smokeless muzzleloaders

[jason f]

anybody using them? what caliber? whats your recipe?

my 45-70 handi rifle fitted with the savage smokeless breach plug likes 43 grains i4198 and a 250 grain 40 caliber cast bullets with a 45/40 crush rib sabot.

run a brush through it about every 20 shots is all the cleaning it needs

[Tatume]

Who did your conversion? I have one done by "Slufoot." It's very accurate with Midway blemished 40 caliber bullets. However, my brother used his this year on four deer, and the bullets were less than satisfactory. The bullets killed instantly, but destroyed a lot of meat. I've been meaning to have Tom at Accurate Molds make a mold for me, but haven't gotten to it yet. I haven't hunted with my H&R yet.

My number one hunting rifle is a 50 caliber Swinglock, made by Tom Post of Erie, Pa. Although I use traditional caplock and flintlock rifles during the special muzzleloading season, during the “regular gun” season (as they call it here in Virginia) I use the Swinglock. The reason is simple. Across Virginia we have a patchwork of game regulations by county. It’s very easy to get into trouble using a centerfire rifle, but muzzleloading rifles are permitted in every county in the state.

The Swinglock is very accurate, and fires a 0.458" 350 grain cast bullet or Speer Hot-Cor at 2500 fps. This gives a 200 yard point blank range, which is more than I need. I like to get up close to game animals.

I don’t like disclosing charge data in public forums, and especially won’t discuss smokeless muzzleloading data. The chance that someone will use the data inappropriately is just to great.

Take care, Tom

[jason f]

slufoot did my conversion also. i had tom at accurate make me a 250 grain 40 cal. bullet with a wfn. havnt shot a deer with it yet but a buddy of mine shoots the same combo in his and it chronys about 2000fps.

[johnson1942]

your rifle would shoot a .440 bullet wrapped with number nine onion skin paper, 2 wraps as a paperpatched bullet. for your 1/20 twist a bullet between 400 to 500 grains would shoot very well. use a felt or fiber wad between powder and bullet. it would be very accurate and reliable.

[Squeeze]

Savage ML2's with savage .50, Pac-nor .45, and pac-nor .416, and a rem ML with a .50. But Im in a non smokeless state, so they have had about everything else stuffed down them