Dimpled Balls

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Blaine
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Dimpled Balls

Post by Blaine »

:shock:
No, you lechers :lol: Golf balls. They are dimpled because it cuts down on wind resistance, and makes them fly straight(er).
About 20 years ago I wondered why dimpled round lead balls haven't been tried in muzzle loaders. :idea: :idea:
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2ndovc
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by 2ndovc »

Don't they change shape when the powder goes off? I would think that the dimples would have to remain consistent around the ball to make a difference in flight like a golf ball.

jb 8)
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Old No7 »

Blaine wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 7:02 pm :shock:
No, you lechers :lol: Golf balls. They are dimpled because it cuts down on wind resistance, and makes them fly straight(er).
About 20 years ago I wondered why dimpled round lead balls haven't been tried in muzzle loaders. :idea: :idea:
There have been many numerous posts about this over on the Muzzleloader Forum... My twin has tried them too.

Most improvements, if any, were from smoothbore shooters who found rolling the soft lead balls between two heavy wood rasps would score the surface (not really "dimples", but gouges) and that helped some round balls -- shot bare, with no patching or wads -- to shoot better. I recall some stories from the old days where some frontiersmen would supposedly roll lead balls around in their mouth between their teeth to do the same. Sometimes, in those days, an "accurate enough" ball that could be loaded and fired very quickly resulted in a better outcome (and longer life!) for the shooter, than a tightly patched round ball that had to be pounded down and took way too much time to reload and fire.

But.............

Dimpled balls shot out of smoothies don't get the same benefit as golf balls do -- because there is NO spin imparted (end over end, not rotational like rifling would do), like a golf club does to the ball.

I'd be very curious if Nath can tell us about his dimpled b**** -- I mean, his "experiences" with these or not. :wink:

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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Blaine »

Old No7 wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 8:59 pm
Blaine wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 7:02 pm :shock:
No, you lechers :lol: Golf balls. They are dimpled because it cuts down on wind resistance, and makes them fly straight(er).
About 20 years ago I wondered why dimpled round lead balls haven't been tried in muzzle loaders. :idea: :idea:
There have been many numerous posts about this over on the Muzzleloader Forum... My twin has tried them too.

Most improvements, if any, were from smoothbore shooters who found rolling the soft lead balls between two heavy wood rasps would score the surface (not really "dimples", but gouges) and that helped some round balls -- shot bare, with no patching or wads -- to shoot better. I recall some stories from the old days where some frontiersmen would supposedly roll lead balls around in their mouth between their teeth to do the same. Sometimes, in those days, an "accurate enough" ball that could be loaded and fired very quickly resulted in a better outcome (and longer life!) for the shooter, than a tightly patched round ball that had to be pounded down and took way too much time to reload and fire.

But.............

Dimpled balls shot out of smoothies don't get the same benefit as golf balls do -- because there is NO spin imparted (end over end, not rotational like rifling would do), like a golf club does to the ball.

I'd be very curious if Nath can tell us about his dimpled b**** -- I mean, his "experiences" with these or not. :wink:

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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by fordwannabe »

I thought this was gonna be about that poor guy I had a patient in Nursing school who got chicken pox as an adult! OMG OWWIE OWWIE OWWIE.
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by piller »

If dimpling worked on everything, I would bet it would be done on things such as bullets already. Perhaps it is not as effective at supersonic speed.
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Pisgah »

Back in my smoothbore muzzle-loading days there were several methods popular for "dimpling" balls. I never saw any accuracy improvement in my experiments. I did, however, have some success with gluing a hard cardboard wad on each ball, then loading without a patch. It seemed to give more consistent groups than patching in my smoothbores, and was definitely quicker to load.
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Ray »

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=70569&p=809409&hili ... ed#p809366

I first read of a clean miss at 75 yds. from a smoothbore muzzleloader on a giant bull moose about 40 years ago and did not believe it. Then I started shooting my own (targets not moose)a few years later and experienced much frustration with the so called "knuckleball affect"......

You can shoot a respectable 4" to 6" group at 35 paces with your fowler and then completely miss a large target just 15 more feet away......

The adherents of the mechanically chewed or rasped or dimpled balls are adamantly enthusiastic but I am cynically doubtful....

Some say that smoothing and rounding by rolling between plates is as good or better than "chewing".....

There is no smoother than industrial steel bearing balls which is what I use in the smoothbores that I consider 100% true firing.....You can make a non-firing wall hanger real quick by sticking a steel ball in a barrel.....

I fire three lightly patched 9/16" steel balls over 2 c.c. farina over a .125" 28 ga. card over 70 gr. ffg from a T/C .56 renegade......each steel ball is 155 gr. so we are still in the .54 conical weight range.....
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Nath »

Every time I whack a golf ball with a bat it don't fly straight!
Another myth. Just about any other dumb ball game don't use dimpled balls!
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Old No7 »

Blaine wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 9:57 pm Bingo....Thanks, I knew I wasn't crazy...well, maybe 8) .... I've also heard talk about nose cones on rockets and torpedos...
Well, now that you mention nose cones...

Years ago, "Precision Shooting" magazine (which was written for benchrest shooters pursuing the ultimate in rifle accuracy) ran a series of articles from an engineer/shooter who had a background in rockets and NASA and they showed before & after images of the deformation of the nose cones of rockets fired at supersonic speeds. If I recall, the damage was more if the rocket went through rain, but there was damage even in clear skies... Of course, those rockets traveled for hundreds of miles -- not 100 yards -- and at much greater speeds; but still it was an interesting discussion on how flight impacted the object's shape.

Then again, an object's shape can impact the flight too.

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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by JimT »

I got the best flight from golf balls when I tossed them up in the air and then shot them with .45 ACP hardball or Colt .45 wadcutter. They just took off at high speed and went out of sight! I never recovered one that I hit solidly. Of course an off-center hit resulted in the ball going rapidly to one side or the other which was also entertaining.
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Larkbill »

If I had ever hit a golf ball straight I might find this of interest.
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Blaine »

Larkbill wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:55 pm If I had ever hit a golf ball straight I might find this of interest.
Look at the bright side....If the golf ball wasn't dimpled, it might not hook as far. 8)
Last edited by Blaine on Tue Jan 21, 2020 2:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Larkbill »

You always see the bright side.
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Nath »

JimT wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:03 am I got the best flight from golf balls when I tossed them up in the air and then shot them with .45 ACP hardball or Colt .45 wadcutter. They just took off at high speed and went out of sight! I never recovered one that I hit solidly. Of course an off-center hit resulted in the ball going rapidly to one side or the other which was also entertaining.
Show off 8)
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by 3leggedturtle »

A few guys over on Cast Boolits have done that in shotguns and round balls. Didntnseem to help one way or the other.
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by DocRock »

Dimpled holds balls have effect on my slice.
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by piller »

What had an effect on Lorena Bobbit's slice? I think she had a bad jerk.
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by wm »

RIfling twist and dimples do not work together? Just a thought.

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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by wm »

Years ago I got my balls dimpled …… a baseball hit me down there and my wife noted that she could make out the stitching from the baseball on the bruise on me.

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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by 6pt-sika »

Any lead projectile is going obdurate when the powder goes off and deform somewhat regardless of how tight or loose it may be in the barrel . So with that being said I’m sure a little less surface caused by dimples should make loading possibly a skoosh easier . Back to the golf ball , I betcha if you have a really good slow mo camera it will show a golf ball changing shape at the time of impact from a golf club , but after launching it pretty much changes back to a sphere where as a lead projectile leaving a barrel can’t do the same .
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Re: Dimpled Balls

Post by Blaine »

6pt-sika wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2020 2:43 pm Any lead projectile is going obdurate when the powder goes off and deform somewhat regardless of how tight or loose it may be in the barrel . So with that being said I’m sure a little less surface caused by dimples should make loading possibly a skoosh easier . Back to the golf ball , I betcha if you have a really good slow mo camera it will show a golf ball changing shape at the time of impact from a golf club , but after launching it pretty much changes back to a sphere where as a lead projectile leaving a barrel can’t do the same .
When the air goes over the dimples it creates a pocket of low pressure and the decreases resistance and wobble.
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