Traditional.40 shooters input

[Rockingkj]

For those shooting traditional round balls. what grains of the holy black are you using? Are you increasing charge for longer distances?

[waksupi]

You will need to work up your own load. My load in a 46" barrel won't relate to your rifle. Ball park, 50 gr. 3F.
Find your most accurate load, learn your trajectory, and use the same load. When we see people on the range using different loads for different ranges, we know they are inexperienced.

[Rockingkj]

Thanks. Shooting a green Mountain barrel in a TC Hawken This is the 1st barrel I have ever shot that does not appear to foul . Loads as easily the 1st shot thru the 20th. My other rifles depends on the barrel I swab after each shot or after the 5th and that includes a .50 green Mountain barrel. This barrel does not benefit (apparently) from swabbing. Just seems odd.

[Nobade]

Not odd, just well made and finished. They are supposed to be like that.

[Texas by God]

This is folklore type advice… but long ago I read (somewhere)that you set the ball on a flat surface then pour the powder slowly on top of the ball- until the ball is completely covered in powder, then stop.
Then fashion a scoop for THAT much powder.
We tried it on a Kentucky .45 rifle and it worked- it was even on target.


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[1Hawkeye]

The real trick is to find the load that shoots best in your rifle then learn where to hold the sights for different distances.

[Sandro_ventania]

.40 caliber = 40 grains BP.
.50 caliber = 50 grains BP.
Its is basic.

[SSGOldfart]

.40 caliber = 40 grains BP.
.50 caliber = 50 grains BP.
Its is basic.

and that's starting loads

[Rockingkj]

The real trick is to find the load that shoots best in your rifle then learn where to hold the sights for different distances.

True. Might help to have eyes about 40 years younger lol

[indian joe]

Not odd, just well made and finished. They are supposed to be like that.

most of em are if ya load em right
ita all about the patch lube !!!!!!!

[indian joe]

Thanks. Shooting a green Mountain barrel in a TC Hawken This is the 1st barrel I have ever shot that does not appear to foul . Loads as easily the 1st shot thru the 20th. My other rifles depends on the barrel I swab after each shot or after the 5th and that includes a .50 green Mountain barrel. This barrel does not benefit (apparently) from swabbing. Just seems odd.

I been shooting competition since 1990
first shot (foulng shot) is a proper load into the berm then ten for the money (no swabbing) or some of the matches are thirteen ten to count - if you cant do that without swabbing between shots ya havent figured out the best lube and loading system ........................get this sorted and ya can shoot till ya get sick of it without swabbing. It aint hard.

hunting is different - there ya want to KNOW that first shot (cold clean barrel) goes dead on after a decent tramp in the woods, then dont clean it, and where do the next two or maybe three go ? fouled out at no 5 ? who cares bambi is long gone, and anybody with a place to hide is disappeared. Clean your gun and start again.

[freakonaleash]

Depends on the twist. I had one that liked 65gr. Of goex 3f.

[Good Cheer]

I've shot two Green Mountain .40 bore round ball barrels, 28" and 38" in length.
Different as night and day.

[HWooldridge]

A friend of mine owned a .40 with a GM barrel, while I had a .45 ball shooter. I used 70 grs FFFg in my rifle and he used 60 grs FFFg in his .40. Both shot comparably and would stay on a playing card at 100 yds if we did our part. Only advantage I saw was that he used a little less lead, but I suspect they killed about equally. Both rifles had 42" barrels.

[Rockingkj]

Thanks to everyone for their input. More work needed but shot a fairly decent 100 yard offhand target using 50gr. Only two weeks to Red White and Blue Rendezvous(memorial weekend at Cairo NE) so running out of time to get it perfect. Think I will run with that and have fun. Lure the boys into a false sense of security and lower the boom at State in September. ( in my dreams) lol.

[beemer]

I have a 40 cal Sharon barrel that is 42 in. long with what I think is a 1-72 twist. I use a 38 spcl case of 3f, around 28 grains when I used to squirrel hunt. 40 grains of 3f was my target load, went up and down a some and made no difference. When I hunted deer I used 60 grains of 3f. Set the sights with the squirrel load as that was the smallest target.

[GMW]

My 40cal Tennessee which has a 42” Getz barrel, likes 50grs of 3f goex. It shoots like a lazer and very accurate.

[Rockingkj]

From 15 yards off a bench, try three round groups of 30, 35, 40, and 45 grains to see how they group. Want to work up a hunting load, same process with more powder.

I start at 25yrds to get on paper. Too see how well a load performs I go to at least 50yards, 100 is preferable off the bench. I like 50 cause I can still see the open sights pretty well, 100 hard to be precise in hold with my eyes

[stubshaft]

My Tennessee Mountain rifle has a 40" Rice barrel and loves 55 grs. 3F GOEX.

[Rockingkj]

From what I have shot the .40 so far it the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Hard to decide which rifle to take to the dance. Have antique to modern .36 to .58’s love em all equally. Does that make me a bigimist? lol

[Boerrancher]

From what I have shot the .40 so far it the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Hard to decide which rifle to take to the dance. Have antique to modern .36 to .58’s love em all equally. Does that make me a bigimist? lol

If you’re a bigamist than so am I. Squirrel season is set to open up in 9 days. I have a 62 cal smooth bore, a 50 cal, 36 and 32 cal, I’ve squirrel hunted with all of them, even the 50 cal By using a 38 spec case as a powder measure, it sure jerks them off a limb and sends them sailing. Most of the time I can recover and reuse the ball. My record for squirrels with the same ball is 9. I got 5 the first day and the next day I got 4 before I missed. I’ve also just barked them with full charges, but that seems like a waste of powder. I just can’t decide which one deserves the opening day glory. I am leaning towards the 32 Pennsylvania Frontier Rifle.

[Rockingkj]

If you’re a bigamist than so am I. Squirrel season is set to open up in 9 days. I have a 62 cal smooth bore, a 50 cal, 36 and 32 cal, I’ve squirrel hunted with all of them, even the 50 cal By using a 38 spec case as a powder measure, it sure jerks them off a limb and sends them sailing. Most of the time I can recover and reuse the ball. My record for squirrels with the same ball is 9. I got 5 the first day and the next day I got 4 before I missed. I’ve also just barked them with full charges, but that seems like a waste of powder. I just can’t decide which one deserves the opening day glory. I am leaning towards the 32 Pennsylvania Frontier Rifle.

I hear ya. Decisions decisions I would be better off if I only had one rifle but would not be as much fun. Recovering an shooting a shot ball has got to be a challenge.

[Rockingkj]

Red White and Blue is in the books. Certainly could have shot better but an enjoyable way to spend Memorial weekend. Probably a fluke but have to show this 25yd offhand target, decided to go for the eye on 5th shot.327110

[John Taylor]

.40 caliber = 40 grains BP.
.50 caliber = 50 grains BP.
Its is basic.

Might work OK for 40 and 50 but when I tried 30 grains in my 32 it was way to much. Found out the 32 rimfire only used 9 grains so went there and the gun started shooting great.

[HamGunner]

.40 caliber = 40 grains BP.
.50 caliber = 50 grains BP.
Its is basic.

Well, basic I suppose. Fine tuning from there is likely needed for most, but that could certainly be a good place to start.

My .45 cal. TC Hawken flinter at 50 yards. She is a 4 digit serial # made 52 years ago. She still shoots. Oh, and that .45 cal. likes 45 gr of my homemade TP (toilet paper) charcoal black powder. (I cheated) Five shots from a rest.


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[HamGunner]

Might work OK for 40 and 50 but when I tried 30 grains in my 32 it was way to much. Found out the 32 rimfire only used 9 grains so went there and the gun started shooting great.

My CVA .32 cal. Squirrel rifle likes 18 gr. for a dead center shot at 25 yards.

[HamGunner]

Red White and Blue is in the books. Probably a fluke but have to show this 25yd offhand target, decided to go for the eye on 5th shot.327110

Nice offhand shooting. I used to be able to do that. I need a tree or a rest of some sort these days.

[Rockingkj]

Nice offhand shooting. I used to be able to do that. I need a tree or a rest of some sort these days.

Thanks. I prefer offhand. Shooting off cross sticks should be like shooting from a bench but for me it’s not. Reached the point in life it’s easy to get down but getting back up to reload is a bit more of a chore than I like. That was a dandy 5 shot bench target you did.

[LAGS]

I used a set of long cross sticks when I was hunting so I didn’t have to sit down.
I also had a long pole with a hook on the side that I used to steady the rifle.
That was pretty nice because I used it as a hiking pole when climbing around.

[Rockingkj]

I used a set of long cross sticks when I was hunting so I didn’t have to sit down.
I also had a long pole with a hook on the side that I used to steady the rifle.
That was pretty nice because I used it as a hiking pole when climbing around.

For sure a super portable rest in the field. My whine is the BP competition in which a person has to use the cross-sticks provided by the club. For some reason they offer these in classes for older shooters. Got to be some form of elder abuse. lol. I could pass on those but I just gotta shoot every class available to me. Takes a lotta balls to shoot like I do. Heck I got a musket and a in-line( the horror) to shoot even more classes.