daleraby
05-30-2016, 09:56 PM
OK, fair warning, this is one of those "do as I say, not as I do" posts.
A while ago, I ordered some conical bullets for my short barrelled muzzle-loading rifle. As you might guess from the title of the thread, I ordered the wrong caliber. Not a total disaster as I do own a .50 as well, but with no viable projectiles for my recently finished project gun, I was a little frustrated and the Emperor Mong/Good Idea Fairy was whispering into my ear "Just use a .015" patch with one of the .50 caliber conicals. It may not give you good accuracy, but what harm could it do?"
For those not familiar, the Emperor Mong AKA the Good Idea Fairy is able to make the most outlandish ideas sound good right up until, for example, the piece of hay wire you used to fix the steering linkage on the CO's Humvee falls off. Then he vanishes into thin air just like Barbara Eden, but without the pink smoke, leaving you to take the fall by yourtself.
What harm could it do? Any number of bad things, but the worst one might be seating a bullet too loosely in the bore such that it might move forward off the powder charge and cause your gun to blow up. With that cautionary note, I'll tell you how the idea worked out...
Used a 320 grain T/C MaxiBall inside a .015 T/C brand .50 caliber sized pillow ticking patch atop an 18 grain charge of fff black powder. The gun is a T/C New Englander .54 with the barrel shortened to 9 1/2" from the end of the breach plug to the muzzle. The stock was shortened as well and sports an ebony cap without provisions for a ramrod as it is fairly easy to just use a slightly longer bullet starter on a cord around my neck. Caps were Winchester #11 magnum.
The bullets were very easy to start, I could use my finger to get them almost all the way into the muzzle with little effort and they did seem to have resistance just like an unpatched conical bullet of the correct caliber does when being seated. I first tried to use a double patch, but was not successful. The bullet sorta starts, but will not go into the bore... at leat not without the use of a brass hammer or other blunt instrument.
I expected that the projectile would exit the muzzle in the right general direction of the empty gallon milk jug that was my target, but I was a bit surprised when the jug went tumbling across the ground at my first shot. OK, I though, just a "lucky BB". Tried again, shooting at the target that was now 25 yards away after being hit the first time. It jumped again. Then again, and again. At 40 yards i could no longer reliably hit the milk jug so moved it closer and contined to make holes in it.
I fired the entire box of twenty conical bullets. The last shot was as easy to load as the first and accuracy did not seem to be diminished, so little if any fouling.
I plan to set up an actual paper target and try this again so I can verify and quantify the accuracy potential. If it continues to work out, it will have solved a minor logistical issue, not to mention greatly easing the loading process for my SBMLR.
Now, I can't be the only person the Emperor Mong suggested this to. Has anyone else tried this, perhaps with a standard-lenth rifle? What were your results like?
A while ago, I ordered some conical bullets for my short barrelled muzzle-loading rifle. As you might guess from the title of the thread, I ordered the wrong caliber. Not a total disaster as I do own a .50 as well, but with no viable projectiles for my recently finished project gun, I was a little frustrated and the Emperor Mong/Good Idea Fairy was whispering into my ear "Just use a .015" patch with one of the .50 caliber conicals. It may not give you good accuracy, but what harm could it do?"
For those not familiar, the Emperor Mong AKA the Good Idea Fairy is able to make the most outlandish ideas sound good right up until, for example, the piece of hay wire you used to fix the steering linkage on the CO's Humvee falls off. Then he vanishes into thin air just like Barbara Eden, but without the pink smoke, leaving you to take the fall by yourtself.
What harm could it do? Any number of bad things, but the worst one might be seating a bullet too loosely in the bore such that it might move forward off the powder charge and cause your gun to blow up. With that cautionary note, I'll tell you how the idea worked out...
Used a 320 grain T/C MaxiBall inside a .015 T/C brand .50 caliber sized pillow ticking patch atop an 18 grain charge of fff black powder. The gun is a T/C New Englander .54 with the barrel shortened to 9 1/2" from the end of the breach plug to the muzzle. The stock was shortened as well and sports an ebony cap without provisions for a ramrod as it is fairly easy to just use a slightly longer bullet starter on a cord around my neck. Caps were Winchester #11 magnum.
The bullets were very easy to start, I could use my finger to get them almost all the way into the muzzle with little effort and they did seem to have resistance just like an unpatched conical bullet of the correct caliber does when being seated. I first tried to use a double patch, but was not successful. The bullet sorta starts, but will not go into the bore... at leat not without the use of a brass hammer or other blunt instrument.
I expected that the projectile would exit the muzzle in the right general direction of the empty gallon milk jug that was my target, but I was a bit surprised when the jug went tumbling across the ground at my first shot. OK, I though, just a "lucky BB". Tried again, shooting at the target that was now 25 yards away after being hit the first time. It jumped again. Then again, and again. At 40 yards i could no longer reliably hit the milk jug so moved it closer and contined to make holes in it.
I fired the entire box of twenty conical bullets. The last shot was as easy to load as the first and accuracy did not seem to be diminished, so little if any fouling.
I plan to set up an actual paper target and try this again so I can verify and quantify the accuracy potential. If it continues to work out, it will have solved a minor logistical issue, not to mention greatly easing the loading process for my SBMLR.
Now, I can't be the only person the Emperor Mong suggested this to. Has anyone else tried this, perhaps with a standard-lenth rifle? What were your results like?