?'s regarding loading 50 cal inline

[mountainmandan]

Howdy all,
bought my first 50 cal muzzle loader. It's a Traditions Buck stalker. Simple, robust and well made. On sale at Wally-world just after season. Anyway... no where does it specify what the bore diameter is, just says 50 cal. I presume it's .500? I fired a .490 ball with a .010 patch. Fit seemed perfect. Some moulds labeled 50 cal are .510 or something. Is that so it creates a tight seal? Is it to be used in .500? Was wondering what the max powder charge ya can put behind a patched round ball or a cast conical is? The gun takes the magnum charges of 150 grains. I thought plain lead had to be used with a gas seal or something. It melts the lead into the rifling or something. The twist is 1 in 28". If my memory serves me right a fast rate will stabilize the heavier longer bullets, right? Was wondering about a 4-500+/- grain cast conical for hunting? Any opinions? What would be the max charge for a round that heavy? Thank for you help, Dan

[pergoman]

The owner's manual or the manufacturer's website will tell you the max charge with a specific propellant(3f is a lot different than 2f) for specific projectiles. The barrel metalurgy and strength is very different between brands of rifles.

[skullmount]

Dan,

............to the point, just because the adverti"zing" says 150 grains..........DON"T get caught up in that. Most of the guns I have played with and others I have shot with are shooting for accuracy, not just a big boom. Since you will be hunting, do some load testing this winter, spring and summer. With the bullet weights you are considering a load of 65 to 80 grains will be somewhere close.

Do you have any conicals that you could push down/thru the bore to measure to get a better idea what size you might need ???

PM me your snail mail and I will be happy to send you some UC Shorts (guy is a famous boolit designer :mrgreen:) to give a try once you do that.

[tacklebury]

I shoot a buckstalker. I use 60 gr. FFFg w/ round ball, 85 gr. FFFg w/ Great Plains Bullet 385gr and I use 90gr. FFFg w/ TC plinkers. I have tried about every variation of APP, 777, Pyrodex and Shokey's Gold powders. I don't use sticks or pre-forms because of flexibility and ability to find what shoots well. I'd like to try Swiss, but no one stocks it and I'm not buying 5 pounds at a cost of 150 bucks to try it. lol Of the substitutes, I find that pyrodex is most accurate, albeit stinky and worst for corrosion, and APP & Shokey's was worst for consistency and accuracy, but cleanest. 777 was good on accuracy, but left a nasty crud ring that made accuracy dump after one shot if you didn't get it scrubbed out. I have shot it with up to 110 gr, but accuracy dumps on all bullet types I've used at that level. The loads listed above work well and I don't use scopes, so my max shot is about 100 - 150 yards. I did replace the junk sights with TruGlo's Ghostring Peep muzzle loader sight. ;)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Ktc42b3KAkY/TsRBP59BFQI/AAAAAAAAAIo/6TlE6k7VHsU/s800/Traditions_Buckstalker_50cal_Right.jpg

Sorry and it is .490 RB w/ .015 patch that I use. It's not super good with round ball, but that's because it has fast twist for sabot rounds and conicals mainly. I use my hawken when I want to shoot RB mostly.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mfnuF_opR3E/TsRBY4mXJdI/AAAAAAAAAJk/vHpN175TEBw/s800/Traditions_Woodsman_Rifle%252526Buckskinner_Pistol .jpg

[Fishman]

Tacklebury, that is a nifty combo in the second picture!

[tacklebury]

Thanks, I like them. ;) I carry the pistol with either of the rifles for a finisher/back-up shot. ;)

[7-30 Waters]

Tacklebury:

What make of Hawken is that & what is the pistol?

[tacklebury]

Traditions Woodsman Hawken and Traditions Buckskinner Pistol ;) The hawken is still on sale at Traditions for $284:

http://www.traditionsfirearms.com/product_info.php?products_id=135&osCsid=cc1eadf6ea475a977d31b97d03edc9f8