Bullet fit

[Fly]

There are some very smart guy's here & here is my question.I have always thought the bullet
in a muzzle loader should be .001 or so under the rifling depth.I'm not talking mini but bullet.
My paper cutting Sharps seems to be made this way.

But my Gibb's bullet after sizing is a slip fit of .001 under barrel dia.The only thing I can think of
is the bullet must exspand to grip the rifling.Pete, Boz Dirt Farmer, ect, please clue me in on this.

Fly:coffeecom

[johnson1942]

put a .60 thousands fiber wad behind it or a felt wad. use only black powder. it will bump up in the first 11 inches. i would use 30 to 1 instead of 20 to 1 but to be honest im sure the 20 to 1 will bump up also. i wish you wouldnt have put in your post about smart guys as im not trying to claim that title by being the first to reply, but what i told you is standard truth. the man who own buffalo arms,dave, gets 4 inch groups at 400 yards with his custom gibbs type muzzleloader. he uses a cast bullet that just fits without diff. in the bore and felt wads behind it. you will do well and have fun.

[451 Pete]

Hello Fly,
The ideal fitment of the bullet on your Gibbs should be .001 under the measurement of the barrel lands. Some of the Gibbs rifles are known for having a very tight land to land dimension; i.e. .447 to .449 dependent on the condition of the cutter at the time the barrel was cut. This dimension does vary. Some shooters use a card wad cut from a .030 or .060 cardboard while others use felt wads. Upon the powder being ignited the bullet, being of almost pure lead and soft , will bump up to take to the rifling and impart the spin. Franklin Mann proved this happens in less than an inch of bullet travel and almost instantaneously on the powders ignition. The biggest " trick " in getting these guns to shoot as well as they do is consistency in each and every thing that is done from one shot to the next. This includes everything meaning the amount of powder , weight of bullet , seating pressure of the bullet on the powder and the cleaning technique between shots. One last thought is for you to keep in mind that with this type of a slip fit for a bullet the bullet can easily become unseated from the powder charge so take just a bit of extra care that this does not happen.
Camp Atterburys long range match starts tomorrow morning and then Saturday is the start of the week at Friendship so I will be out of the loop for about a week or so on here.

Take Care ..... Pete

[DIRT Farmer]

Fly I'm not one of the smart guys but thanks for the compliment.
The information I have gotten on the line and at a certin camp at Friendship amazes me. If you ever get the chance to get to Friendship those guys will abuse you with great food, fine beverages and info overload. Plus they will get you on the line and cut years off the learning curve. Then there is the origonal rifles they have, wow.