Well I Proved To Myself That Round Balls Are Not As Aerodynamic As Bullets!

[oldracer]

Yesterday I took "Big Ollie", my 50 caliber round ball chunk gun to the range to get scope settings for shooting out to 40 rods. Since we have even distances such as 100 - 200 - 300 yards I went out to 200 yards. It was shooting 10 shots inside a 3 inch circle at 100 yards so out we go. I used the same load I.E. 80 grains Goex FFG, .490 pure lead balls, pillow ticking bought at Walmart lubed with spit and #11 caps. I checked my range book to see what I had used for the 540 grain Creedmoor bullets so I upped the scope settings to match those since both are Unertl scopes.

I asked a shooter next to me to look at the impact incase there were no hits on the pain white backer. He said the hit was below the backer in the dirt so up another 30 clicks. Next shot was just on the backer so up another 30 clicks and right below the 8.5 x 11 home made "shoot-n-see" exploding target. Another 15 and just below the little white center mark. Shot several more and the impacts were within several inches of each other! I checked the hash marks and they were way higher than the slug gun which I sort of expected and proved to be true. Next time I plan to try some different powder loads and also some .495 round balls. The barrel is a 1 in 48 twist Douglas XX stainless steel muzzle loader with false muzzle and the only draw back is the gun is heavy!
John

[bj139]

Is that legal to own in CA?

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

For me, dead on at 100 yrds with 70gr 3fg goex, .490" ball is 17" low at 150 yrds.

[oldracer]

The 17 inches sounds about right. Yes, muzzle loaders are legal to buy, sell and own in CA with no requirements to use a FFL for any transactions. In these cases they refer you to the Federal regulations and they say antiques or modern reproductions as long as they can not be converted to use a center fire cartridge to shoot. So far there have been no mass shootings with a muzzle loader since it takes me about 3 minutes between shots including the wipe and dry of the barrel!
John

[KCSO]

What about the lead ban? Can you hunt with a muzzleloader and lead r/b?

[oldracer]

Well about the lead ban on hunting, I have no idea as I shoot at paper and steel targets not deer or elk. Sorry can't help you there.
John

[rodwha]

I use Olde Eynsford and Triple 7 (3F) and have been using 70 grns in my .50 cal. Estimating my velocity at 1830 fps judging by listed 80 grn charge of 2F. That puts a ball zeroed at 100 yds to -9.6” at 150 yds. My calculator is figured at 900’ above sea level for where I am.

[justashooter]

i think they were just messing with ya, buddy.

[oldracer]

Probably. Anyways on Tuesday I took "Big Ollie" the chunk gun out to see how well the round balls would hit now that I found the scope settings. It was WINDY so I figured I'd try anyways and since there were lots of gusts I'd try to shoot between them. I used one of my home made shoot-n-see 8.5x11 inch targets and in 15 shots only two went outside the paper on to a white backer. Several were in the center white circle (4 inch) where I was aiming at all the time. After the last 5 shots one right after the other I looked around and several of the really older Schuetzen men who were working RO Safety that day all looked surprised. The oldest one said that's pretty dammed good at that distance with round balls! Made me feel really good.

[taco650]

For me, dead on at 100 yrds with 70gr 3fg goex, .490" ball is 17" low at 150 yrds.

What kind of rifle are you shooting with the above load? Barrel length and twist rate?

[oldracer]

Big Ollie has a 1.5 across the flats 34 inch long 1 in 48 Douglas XX stainless steel barrel. I am using 80 grains of Goex FFG under a pillow ticking .490 pure lead round ball. At 100 and 200 yards both, I tried dropping the powder to 70 and go up to 90 and only saw a slight opening of the grouping at 200 with 70.
John

[OverMax]

Made me feel really good.

That's nice to hear.
From my experiences with my 54 & 45 which I doubt would differ with a 50 cal.
.495s are great for first & second shots in a cold bore. Thus hoping to see better down range accuracy. There after they get a little tough to rod in a fouled barrel and accuracy typically suffers.

[oldracer]

Good point about the fouled barrel but I wipe with one damp patch and one dry patch between each shot on all my muzzle loaders, even the long barreled Lehigh 42 barreled shooters. My mentor said he did it that way back when he was shooting.......and winning so I do the same. Since I win several matches a year with our group I have found some of the others have started doing that now? Oh the damp is Ballistol and water.
John