was a big nasty hole for three shots. At 35 I shot a 5 shot group and all but one of the shots were touching in a tight group. At 43 steps I was super tight as this picture shows. I was actually a little impressed with the musket at this point. At the 50 yard line I suddenly spread out to almost 5 inches. At 70 yards I could keep it on the 8X11 paper if that counts. Seems this is a short range weapon with the ball. I am going to work some more on it. I want to hunt deer with a smoothbore.

I do not load a patched ball. I loaded 80 grains of Pyrodex P and then the Nitro card, the fiber wad, the ball and the shot card. On the one flyer I had at 35 yard I decided to grease the fiber wad to see what happened. I guess I should have left well enough alone.

One thing I noted was the drop is not all that bad shooting these big 324 grain round balls. I was expecting low hits at the 43 step target, and instead was surprised when they too were right on the money...

RE: Shootin a Smoothie
 

Those are very close to my results. I did some experimenting with a human silouette, and loaded and fired five times from my bag. Loose powder and ball took an average of 45 seconds to load and fire, but I could hit the kill zone about 75% of the time at sixty yards. I'd like to try agin with paper cartridge, just to see if they speed loading that much. Sure would not have wanted to be line infantry in the old days!

RE: Shootin a Smoothie
 

One thing I will say for the .62 caliber Charley.... it sure puts a hole through what ever it hits. I was real impressed with the power of the round ball down range.:D

RE: Shootin a Smoothie
 

You are right that it will be "similar" to a 20-ga/. slug, but due to being solid instead of holllow, will penetrate a lot better that the 20-ga. slug, and do a lot more damage, too! I would take your load any day over any 20-ga. slug I am aware of!