Thompson center impact ball starter

[lonewolf5347]

Hey question on your impact rifle loading.
Do you need a ball starter (sabots).
I never used one on inline rifles.
Yes it a main tool to get round ball and patch started on side locks
I am asking seem I misplaced my bullet starter.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Usually not with sabots. Try loading it once without a starter and you will know for sure.

 

[arcticap]

I've always used a starter for sabots.
Short starter, long starter, pistol starter, then ram after it's out of reach of those.

Go to a any hardware store and get a length of fairly thick dowel
and cut it to size if you need to.
Find any kind of usable smooth object to drill a hole into it to become a handle,
and gently tap the sabot in with a plastic, wood, rubber or leather mallet.
You can even use a golf ball as a handle if you can drill a hole into it.

Get a close to bore size dowel and you can make a range ramrod out of it.

 

[rsrocket1]

I use a short section of 3/8" aluminum rod and a 2" dowel about 4" long for my starter. The rest of the rod is used as my range ramrod. I drilled and tapped the end to accept a brass ramrod end piece. A 3# Harbor Freight orange mallet comes in handy too.

 

[readyeddy]

The impact is bored out about half inch at the muzzle, so the sabot/bullet sits nicely on top.

Don't need a starter, but makes the initial push a little easier.