Inlines

[Gene Perryman]

Has anyone shot PRB with their inline rifle ?

[rfd]

that's almost, if not actually, an oxymoron - patched balls and zip guns. :)

[RogerDat]

I don't know. Seems reasonable to me. I know inline were designed around shooting sabots but RB or Minnie are what a lot of folks cast with many molds to pick from. One question I have is what is the twist like in an inline compared to a side lock percussion cap or flint lock. I'm thinking that twist might be the determining factor for accuracy of RB in an inline. Or make a Minnie an option if a patched RB isn't.

[rfd]

rifling twist is important for consistent accuracy, for sure.

[RogerDat]

rifling twist is important for consistent accuracy, for sure. I have sort of been thinking about an inline so my interest is more than academic. Something sub $200 such as the Tracker 209 has a 1:28 twist and I seem to recall something like 1:48 or 1:68 or 70 was more common for sidelock percussion cap rifles I have looked at. I'm pretty sure my Zouave 58 caliber is 1:68 so inline seems like a fast twist compared to the traditional twist rates.

How would one expect that to impact accuracy?

If I had to buy expensive sabots to use an inexpensive inline I would have to question the cost effectiveness of that purchase.

[ShooterAZ]

I have tried it before. It worked OK with cat sneeze loads, but anything faster and accuracy goes right out the window. YMMV.

[rfd]

bore, barrel length, powder charge, projectile - all are to be considered for what rifling to use for the task at hand. the general thinking that appears to work best for a buncha centuries in trad side locks is a slow twist for a patched ball, slow as in 1:60 or lots slower with a .45 and up bore, for a commensurate powder charge under a patched ball. much faster twists for bullets (lubed, patched or saboted). lots of the offshore trad side lock guns will be a compromise 1:48 twist, such as the lyman trade rifle (28" bbl) for patched ball and REAL bullet, as opposed to a 1:60 twist for the GPR patched ball rifle (32" bbl) or 1:32 twist for the GPR bullet rifle (32" bbl). the jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none are the compromise rifling twists. which is why some folks have separate guns for separate tasks.

[rsrocket1]

You can either buy a Lee REAL mold and cast or if you cast for 44 or 45ACP guns, you can easily shoot sabots with them and get 3MOA without trying or 1MOA with a lot of trying. Thompson Center makes sabots for 50 cal rifles that work with either 0.428 or 0.452 bullets. I've shot Lee TL452-230-TC with the yellow sabots and they shoot well with my Optima Pro and Optima V2. The only reason I have to such similar guns is that I got them used for < $200 each. They are really too similar to make a difference and too inexpensive to bother selling. With Blackhorn 209 I've gotten as small as 2" groups at 100 yards but the cost of that powder is not condusive to range plinking.

I also shoot the Lee 230g REAL and a Shilo Sharpe conical minie. The REAL shoots pretty good but I haven't gotten any better than 3" @100 yards with Black MZ. These are good blasting projectiles for 25-50 yard plinking with the $10/pound BlackMZ and open sights. I've heard the 1:28 twist is too fast for PRB's so I haven't tried and have no need to try.

[Maven]

Gene, Check your PM's on the Traditional ML Forum.

[FergusonTO35]

I'm going to be trying PRB's and Triple 7 in my NEF Huntsman here soon. I have a Lee 320 grain REAL mold, unfortunately the boolits are too large or the bore is too small on my rifles. It is very hard to load and I'm not going to fool with it anymore. PRB's seat easily, even with the sticky Triple 7 fouling. If they can shoot minute of deer at 75 yards I will be happy.

[EMC45]

I did a few weeks back. I used 90gr FFFg under a PRB cast from WWs lit with a #11 CCI cap. Accuracy at 50 was dismal.

The week after I shot some lead HP swaged bullets in a sabot over 100gr. FFFg and they shot fine. The accuracy was better and can be tightened up with a little more trigger time or maybe even backing the charge to 90gr.

Both of these loads were shot through a TC Black Diamond with a so-so bore at 50 yards....

[FergusonTO35]

I wonder if you backed the charge down your accuracy would improve? Tried out some PRB in my NEF Huntsman today over 70 grains Triple 7. Once I got the sights readjusted properly they were shooting great out to 50 yards, which is all I really need. The patch also really helps keep fouling down. I put about 15 rounds through it and they still loaded easily.

[Good Cheer]

Doesn't it seem as though hollow bases for inlines would be the wise way to go seeing as the twists could be slowed way down and then they would be power house knock down machines at longer ranges and also shoot well with patched round ball?

Oh, but then the sales on all the extras would plummet. Never mind.

[725]

Hoyt took my T/C Impact from the factory .50 cal to a roundball twist .54. Shoots like a dream. He does great work and has done several of my rifles. I still shoot all manor of conicals in other rifles, but I just like round ball.

[Edward]

I did a few weeks back. I used 90gr FFFg under a PRB cast from WWs lit with a #11 CCI cap. Accuracy at 50 was dismal.

The week after I shot some lead HP swaged bullets in a sabot over 100gr. FFFg and they shot fine. The accuracy was better and can be tightened up with a little more trigger time or maybe even backing the charge to 90gr.

Both of these loads were shot through a TC Black Diamond with a so-so bore at 50 yards....

Problem is you need pure lead for your round ball (Not W/W) to hard and then you need to try different patch material and thickness and then how much black powder to make it work .You can not do all of that in one day and get accuracy . I ended up today fine tuning my 54 cal @ 60yds off a bench 27 degrees told me to get rid of my ugly cat patch lube and back to bear oil ,worked great @ 100gr OE 3F with 0.20 linen patch so I am good to 100yds day after tomorrow (late muzzle loader ). The point is in the early season (warmer) the load I used was not working today ,but after a couple of hrs this new load is great just 1 thing changed made the difference .Your RB load needs more development ,I found 2 things wrong and I wasn"t there /Ed

[EMC45]

Problem is you need pure lead for your round ball (Not W/W) to hard and then you need to try different patch material and thickness and then how much black powder to make it work .You can not do all of that in one day and get accuracy . I ended up today fine tuning my 54 cal @ 60yds off a bench 27 degrees told me to get rid of my ugly cat patch lube and back to bear oil ,worked great @ 100gr OE 3F with 0.20 linen patch so I am good to 100yds day after tomorrow (late muzzle loader ). The point is in the early season (warmer) the load I used was not working today ,but after a couple of hrs this new load is great just 1 thing changed made the difference .Your RB load needs more development ,I found 2 things wrong and I wasn"t there /Ed

Honestly I don't recall if these were pure lead or clip on WWs. I cast them quite some time ago. The patches were .010 yellow lubed with beeswax and olive oil. I don't remember who they were from. I am officially out of GOEX FFFg so my testing is done for a while. I haven't given up, I just know what doesn't work all that great for now.

These RBs shoot great out of my side lock (CVA Hawken)

[FergusonTO35]

I have read that modern inlines tend to have shallower grooves than sidelocks do. NEF advertised the Huntsman as having "deep groove rifling", so maybe that helps.

[Rick N Bama]

I've shot a bunch through a CVA 50cal Optima for just plinking around. I used 35 - 50grs of T7 (IIRC). At 25 -35 yards the accuracy was much better than I had anticipated.

[FergusonTO35]

The Optima is quite similar to my Huntsman. You ever try any stronger charges? I found my other .50 mold but I'm going to keep trying round balls and see just how good they will shoot. My father killed a bunch of deer with them out of a sidelock back in the day and they always got the job done.