Round ball & smooth bore
 

casted up some round balls a few weeks back for my Trade musket.....got to shoot some today. I tried a few different ways to load them: loaded some with a patch on top of powder charge, loaded a few others with the wads that I use for shot. Didn't see much of an appreciable difference. Is there any "standard" way of loading a smooth bore for accuracy, or do you just take what they give? (If thats the case, then I'm in trouble!....gun shoots way low at 25 yards:( )

Mr. 16 gauge,

I do not own a Trade musket; all my smoothbores are T/C Hawkens. My .50 smooth flinter will shoot patched ball accurately to 75 yards with a charge of 75 grains of 2F Goex. If your Trade gun shoots low, try filing down the front sight to get a point of aim/point of impact more to your liking with your accuracy load. I use a tight patched ball over my powder charge for fine accuracy within smoothbore limits as noted above.

Adam

Adam;
Does your patch/ball sit directly on the powder charge, or do you put a cardboard wad on top of the powder first?

When I was shooting Trade Guns, I always used a over powder wad and then the patched ball. I used this combo both in my 12 & 20 ga. Both were very accurate with this combo. Think all you can do is try different ways and patch thickness. I used a tight fit on the patch. Good luck.

Mr. 16 gauge,

I do not use a card wad on top of the powder charge and under the patched round ball. One day I will try that combo and see if it improves my smoothbore accuracy.

Adam