educate me about this felt wad. what are they and where do i find them?
educate me about this felt wad. what are they and where do i find them?
Most use a "hard" felt of about 1/8". Then get a punch @ bore diameter or slightly larger. Use a mallet arch punch or rotary punch or press mounted punch.
Link to bulk felt that many shooters use Durofelt... (good "Mom and Pop" company): http://www.durofelt.com/image_26.html
The 54 REAL's shot fairly well in my slow twist 54 cal.
I realize this is a very old thread but I’ve been experimenting so hopefully a data point is helpful…
I wanted to take my .45 cal on a mule deer hunt this fall, but Colorado has some specific projectile requirements, off the top of my head it’s .45 cal minimum and 180 gr minimum which obviously would require a conical bullet in .45. My rifle is 1:66 twist and shoots patched round balls great. I decided to try to work up a load for the Lee 200gr real bullet. Results were as follows..
40-60gr of Schutzen FFFG, the lower charges were accurate with a caveat, above about 55gr the accuracy started to rapidly deteriorate.
About 50gr seemed to be the best, but results were really strange. Out to 50 yards, I could get 3 shot cloverleaf groups nearly every time up to 55gr of charge. But, at 75 yards, the groups were more like a foot and usually not even on the paper. Clearly this bullet is very marginally stabilized at this twist rate.
All loads were shot with a felt wad or a wad punched out of milk carton cardboard, no discernible difference between the 2 in terms of accuracy
I ended up not taking this rifle hunting this year which saddened me, but I am going to build a Colorado specific muzzleloader for next fall. Id like it to be .54 caliber with a fairly tight twist so I can shoot as heavy a conical as I want and not worry about stability. Looks like many more barrel choices in .50 caliber, we shall see where this project takes me.
Last edited by AviatorTroy; 12-06-2023 at 10:37 PM.
Airplanes and guns should always be made out of metal.
yes, colo. Has really given the muzzleloader guys the chingas. With that being said, the 54 cal. Would be a perfect choice. See attached picture. This is 3 shots from my t/c renegade. 435 gr. Hand cast t/c maxi-balls on top of 90 gr. Pyrodex, shot off a bench at 100 yards. Iron sights.
TH243 do you lube those bad looking puppies? Use a wad under them? Peep sight? Mighty impressive I have to say, great shooting. I love it when somebody does something really right!
Never trade luck for skill.
I no longer have my .54 R.E.A.L bullet mold.
I sold it with a rifle that I had.
It shot as good as the Maxi Balls you used.
But only if well lubed and with an over powder wad.
But I only tested them out to 50 yards.
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 |