44 cal rifle question

[southpaw]

One of my huntin buddies acquired a Kentuckian rifle in 44 cal. He is trying to get his feet wet in muzzle loader hunting and got a good deal on this rifle. I have plenty of experience with 50 and 54 cal muzzle loaders but know very little to nothing about the 44cal. My question to the experts here is what size round ball would you use? I see lee make a .433 mold. Is this the right mold?

Lastly what would be a good charge to start from and what would be considered max?

Thanks again for the help!!

Jerry Jr.

[Taylor]

45 maybe? Never heard of a Kentuckian in 44,of course that don't mean it does't exist.440 ball and patch(crisco and bees wax lube) with 75 grains of RS,thats my load.

[southpaw]

That was my thought too. Till I looked at the barrel and it said 44 cal. I will try to mic the barrel the next time I get a chance.

Jerry Jr.

[fishhawk]

the italian rifles will say 44 cal but they will use a .440 ball brother in law had a dave petersoli and it was marked .44 but took a .440 ball. steve k

[waksupi]

I've seen .45's, take anything from a .426, to a .445. Definitely mic time.

[mooman76]

If you have a 440 ball try and see how it goes in the barrel. If it has some room the 440 should be it. If it almost or fits tight then you will need smaller.

[northmn]

There were afew that used a recommended 433 ball. Some Spanish and Italian. As stated try a 440 and see if that works.

DP

[blackpowder man]

Dad shoots a pedersoli .44 with a .433 reound ball for his traditional flintlock target pistol. I have a .433 mold, but i don't think it is a lee. Maybe a lyman or palmetto. Hornady makes swaged rounballs. I asked my local gun store to get me some .440 balls and he got .44 balls(.433). They are still there for maybe $12.99 per 100. Seems like at one time there were also .431 roundballs available. Good luck.

[Hanshi]

I have an H&A underhammer in .45. They recommended a .433 ball but I got away with using a .440 ball and thin patch. Accuracy is great. By all means try a couple size balls or slug the barrel before buying a mold. I have a Lee .440 double cavity.

[southpaw]

OK I took the mic to the barrel today. Land to land was .455-.456 and the grove was about .466. Any recommendations for this?

Thank for all the responses and the help.

Jerry Jr.

[FL-Flinter]

I have an H&A underhammer in .45. They recommended a .433 ball but I got away with using a .440 ball and thin patch. Accuracy is great. By all means try a couple size balls or slug the barrel before buying a mold. I have a Lee .440 double cavity.

Some of the H&A style guns, mostly those with the pinned-on barrels, were imported or wore imported barrels made with metric tooling, thus the discrepancy in "suggested" ball diameter. As Waksupi said, sometimes there's a lot of variations for whatever reason in bore/groove diameters and there are times when you can take ten barrels of all the same specifications and all ten can take a different ball/patch combo and powder charge to produce peak accuracy.

[FL-Flinter]

OK I took the mic to the barrel today. Land to land was .455-.456 and the grove was about .466. Any recommendations for this?

Thank for all the responses and the help.

Jerry Jr.


I would suggest starting with a 0.445" ball and 0.020-025" patch material (denim) and see what happens. Read what the patch and target tells you and adjust accordingly. If you can get some 0.450" balls to try, you can probably get away with 0.015-0.018" patch material. Remeber the most importan thing: Always be SAFE! If something doesn't look right, pull the ball or use one of gadgets to push it out with CO2. Mark the ram rod so you know if the load is fully seated or not each and every time. 8-)

[mooman76]

I don't know if I'd go with that tight of a setup as Fl-Flinter stated at least right off. Measuring with a Micrometer into the barrel muzzle isn't your best measurement but it does help give you a place to start. If the gun has been shot much the muzzle can have some wear and could be slightly larger. It's no fun getting a ball stuck half way down the barrel and you can't fire it until you get the ball all the way in or pull it out which isn't fun either. .445 balls would probably work from your measurments but I'd try a thinner patch to start off or go with 440 balls. If 445 prove to be too tight you're stuck will something you can't use. If 440 are a little loose you can still shoot them even with a thick patch. They won't be as accurate but will still shoot reasonbly well for some fun shooting and you can move up the a tighter setup after you figure out that you need something thicker. If you go with 445 use a looser patch and if it isn't tight then go to a thicker patch. The tighter the ball and patch combo will typically give you the best accuracy. I don't like a real tight ball/patch combo myself because it's easier to load making it a little more fun to shoot. I would move up to a tighter setup if I was shooting a competition or trying for best accuacy though.

[buckweet]

hummmm....i just mic on mine 0.465 on my .45 barrel, [the best i could see....]


i'll have to try the same.