Ferguson rifle

[browningautorifle]

more practical

I'm sure you guys are missing my point and looking at it from a range practise viewpoint...

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[rcathey]

I'm sure you guys are missing my point and looking at it from a range practise viewpoint...

You mean it’d be different if someone was shooting back at you, Jim?

[browningautorifle]

shooting back

You have trouble with fine motor skills too...

[Patrick Chadwick]

I'm sure you guys are missing my point and looking at it from a range practise viewpoint...

You have a point, Jim. Considerung that I manage to get confused when on the range, then any arrangement to be used in combat really has to work without thinking.
So reading any script is out, and my 2-pouch suggestion is not so brilliant (thinks: Did I put the smaller balls in the laft or right pouch? Hey, enemy, shut up for a minute so that I can check..) Nope, not realistic.

Color disntinction: easier. But I think the best idea is NO distinction. Try this scenario for plausibility: "Sorry sarge, I can't shoot any more, I've only got the big balls left". The response would be unmistakable and unprintable.

After all, these were soft lead balls. Now I have read a couple of times about Minié-rifle shooters using different sized balls, but again I seriously doubt the practicality in combat.
And I have sufficent experience with shooting muzzle-loaders in competitions where you are not allowed to clean between shots (3 targets at 3 distances in one afternoon = about 50 shots, including fouling shots = complaining shoulder and sore elbows) to permit the opinion that IF the ball is greased well enough, then you can shoot as long as your body can stand it (and 50 shots was about it, in my case).

With the Minié rifle, the problem is a crudded bore making it difficult to ram the ball down the barrel and seat it properly on the powder.
But with a breech-loading rifle, any soft-lead ball that you can chamber is going to come out of the muzzle end. The problem is going to be loss of accuracy if the grooves are so crudded up that you are effectively shooting a smooth-bore rifle (i.e. a musket). The answer is sufficient lubrication, not fiddling around with different sizes of ball. And that is what I guess happened in the field.