Thanks Patrick - congrats on the measurements - I was very curious. At .724" for the land and ,732" groove, they have only .004" per side.
: A .715" ball is .009" smaller than the bore and that's about perfect for an easy load, but generally needs a fairly heavy patch.
: Do you know what the rifling twist is, Patrick? The rate of twist will dictate to an extent what the patch thickness will need to be. The slower the twist, the thinner a patch one can get away with. However that can be counterproductive if run to the extremem, ie: .014' or thinner as thin patches hold little lube to keep fouling soft for backup shots. When hunting, you don't want to have to wipe the bore out before being able to load the gun. That just doesn't make sense.
: For the heavier loads one might be inclined to use on African-type game, I'd be using a .715" ball and a .020" patch. The rifle would have a proper crown to allow easy laoding of that combination and I'd have several tapered paper cartridges in my pocket for a fast reload if necessary.