Flintlocks : The Buck & Ball load

[@micwell2247]

Finally someone who did it right!!!!

[@denisdegamon8224]

Sir actually especially in the military paper cartridges, the ball is first against the powder followed by three 00Buck (.33 caliber) balls on top of the ball. Refetences to this are all over the net and in historical references as well as actual old civil war cartridges. I have loaded this style cartridges for decades with no a single issue. I did enjoy your video.

[@Echo4PapaBravo]

Specialty loads like that were usually used against other humans, not for hunting. The Buck and Bird load was used a lot by cavalry and Marines on ships so that they got a wider spread with each shot, hitting the man standing beside the intended target while still getting the main target with the larger projectiles. The smaller birdshot tended to spread more than the buckshot, this was especially efficient against armies in ranks and boarding parties, as far back as blunderbusses. Semper Fi

[@sleepingbear7182]

Steve, good video. I also shoot a 62 cal smooth bore, and have found that when using .310 round ball 3 balls will lay in one layer on the wad. Thus I use 6 .310 balls and one .600 ball for my load. I do use an over powder card, and a cushion wad over my powder, and a thin card over the lead. O use the over powder card to seperate the powder from the greased wad. Keep the good vids coming.

[@cbtri15]

Thanks Steve. I enjoy your videos. The 1841 to 1861 ordinance manuals specify the buck on top of the ball. However, many time the buck would break out of the cartridge causing a problem. I can see the advantage of having ball on top of buck.

[@DeadEyeRabbit]

great video. thanks for showing the impact and the effect of it.

[@dwightehowell8179]

The standard load for a Brown Bess was buck and ball. Washington's forces used buck and ball. Southern forces were still using buck and ball in smooth bores during the War Between the States.

[@tomritter493]

great vid critter its always good to have the extra load handy with the buck

[@johnndavis7647]

This was a popular load for military use. The idea was that it increased the chances of wounding an enemy. It was seldom used as a hunting load There was a book called. " 60 years a hunter " where this fellow was a market hunter just after the Civil War. His first gun when he was 15 years old was a belguim musket. He was first taught to use buck and ball loads in the musket He quickly dropped the buck part as ineffectual for hunting use. He was hunting from flintlock to the smokeless era. He hunted with everything and gave his opinions about lots of guns and loads. Its a great book if you can find it. John Davis jax fl

[@brianmiller3884]

I have that book ...a must read for any outdoorsman

[@SteveB357]

there is a study of the Battle of Shiloh, showing affects of buck and ball against infantry. the study suggests that the high casualty rate was due to this load.

[@Dantbarfog]

Great channel steve I Really enjoy your vids keep em comming :)

[@bigjohn20081983]

That make sense as a defensive/offensive load or maybe camp defense but I was thinking hunt role and did not even think to consider that use. I know they used to load the blunderbusses with just about anything they could shove in them.

[@WanderingTheWild]

Wicked video Steve! Really like that. Keep up the good work brother!

[@tecnotrog1]

Nice

[@rodsvintagesxschannel.3095]

I have a north west trade gun built by david doliver..looking forward to try few buck ball loads in mine. I have some 000 buck here and 600 dia balls . my gun is 62 cal smooth.

[@1koolhick]

Good video!

[@haroldchase1881]

He is correct my 32 cal cap and ball can use 00 buck as round ball

[@TomsBackwoods]

Cool Steve Thanks!

[@robertbrunston5406]

Thank you.

[@shannonbtanner]

Hey brother, this may be a stupid question but why only 60 grains? I shoot 90 grains threw my .50 cal Hawken, about 30 years ago just to see what would happen I put 180 grains and 2 balls in it and strapped it to a bench and it shot perfect,,,a little loud LOL but no problems and none since, great video as always!

[@Stormpriest]

another side note here: the way I heard of this at 1st was as a "back woods" hunting w a dble barrel "Shorty" aka a 12 or 20 ga dbl shot gun that had been cut down due to age and reg use. The way I heard of this being used in such was the buck in one barrel, the ball in the other. The idea was to stun the deer w the buck shot and then nail him w the RB. I caught a post on Facebook by Middlesex village trading Co about a find off the Ea. Coast of a musket with the load you just talked about.

[@bowlofrice8]

Aaron Boleyn why not just nail him with the first shot and not waste another load. 1 well placed shot is all you need to kill a deer and a .61 round ball whatever cal you use is certainly enough to do it humanely. Why wound a deer and ruin meat

[@johnndavis7647]

Lots of double guns aren't all that well regulated. Usually one barrel will shoot exactly where you are aiming. The other barrel will be a little off. Maybe a few inches high and a few inches rght or left I load a round ball in the barrel that shoots to point of aim and a load of buckshot in the other.

[@bowiebowie7336]

I'm a civil war reenactor and I talked to one of the guys about that load and he says the best way of loading that type of a load was using the big ball first to hold everything then you pack everything down on top of that little buckshot load the big round ball goes down first in the five little ones then you put another patch on top of it ram it all down all at one time and everything because there's nothing but loose deals and it would do a lot better if you use the big ball first then use the little balls on top of the big ball something to think about because you only wearing a battle line and you wanted the most damage you can get out of your rifle you know just something to think about try that end of the way you were doing it you know

[@larrylee4522]

Historically, the buck goes on top of the ball, in all military cartridges. .69 (.66 or .67) balk with 3 .30 caliber ball on top in a military paper cartridge.

[@denisdegamon8224]

Yup.

[@mikegrossberg8624]

Probably a dumb question: why not use a wad BETWEEN the buck and ball? Seems to me that would solve the problem of one interfering with the other

[@christopherbennett4559]

I love that rifle sling. Where did you get it?

[@bigjohn20081983]

Mr. Davis I have talked with a few people in my area that are into flint locks and muzzle-loaders and 1 of them hinted to a load of bird shot being mixed with the ball or in some cases mixed with buck for a buck and bird load have you heard much about this it just seems impractical for hunting to me cause the buck or ball would destroy small game and the bird would not be much help on large game at distance.

[@markdrinkard4150]

Please dont use this on deer,it is a maiming load meant to take out an enemy in battle by killing or wounding

[@MrJimZ09]

Is putting your ram rod in with the palm of you hand being safe? If by chance a miss fire would happen could result in serious hand injury.

[@larrytoll434]

Very unsafe. I teach muzzle loading safety, and that is one of the BIG no-nos.

[@andrewsanford2020]

What is the proper way to load a muzzleloader then "safely"? I imagine when I hold the side of the ramrod if the weapon fired good forbid, it will still likely shoot my hand.

[@SamCulperJr]

Larry Toll what are any of you even getting at. The Pan wasn’t even primed. And it was like a solid 5-10sec before he even rammed it down. If there were any embers in the barrel it would’ve ignited by then. Perfectly safe in this case

[@DarthMercanto]

Are you loading that buck and ball in a rifle...?

[@nukehayes8346]

The lock, or firing mechanism, for this type of gun was set in such a way as to make it totally safe to be in front of the muzzle. It is only an issue when the frizzen is down, powder in the flash pan, and flint on full cock.

[@denisdegamon8224]

That frizzen (military paper cartridge loading) has the musket at half cock before charging the pan with powder, then loading the remaining charge along with the ball in the barrel. When they made ready, they then went to full cock in preparation to shoot.

[@Stormpriest]

I can only imagine how devastating this wld be in my Howdah w it's 12 inch barrels O_0

[@bowlofrice8]

Aaron Boleyn much less so. With such a short barrel you are loosing a lot of energy plus with such a heavy load that would be slowed down even more

[@jmartin9059]

I " KNOW" that it is "NOT TRADITIONAL" for the purist but Ballistic Products company "UN-SLIT" MULTI-METAL SHOTCUP style wads will tighten that pattern up quite a bit and protect your barrel from hard alloy lead or steel shot . Also note that: "IF" such wads had existed in the 1700's they surely would have been used at that time... they used the best they could get....and we should too. www.ballisticproducts.com/searchprods.asp In the 3" 12 gauge Ballistic products Multi-Metal UN-slit wad: 19 pcs of #1 buckshot .300" one centered then stack in 3's on top of the one is a good fit. Buckshot "Extra hard" and nickel plated: www.ballisticproducts.com/searchprods.asp corks, cards, and overshot cards for the purist. www.ballisticproducts.com/Card-Filler-Wads/departments/211/

[@ATINKERER]

That was from 20 to 25 yards? I thought smooth bores were supposed to be so inaccurate that shooting at an individual from that range was a waste of time. Well, I enjoyed the video. Thanks.

[@dwightehowell8179]

There is video on line of smooth bores putting round ball loads into the trunk of man sized targets out to about 80 yrds after which it starts to get a bit hit or miss. If you were firing into massed ranks a miss was still likely to be a hit. You almost had to hit somebody somewhere.

[@markdrinkard4150]

please dont use this for deer this is a maiming load

[@Vigilante-k4q]

Mark Drinkard this is primarly for red coats and yankees