I know that Mr. Barnes makes or has made several .30 rifles so perhaps someone here has a good answer for me....

I currently have 2 'little big bores' a QB conversion .32 and a DAQ 308 that I have tuned down.

The QB is shooting the 47gr .310 round balls at around 680fps while the tuned down DAQ is shooting the same balls at around 860fps.

I enjoy the higher shot count I get with these guns turned down and they seem to be near perfect for smaller game (if I can ever find squirrels around here )

While at Roanoke this past year, I found some .308 small bullets of about 80gr (estimated) but they dont shoot for squat in either of my guns. The Hornady round balls in .310 seem to do well, and I cant find anyone who has any .315's to test.

The Surefire slugs, unsized, do great out of the DAQ, but only when it is at full power....with it turned down, the 120gr slugs are a bit much for it.

So.......... my question............

Is there a good way to 'size' these .310 round balls to keep out the occasional flyer, or are there any other LIGHTWEIGHT alternatives I could be looking into trying for small game up to 50 yards?.........

Right now, the .310 Hornady RB's are tops. Out of the QB, I can normally get 5 shots to fit under a 50c piece at 25 yards and out of the DAQ, I can put those same 5 shots under a quarter and sometimes a nickel... but seems like every 8th or 10th shot, I get an oddball shot.

I have noticed that at least out of the DAQ I get better accuracy when shooting the RB's at around the 870-900fps mark rather than the 700-800fps mark.... would guess it's something to do with the twist rate on the barrel. Since I do not have the adjustability on the QB conversion, I am stuck at roughly 40fpe and cannot experiment readily.

Hi Rob:

I know Gary has made some tooling to size triple 0 buckshot down to .340" for his ball flask rifle. I'll have to defer to him for the specifics because the day we took that rifle out, he had everything sized already and ready to go. But what you're describing certainly is possible.

Oh yeah . . . they shot great too! Very accurate, and probably the sort of thing you're looking for.

-- Jim

Hello Rob,

Let me think .....

What Jim is talking about it sizing oversized ball thru a sizing die. The result is a sausage shaped slug that's round each end. I call them "buck slugs". Oddly, they fly very well.

You can try a wide variety of sizes if you have the dies and a hand press. I'm pretty sure Jim met the single O buck (at about .350" I think, can be sized for my 8mm barrel). Now ... you could try the double OO buckshot (at about .321" if I recall).

It may be that the .310" ball is just marginal for your DAQ barrel. I don't know what the bore would slug. But you always shoot ball at a larger diameter than ball (because the ball only engraves along the equator of the ball - and you must ride deeper in the rifling).

32 bulk slugs are usally found in .314" I think. Probably too tight without sizing. And, a warning ... don't try things that are too tight, because they raise the breech pressure behind the slug before it starts down the bore. So, start by sizing them to ... say .310" and then go up a half thou. or a thou. at a time ... rather than the other way and getting one stuck.

Gary

I think you were indeed using 000 buckshot, Gary.



-- Jim

The "Oughts" and the # numbers never stick in my head.

Sounds good and I appreciate the responses.

I'll look around to see where I might find such a sizing die. Since I know that .310 is ok for accuracy, I'd like to go a bit higher. It seems that the .310's ...'click' into place with the DAQ when I push them in the breech, whereas they are not so tight with the QB gun. If I can find anyone with the .315's in stock I'll try them out of the QB and perhaps the DAQ, but I'd venture a guess that the DAQ will prefer around .312 or so......

Hi Rob,

Thanks for joining us here! You inspired me to check my back orders at Midway. They claim they will have my 32-20 mold right after New Years... That mold should drop a 93gr slug and then we just need to find the right slug. BTW, the unsized slugs will run as high as .314. Those are the ones you've been shooting well at full power. Surefire does have a 100gr slug right now that can be sized to .309 which might work in the reduced power zone.

If you want to try some of the "buck slugs" all you need is a Lee hand press and a sizing die. Lee does not offer every size as a regular item but they will make custom dies for a fair price. They have directions for custom work right on their website.

Rob,

Having re-read (possibly slower this time), I note that both guns are doing well with the .310" already ... it's just the flier issue. So - I suspect there are undersized rounds sneaking in. I know of nothing to deal with that short of a precision grid of .310" holes, where the smaller ones drop thru. But - they are most likely not uniformly undersized either. Ball have a natural tendency to vary in diameter - measure one four times, get four readings. I actually have found the Hornady buckshot (last five years) to be more consistent than the boxed round ball. It's also harder than the box ball.

So; as a result of reading closer ... I think the slug you need won't be more than .310".

Another issue to loading is: are the barrels machined with a breech ... or just a straight length of rifling all the way?

Gary

Rob,

If you Google .315 lead round ball you should find some, I recall seeing it for sale on a website that supplies muzzleloaders. 100% lead so they should be soft IIRC.

Lon

Rob i can send ya some websites that have .310 and .315 readily available.

Buckshot sizes FYI:

#000 = .360"
#00 = .330"
#1 = .300"
#2 = .270"
#3 = .250"
#4 = .240"
#F = .220"
#T = .200"
#BBB= .190"
#BB = .180"
#B = .170"