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You accuracy with round balls sounds just great. I am somewhat surprised though. Of course, in this hobby of ours, nothing is absolute.
; My own load deveopement in a 12 bore double with smooth .725" bores was most enlightening.
; Somewhere I had read of the 150gr. charge being the intermediate charge for 12's with the lighter charge around 110gr. and the heavy at 191gr.(7 drams) My short barreled double managed the heavy charge in the 1,600fps range with around 1,350fps for the intermediate charge. I used the plastic base wads from spent trap loads, one on top of the powder, one cup-up to hold the .715" ball in the centre of the bore. This system worked well, but a card wad between the powder and bottom cup was required to prevent the BP from melting and coating the bore with plastic.
; I used a coned crimp head for forming the plastic hulls over the ball. This worked very well indeed, and prevente the balls from moving in the unfired bore, even with several shot in the other for a test. With smokeless loads, the bottom card isn't necessary, but intermediate fibre wads were used to take up the extra space afforded by the rreduced capacity smokeless powder. I used SR4756 and SR7625 due to their lower pressure developement in shot loads. I worked up to the same velocities that BP gave with no pressure related problems - about 1,550fps with smokeless for maximum velocities. One thing of note, is the recoil was much reduced when using smokeless powder, even though the 'power' was the same. With smokeless loads, I was able to use a full normal crimp. I marked the bases with a felt pen to differenciate them from shot loads.
: A friend and I are going to rifle a couple 12 bore barrels next summer, maybe pumps for experimental load developement. I am looking for a camp-bear load as they tend to be a problem where I guide, especially when moose are on the meat pole. The twist rates will be somewhere between 90" and 120" for round ball use only. The use of round balls in both smooth and rifled barrels increases the penetration and attendent killing power of the shotgun, be they rifled or smooth. Good enough for hunting in India and Africa, good enough for me here in B.C. Incidently, Wheel WEight alloy makes a marvelous penetrator, whereas pure lead expands a lot. A 12 bore bal removed from under the hide, off side of a moose, revealed a disk of lead, full weight, but over 1-1/8" in diameter. The WW ball is for big bear.
: They are spetacular smackers, aren't they. Shooting heavy steel plates alongside someone with a 7mm or .300 Mangleum, really opens their eyes to what momentum really is.

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V