need advice on this

[PF45]

hello guys; i have a traditions springfield hawken .50 cal 1:66 twist made in spain.
my q's are:

i only have pyrodex p ,it is safe to use it,how many grains?

is this enough for deer?

im planing on get moulds for .490 rb, is that ok to use ww?


wil appreciate info, thanks in advance;pf45

[Swampman]

Yes, I'd start with 60

Yes

The .490 should work.......what's ww?

[docone31]

With that twist, it is made for RBs.
With Pyrodex P, I might start with 60gns, then try 70gns, and go from there.
Watch how it groups and go for the one that groups with the most reliability.
You can really stuff a load but the most efficiency is what you look for.

[nicholst55]

All the die-hard traditionalist round-ball shooters that I know say not to use wheel weights for round balls, although they're kind of vague about the reason(s). I think it boils down to there being no benefit to using WW, and it may be significantly more difficult to start and seat balls cast from WW. I'd think there would also be size differences between WW RBs, and PB RBs, requiring different thickness patches.

I also strongly suspect that many folks have done so.

FWIW, some of the lower quality cap and ball revolvers can be damaged by using harder-than-pure-lead RBs - I have seen the loading lever break when trying to seat hard RBs on a couple of occasions.

[george1980]

ive never used any subs so i cant be of any help there , yes its plenty of rifle for whitetail now for the wheel weight , heres why not to use it its to hard and wont obturate ( spell check please ) to the rifling for proper stabilization and gas seal , but thats just my experiance in my rifles its possible it will shoot ok in yours , dont forget to find a proper patch material , i like flannel myself

[southpaw]

I can't be much help with the powder since I have only shot black but as far as the ww for rb I remember a thread or two that discussed it. What it came down to was some had great luck with it and killed deer with it. Others didn't and won't shoot anything other than pure.

I have shot ww rb and they have shot real well (well atleast as good as I can shoot). If they drop a little bigger you may need to find a smaller patch.

I am guessing that you have more ww than pure so I would try the ww. If you get acceptable accuracy or better I would use them for practice and save the pure for hunting.

Just a thought on the powder ( I am not sure how much you shoot muzzle loaders) but I would start at 40-50 grains (I shoot 50-60 grains of black out of my 54 for practice) till you get comfortable with the gun. That and you get more loads per pound of powder. IF THIS IS NOT A SAFE LOAD SOME ONE PLEASE CORRECT ME.

Another thought is this gun a flint or percussion? If it is a flint then the powder MAY be harder to ignite. A couple of friends were shooting 777 out of their flints and it was taking a little longer for the shots to go off (compared to black) and they were getting hang fires. They promptly went back to black.

Jerry Jr.

[Swampman]

I wouldn't use wheel weights. They make for hard loading and usually poor accuracy. Wheel weights are ok in a smooth bore.

[brassell31]

The other advantage to using pure lead is the terminal performance.
Soft lead balls tend to expand out to double their diameter, typically stopping against the hide on the far side. It seems to give a "punch" out of proportion to the bullet size and foot pounds delivered. I have seen this with both round balls and the lead Powerbelt bullets. Of course, if you put any bullet in the right place, you will be successful. Soft lead roundballs just tend to open a large wound channel, and are a lot easier on the shoulder than big conicals.

[northmn]

1-66 inch twist is made for Round ball as is likely the rifling? Use a BP powder measure set at 60-70 grains and you should have no problem. WW is used by some sucsessfully for hunting, but likely would have little or no expansion. In larger bores it may not make that much difference. As you may know Pyrodex is made to be used in BP measures set at BP weights and not weighed.

Northmn

[waksupi]

It took some convincing, but I did get some others here to try WW's for round balls. There is no difference in accuracy that with pure lead.
With your .490 ball, you really don't need to worry about expansion, that will already make a big enough hole. I do use WW's for hunting, as for elk or bear, I prefer to trade some expansion, for deeper penetration. Of course, I don't shoot those sub calibers, any way! :kidding:

[Charlie Sometimes]

Ditto what waksupi said.
WW are fine for RB- the patch is what should form to the rifling, not the ball.
Pyrodex P would be "pistol", IIRC. Representative of FFFg in real BP standards.
I would use a little less of it, than I would an equivalent FFg powder, for starters.
Start with 50-60 gr. and work up until you get the best accuracy from your load.
That could be 80 gr., but whatever it is ends up, you have plenty enough for any deer.

Stick with Pyrodex or the "holy black" (real Black Powder) in your rifle- forget about those other false gods! :lol: