Going to try new tech for the fun of it!!!

[ez4545]

I talked to one of my sons last night and he was telling me about some type of black powder rifle he is getting.

It is an in-line rifle and will have a one in 24 twist. It is also rated up to 150 grains of powder. I take the ratings with a grain of salt to be sure and I'd like to help him work up the loads. It also uses 209 primers.

OK, Here's my problem. I've been shooting a hawkin with round ball and patch for years and I found good accuracy loading 45 grains of powder. I can't even remember the rate of twist since I bought the rifle over 20 years ago. All I need to remember is it shoots good the way I've always loaded it.

With the new rifle, Is there a point where accuracy will suffer when loaded up with a round ball and 100+ grains of 2f ? OR, will conical bullets be best with the 1 in 24 twist ?

Bill

[mooman76]

With that type of twist conicals or even sabots will work best. Not saying you can't shoot RBs but you will never get near 100gr before you lose accuracy. With that tight a twist the RBs will jump the rifling or strip as some would say. You'll need a good tight patch to get what you can. Your old rifle probubly had a 1-66 twist which was common 20 years ago or maybe even 1-48.

[ez4545]

Thanks Mooman! That's good to know and gives us good reasons to pick up a few more molds!

Bill

[Maven]

ez4545, Inline rifles dance to a different drummer as Mooman suggested. You can use roundballs as well as conicals, but the former will require significantly reduced powder charges (loose BP or Pyrodex), not pellets and experimentation with patch thickness and ball diameter to produce peak accuracy. You may also discover that your new rifle is more accurate with FFg or Pyrodex RS than FFFg or Pyro. P. regardless of whether you use a conical bullet or RB. As you mentioned, you'll probably wind up purchasing several different bullet molds to learn what your new rifle likes best. Keep us posted on this work in progress!

[kyle623]

what caliber is his ml going to be. some of us might be able to send you some different samples of our molds to help with your mold decission. if it's a 50 cal I have a t/c maxi ball, Lee real, and a lee mini ball hollow base mold I'd be willing to send some samples if it would help.

[ez4545]

Good advice guys, Thanks!

I can't believe I left out that the rifle is 50 cal and I'm looking forward to trying some heavy lead down range.

None of us look for the highest velocity as the ultimate goal. We tend to move towards accuracy and I look for a comfortable load as well due to arthritis.

I've been shooting a 45 cal and a couple of 50s that I have for a long time, using moderate loads because that's where the accuracy was.

But there is something about a rifle that is capable of safely sending a really, really heavy piece of lead downrange that makes me want to cast a boolit in the 300 grain plus neighborhood and push it down on top of a good healthy load of GOEX just for the fun of it!!!

Thanks for the information!

Bill

[Underclocked]

Not a lot of ready-made molds available for good .50 caliber conicals. That Maxi's and REALs are tapered bullets that are probably more suited to a slower twist. Bull Shop makes a line of great conicals for the 50s (and others) that are intended as bore-riding and shoot great.

What model rifle is it?

[KCSO]

I be an old folk and not liking recoil and needing a big ball to see the holes I barreled up a Plains rifle with a 1-24 twist barrel just for round balls. I got my best accuracy shooting 40 grains of FFg, but I was surprised that 65 grains only opened the groups margianly. I was still holding into 2 1/2" at 50 yards with the heavy load. Bullets like the REAL shot best with over 80 grains of FFg and were abusive in a 8 pound rifle.

[ez4545]

It's a Pedersoli rifle.

I'm with you on not liking recoil, but once in a while I want the big bang! even if there is a price to pay.

Bill

[richbug]

I have a 24 twist 50 cal. It shoots the Lee Minnie very well with 60 grains of Pyrodex "P". When that is gone I'll go back to black, 65 grains of Goex 2F gave simliar accuracy.