Post by 340wby on Feb 18, 2008 10:00:41 GMT -5
I really enjoy my muzzle loaders and I see alot of guys try to use thiers and have HUGE problems getting the reasonable accuracy and knock down power that the muzzle loaders are easily able to produce when properly loaded.
now Im well aware that theres several routes you can go and that the rifling twist and depth will limit your sellection in many cases, IVE tried just about everything and personally I think the 54-58 and 62 calibers are the best choice, my 54caliber and 58caliber, use a mini or maxi ball, my 62 caliber a patched round ball, each has proven to be full able to kill deer and hogs at extended ranges up to 170-200 yards
lets hit a few basics
CALIBER,
BIGGER TENDS TO HAVE THE ADVANTAGE
Ill say right now that the 50,54,58 calibers are the best choices in that they have both the bullet weight and power necessary to cleanly take game but the type of projectile has a huge effect on your results, a 45 caliber round ball will weight about 133 grains, a 50 cal about 180 grains, a 54 cal, about 233 grains, and a 58 cal, about 287 grains, while the velocity edge tends to favor the smaller bullets SLIGHTLY theres no question a 54-58cal HITS a whole lot harder than a 45-50 cal useing a round ball in both.
you don,t need hyper velocity to kill effectively, ESPECIALLY with the MINI/MAXI BALL loads in the heavier calibers Ive seen a 58 caliber mini ball almost totally destroy the insides of a large ELK, the ELK stumbled and ran a short distance but I don,t know how, after dressing him out there was darn little inside you might recognize as vitals and that was only 80 grains of powder under a 550 grain MINI BALL in that rifle
VELOCITY
with a muzzle loader you CAN get some respectable modern rifle type velocities but in most cases that requires a sabot type projectile and your defeating/discarding the basic spirit and designed strengths of the muzzle loader as it was orriginally used.
BUT its bullet dia. and weight and accuracy more than velocity that makes a muzzle loader effective, a 550 grain 58 cal mini at only 1200 FPS, or a 310 grain 62 caliber round ball at only 1600 fps is DEADLY on ANYTHING Ive shot
personally Ive found the full bore size lead projectile to be the best choice, either patched round ball or MINI BALL OR MAXI BALLS
LUBES, keep it CLEAN, the rifling clear, and the projectiles tend to be far more accurate than those launched from a fouled bore
FLAX SOAP PASTE is the BEST LUBE IVE FOUND, tallow, bees wax and some commercial BLACK POWDER lubes SUCK!
ROUND BALLS
now this is the basic projectile many rifles are designed to shoot and generally youll use a greased patch around the ball and a short starter to get in fully seated in the rifling, then ram it home firmly on the powder charge, naturally youll need to find the correct load of powder and that will vary with the caliber and rifling twist,patch used etc. but youll rarely find that max loads are as accurate as milder loads and once you start burning thru the patches accuracy tends to be hopeless in some cases, if your rifling twist is really slow youll tend to have a round patched ball be the only accurate choice as the longer projectiles won,t stabilize
MINI BALLs
these usually weigh about 1.5 too TWICE what the same caliber round ball for that caliber weights
these REQUIRE that they are nearly bore size, are well lubed and the powder charge is critical to success, to low and the skirt won,t flare into the rifling, too much powder and the skirt flares like a bad mitten bird or shuttle cock as it leaves the muzzle and accuracy gets hopeless, youll generally fing the correct mini-bal charge in the 60-90 grain range depending on bullet design and caliber, its rare for over 90 grains to give good accuracy with a mini ball and the max charge that gives good accuracy is fully able to kill game out to well in excess of 200 yards in the hands of a good shot
most guys having problems are not lubeing correctly or OVER CHARGING the powder charge if a bore size minis not accurate,(providing the rifling twist is correct of course)
ONE trick that both tends to help accuracy and keep the consistancy high while helping to avoid getting the lube from the bullet from degrading the powder charge is to dump the powder in the bore, rap the barrel so most falls all the way into the breach and then you ram one of those cotton balls women use for cosmetics down firmly on top of the powder followed by a well lubed MINI BALL seated firmly on top the cotton acts as a gasket, bore seal, bore cleaner and piston ring as its forced each dirrection and on firing it tends to wipe the riflinhg with the lube from the bullet making the bore cleaner for many more shots before the accuracy degrades from fouling
MAXI BALLS
these tend to be SLIGHTLY heavier for caliber
the expand into the bore as the pressure of firing tends to make them shorten and expand, everything that works in loading with the cotton ball and greasy lube applies here also EXCEPT these generally require a slightly stiffer charge of powder and they don,t have a skirt that can flare. many guns work well with these, some are hopelessly in-accuirate youll need to test but charges in the 70-120 grain range, depending on caliber and other factors are comonly used
SABOT PROJECTILES
LOTS OF GUYS LOVE THESE, high velocity and modern bullets
accuracy goes from excellent to absolutely hopeless depending on the rifle and load, in many cases these are very dependant on your consistant load procedure or accuracy SUCKS and they generally work great up to a certain pressure or load charge then the accuracy goes to hell if its increased only slightly more as the SABOT tends to shread , skip or jump out of the rifling or the sabot tips the bullet as it exits . test them, but don,t be surprised to find that at some point accuracy fades FAST just like it will with a MINI BALL, if the charge gets increased too far
www.chuckhawks.com/54_caliber_muzzleloader.htm
www.chuckhawks.com/muzzleloading_bullets.htm
members.aol.com/illinewek/faqs/casting.htm
now Im well aware that theres several routes you can go and that the rifling twist and depth will limit your sellection in many cases, IVE tried just about everything and personally I think the 54-58 and 62 calibers are the best choice, my 54caliber and 58caliber, use a mini or maxi ball, my 62 caliber a patched round ball, each has proven to be full able to kill deer and hogs at extended ranges up to 170-200 yards
lets hit a few basics
CALIBER,
BIGGER TENDS TO HAVE THE ADVANTAGE
Ill say right now that the 50,54,58 calibers are the best choices in that they have both the bullet weight and power necessary to cleanly take game but the type of projectile has a huge effect on your results, a 45 caliber round ball will weight about 133 grains, a 50 cal about 180 grains, a 54 cal, about 233 grains, and a 58 cal, about 287 grains, while the velocity edge tends to favor the smaller bullets SLIGHTLY theres no question a 54-58cal HITS a whole lot harder than a 45-50 cal useing a round ball in both.
you don,t need hyper velocity to kill effectively, ESPECIALLY with the MINI/MAXI BALL loads in the heavier calibers Ive seen a 58 caliber mini ball almost totally destroy the insides of a large ELK, the ELK stumbled and ran a short distance but I don,t know how, after dressing him out there was darn little inside you might recognize as vitals and that was only 80 grains of powder under a 550 grain MINI BALL in that rifle
VELOCITY
with a muzzle loader you CAN get some respectable modern rifle type velocities but in most cases that requires a sabot type projectile and your defeating/discarding the basic spirit and designed strengths of the muzzle loader as it was orriginally used.
BUT its bullet dia. and weight and accuracy more than velocity that makes a muzzle loader effective, a 550 grain 58 cal mini at only 1200 FPS, or a 310 grain 62 caliber round ball at only 1600 fps is DEADLY on ANYTHING Ive shot
personally Ive found the full bore size lead projectile to be the best choice, either patched round ball or MINI BALL OR MAXI BALLS
LUBES, keep it CLEAN, the rifling clear, and the projectiles tend to be far more accurate than those launched from a fouled bore
FLAX SOAP PASTE is the BEST LUBE IVE FOUND, tallow, bees wax and some commercial BLACK POWDER lubes SUCK!
ROUND BALLS
now this is the basic projectile many rifles are designed to shoot and generally youll use a greased patch around the ball and a short starter to get in fully seated in the rifling, then ram it home firmly on the powder charge, naturally youll need to find the correct load of powder and that will vary with the caliber and rifling twist,patch used etc. but youll rarely find that max loads are as accurate as milder loads and once you start burning thru the patches accuracy tends to be hopeless in some cases, if your rifling twist is really slow youll tend to have a round patched ball be the only accurate choice as the longer projectiles won,t stabilize
MINI BALLs
these usually weigh about 1.5 too TWICE what the same caliber round ball for that caliber weights
these REQUIRE that they are nearly bore size, are well lubed and the powder charge is critical to success, to low and the skirt won,t flare into the rifling, too much powder and the skirt flares like a bad mitten bird or shuttle cock as it leaves the muzzle and accuracy gets hopeless, youll generally fing the correct mini-bal charge in the 60-90 grain range depending on bullet design and caliber, its rare for over 90 grains to give good accuracy with a mini ball and the max charge that gives good accuracy is fully able to kill game out to well in excess of 200 yards in the hands of a good shot
most guys having problems are not lubeing correctly or OVER CHARGING the powder charge if a bore size minis not accurate,(providing the rifling twist is correct of course)
ONE trick that both tends to help accuracy and keep the consistancy high while helping to avoid getting the lube from the bullet from degrading the powder charge is to dump the powder in the bore, rap the barrel so most falls all the way into the breach and then you ram one of those cotton balls women use for cosmetics down firmly on top of the powder followed by a well lubed MINI BALL seated firmly on top the cotton acts as a gasket, bore seal, bore cleaner and piston ring as its forced each dirrection and on firing it tends to wipe the riflinhg with the lube from the bullet making the bore cleaner for many more shots before the accuracy degrades from fouling
MAXI BALLS
these tend to be SLIGHTLY heavier for caliber
the expand into the bore as the pressure of firing tends to make them shorten and expand, everything that works in loading with the cotton ball and greasy lube applies here also EXCEPT these generally require a slightly stiffer charge of powder and they don,t have a skirt that can flare. many guns work well with these, some are hopelessly in-accuirate youll need to test but charges in the 70-120 grain range, depending on caliber and other factors are comonly used
SABOT PROJECTILES
LOTS OF GUYS LOVE THESE, high velocity and modern bullets
accuracy goes from excellent to absolutely hopeless depending on the rifle and load, in many cases these are very dependant on your consistant load procedure or accuracy SUCKS and they generally work great up to a certain pressure or load charge then the accuracy goes to hell if its increased only slightly more as the SABOT tends to shread , skip or jump out of the rifling or the sabot tips the bullet as it exits . test them, but don,t be surprised to find that at some point accuracy fades FAST just like it will with a MINI BALL, if the charge gets increased too far
www.chuckhawks.com/54_caliber_muzzleloader.htm
www.chuckhawks.com/muzzleloading_bullets.htm
members.aol.com/illinewek/faqs/casting.htm
Sabots are better to about 6" groups with iron sights but the point of impact varies to the point that sight adjustments would need to be made. 
I'm surprised you didn't buy a .36 when you got that revolver.... ;D ;D
