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arcticap · January 25, 2012, 01:41 AM

Pellets are intended to only be used with inline rifles unless a sidelock model was designed to use them. And even those models can often need a booster charge of loose powder to reliably ignite the pellet.
There's no need to crush a pellet that's loaded under a ball, but if it does get crushed during ramming then don't worry about it because I believe that's fairly common.

A wool wad can be used under a patched round ball, but whether using it will result in better accuracy or not would require some testing.
Wool wads act as a gas check to reduce blow by which can help to promote more consistent velocity, especially if the patch is thin, not staying intact during firing or getting damaged during loading.
But sometimes using wads can also change accuracy for the worse.

January 25, 2012, 01:41 AM	#9
arcticap Senior Member Join Date: March 15, 2005 Location: Central Connecticut Posts: 3,166	Pellets are intended to only be used with inline rifles unless a sidelock model was designed to use them. And even those models can often need a booster charge of loose powder to reliably ignite the pellet. There's no need to crush a pellet that's loaded under a ball, but if it does get crushed during ramming then don't worry about it because I believe that's fairly common. A wool wad can be used under a patched round ball, but whether using it will result in better accuracy or not would require some testing. Wool wads act as a gas check to reduce blow by which can help to promote more consistent velocity, especially if the patch is thin, not staying intact during firing or getting damaged during loading. But sometimes using wads can also change accuracy for the worse. Last edited by arcticap; January 25, 2012 at 01:48 AM.