44 cal flint

[canneryrow]

I am totally new to black powder. Have a 44 cal flintlock replica. Very nice. After some research, I got the right powder and can fire it with great pleasure. Have not, however, loaded it with a ball. Reason being the 44 cal balls I have seem to be too tight a fit. I would have to pressure them down the barrel.

Do I need a smaller caliber ball or different make ball?

any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[madcratebuilder]

Normally the round ball is smaller than the bore. You use a patch around the ball to make a press fit.
Is this a rifle or pistol? The bore diameter would be helpful to tell you the recommended ball size and patch thickness.

 

[bigbadgun]

Madcrate hit it on the head so lets say your barrel is .440 then you would use a .430 ball and a .010-.015 patch under the ball. These measurements are just an example.
Like my .50 CVA the barrel is .499 I use .490 ball and .015 patch over 90grain of fff and have fun all day long. Took 2 hogs 18 months ago one at 75 yards i think it was and the other a little closer.

 

[Chawbaccer]

.429 or .433 will be your best choice of a ball. Buy a package of each and pick the one that loads best,

Edit to change the .329 to .429

 

[Smokin_Gun]

canneryrow, 44 cal flint ...
That sure would be a .430" lead RB patched with .010" to .15" or .018" pillow tickin' from Walmart.
Post pic of your pistol here ... read Photobucket by G.O.C.

 

[arcticap]

Track of the Wolf sells many different sizes of hand cast balls including .424, .429 & .433. Smoothbore shooters generally use balls up to .020 undersized along with a thicker patch because there are no rifling grooves to compress as much excess cotton patch material into during loading. Larger size balls especially become harder to load as the smoothbore barrel becomes fouled with powder residue. For instance, a .424 ball and a .010 (and then .015) patch might be a good combination to start out with and try in a .44 smoothbore.
Tighter combinations using larger balls and thinner patches may shoot slightly more accurately out of a clean barrel, but the trade off is harder loading and more swabbing required between shots. And the accuracy improvement may be difficult to detect when shooting with crude sights and a short barrel at close distances anyway.
Does your flint pistol have a smoothbore or a rifled barrel?

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(zh...es/tableList.aspx?catID=2&subID=25&styleID=58

 

[mykeal]

.329 is perhaps a typo? I would think Chawbaccer meant .429.

 

[Chawbaccer]

He sure did mean .429