double shots in a cap and ball 44

[ebb]

A friend from high school used to hunt muzzle loader season here in south Florida with a double 12 gage. He told us that he never could get a very good group with buck shoot, so he took wire fishing leader and made a hoop then split the buckshot like split shot fishing weights and clamped them equally spaced around the circle of wire. He stuffed the whole mess down the barrel, he swore it always made a good group. How could it not? When he was shooting the 12 double I stayed far away.

[nanuk]

It was a Digest about ML information

Articles by Fadala. I may still have it somewhere

But I remembered that picture
Two balls just outside the muzzle in a high speed still frame
Obviously they were seated together
The article may have mentioned that the balls have to be loaded together touching
Pretty easy to do
I have done so with two and three balls in my inline
Sure ups the recoil

Bulges caused by ‘obstructions’ is certainly not the same thing
Caution is warranted but the practice is not dangerous as far as I can tell

[nanuk]

seen a couple of muzzleloader barrels with a nice little bulge just right at the base of a short started ball

22/250 barrel with a ring bulge near the muzzle (I believe that one was left in an open machinery shed for a bit and proly fired with a mud wasp nest n it )
based on those I never felt the urge to test the "wives tale"

I started out on Fadalas books - cover to cover more than once - didnt see the pic of the two ball load - which book?

The ML in question must have had a hard wad on the powder, or balled a second time where it was short started
And a nest could certainly stop up pressure and cause a bulge

Those two issues are unrelated to loading a double ball load
Just like a double/triple ball in a shotshell, when done right pose no risk

Ima check to see if I can find that book
I know I had it 35 or so years ago

[nanuk]

A friend from high school used to hunt muzzle loader season here in south Florida with a double 12 gage. He told us that he never could get a very good group with buck shoot, so he took wire fishing leader and made a hoop then split the buckshot like split shot fishing weights and clamped them equally spaced around the circle of wire. He stuffed the whole mess down the barrel, he swore it always made a good group. How could it not? When he was shooting the 12 double I stayed far away.

Nothing inherently unsafe about that practice but in my jurisdiction is quite illegal and could net you jail time