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Thread: Cast boolets, black powder and buffalo

  1. #41
    Boolit Grand Master


    GregLaROCHE's Avatar
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    A very impressive accomplishment!

  2. #42
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
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    Minnesota
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    Good morning all, figure I should post a few pics for anyone interested in some details of the Hall rifle,- and it's effectiveness on game as this is a hunting topic.
    The Hall was first developed by John Hancock Hall in 1811, and officially accepted by the US military in 1819. Originally of course in flintlock, mine is a Federal conversion to percussion done just before the Civil War. It is rifled with 16 deep grooves( and I always thought microgroove was a Marlin thing..)and originally with a .525 bore. The muzzle end is counterbore for a couple inches to allow easier traditional loading of patched round ball if the breech should happen to become to fouled to open . In the research I've done it is indicated that the original flintlock model took a charge of 100 grains of powder and a .525 ball. My Federal conversion has a reinforced sleeve in the chamber and will accept 75 grains
    of powder and a paper patched .530 ball.( about 225 grains in weight)
    It is very accurate, out to 100 yards or so shoots as well as about anything with open sights. I shot a nice whitetail doe at 110 long paces, she was quartering towards me and the ball struck just behind her shoulder, angled back through the right lung, through the liver, out her belly, re-entered her left hind leg and shattered the femur and still exited. pretty darn good performance from a 225 grain lead sphere...
    though it is a breech loader I can load an 1861 Springfield much faster, but it is quicker than a patch round ball rifle, and you can pretty easily load it from a prone position.Click image for larger version. 

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    anyways here's some pics...
    Big Goose

  3. #43
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Minnesota
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    forgot to add that it is claimed that soldiers would often carry their Hall breech blocks loaded as a back up hand gun... though that would work in a pinch it would not be pleasant to hang on to...
    the paper cartridges are formed from regular kitchen waxed paper, fairly durable in a cartridge box and somewhat water resistant, and the wax paper patched ball sure shoots well. Anyways, though the Hall is not legal for a muzzleloader season it's become one of my favorite guns for the regular firearms deer season...
    The offset sight picture is awkward at first but Ok once you get used to it... kind of like my son's Bren gun actually...Click image for larger version. 

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  4. #44
    Boolit Master
    elk hunter's Avatar
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    Central Oregon
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    Thanks for the write-up and the pictures. I've always been drawn to black powder firearms. For a number of years I hunted strictly with muzzleloaders. I always thought the Hall was a unique and interesting rifle. Maybe some day I'll find one. During the past year I built an interesting breechloading flintlock, the British Ferguson. Being an early breechloader you might say it is a distant cousin of the Hall. As you stated neither one would be legal in a muzzleloader season but, I'd still like to hunt with it. Since we don't have Bison I'll have to settle for a deer or an elk.

    Keep the wind in your face and your powder dry.
    BIG OR SMALL I LIKE THEM ALL, 577 TO 22 HORNET.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check