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Another experiment, but this one has I think more potential than the 3D printed gas seal experiment. Buck and Ball shotshells, sort of like an improvised musket from the Revolution.
Image from that article -- not really pertinent to anything here, but it was interesting and reading about buck and ball is what sparked my curiosity:
I don't own a musket, but I do own a shotgun and I have a box of Hornady 0.490" roundballs that shoot badly out of my fast rifling twist in-line muzzleloader.
I printed some sabots -- they're ugly because of my old worn out printer, but fit the balls and buck snugly. These sabots hold two round balls and three #4 buckshot. The load weighs in at about 416 gr. in total lead, and about 60 gr. for the sabot. In my usual buckshot load, the one I had pressure tested by Precision Industries, I have about 450 gr. of lead and 25 grains of buffer, so this is pretty close to that in weight.
Enough words, pictures:
Here's short video showing the sabot design:
I shot the first two over the chronograph at 15 yds from the target. Only got one good reading: 1280 FPS. This is consistent with my buckshot readings which are usually in the 1240 to 1260 range and likely to be at a safe pressure (*). The second two I shot at 25 yds and merely moved the chronograph out of the way because I was getting to a time crunch.
Here's the target with the shots marked (for the first shot marked in green, note that one of the 4th shot roundballs oblitterated one of the first shot's buckshot marks -- the green dot in the pink hole represents that shot. Also, on of the buckshot hit right next to the round ball in the first shot -- I could clearly see it in the plywood, I've outlined that green buckshot hole in white): EDIT: oops -- it's a red labeled buckshot that is missing, not pink:
(*) when I had my buckshot loads tested, I got 11788 at 25 gr. powder, 11498 psi at 20 gr. of powder and 10576 psi at 19.5 gr. of powder -- I figure my load of 19.8 should be roughly 11,000 psi, which is about 1000 psi less than the max suggested for a 20 gauge, but of course, I'm only guessing and haven't had these buck and balls tested. https://www.randywakeman.com/shotgun_pressures.htm
The British did indeed use .69 ball and Jefferson Arsenal sells those cartridges, but it turns out that Continental and militia troops used buck and ball ammunition. George Washington, possibly because of his experience in the French and Indian War, was a proponent of buck and ball ammunition.
The Musket that Changed the World: The Land Pattern 'Brown Bess'
The Land Pattern Musket and its derivatives were in use for 116 years of official service and close to 160 years of actual use with many incremental changes in its design. It remained in production for 140 years, making the Brown Bess' production one of the longest production runs for a firearm...www.gunsamerica.com
Image from that article -- not really pertinent to anything here, but it was interesting and reading about buck and ball is what sparked my curiosity:
I don't own a musket, but I do own a shotgun and I have a box of Hornady 0.490" roundballs that shoot badly out of my fast rifling twist in-line muzzleloader.
I printed some sabots -- they're ugly because of my old worn out printer, but fit the balls and buck snugly. These sabots hold two round balls and three #4 buckshot. The load weighs in at about 416 gr. in total lead, and about 60 gr. for the sabot. In my usual buckshot load, the one I had pressure tested by Precision Industries, I have about 450 gr. of lead and 25 grains of buffer, so this is pretty close to that in weight.
Enough words, pictures:
Here's short video showing the sabot design:
I shot the first two over the chronograph at 15 yds from the target. Only got one good reading: 1280 FPS. This is consistent with my buckshot readings which are usually in the 1240 to 1260 range and likely to be at a safe pressure (*). The second two I shot at 25 yds and merely moved the chronograph out of the way because I was getting to a time crunch.
Here's the target with the shots marked (for the first shot marked in green, note that one of the 4th shot roundballs oblitterated one of the first shot's buckshot marks -- the green dot in the pink hole represents that shot. Also, on of the buckshot hit right next to the round ball in the first shot -- I could clearly see it in the plywood, I've outlined that green buckshot hole in white): EDIT: oops -- it's a red labeled buckshot that is missing, not pink:
(*) when I had my buckshot loads tested, I got 11788 at 25 gr. powder, 11498 psi at 20 gr. of powder and 10576 psi at 19.5 gr. of powder -- I figure my load of 19.8 should be roughly 11,000 psi, which is about 1000 psi less than the max suggested for a 20 gauge, but of course, I'm only guessing and haven't had these buck and balls tested. https://www.randywakeman.com/shotgun_pressures.htm
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