Muzzleloading

Reynolds357...A roundball is much more accurate from a rifled barrel than a smoothbore. The spin is necessary to stabilize it.
 
My Midwest Shooting

What is the best bullet that you have found in a muzzleloader for hunting game like deer?
Click to expand...
What the best, is subjective. There are may excellent non-RB projectiles out there and you have listed one of them. Most can get very expensive to practice with. .... ;)

Lately, in my non-traditionals, I have been using a hard-cast pistol bullets in .44, 240gr. with Sabots. I am also use a .45 hard-cast. I buy them in bulk and cost is kept reasonable.They are an effective round, for my Midwest shooting. ... :)

Be Safe !!!
 
"What is the point of shooting a round ball from a rifled barrel?"

In some areas, it's the law.

Ultimately, the point is the same as shooting a blackpowder gun in the age of modern rifles.

It's interesting and it's fun.
 
if you think a round ball is not accurcete, look up(mr. flintlock) that shooter can hit a charcoal brickett hanging from a string fron 100yds with a .58 cal rifle useing a round ball OFF HAND. and he just looks like a old fat guy. eastbank.
 
One of the big problems with roundballs today is that many rifles have fast twist rifling designed to stabilize the big, heavy conicals.

Round balls stabilize best with a slow twist. IIRC the twist for .45 to .50 caliber is about 1 turn in 66 inches, where as with a conical in those calibers is around 1 turn in 24 to 32 inches.

Thompson Center rifles used to have a compromise twist, generally 1 turn in 48 inches, that would adequately stabilize both round balls and conicals, but which generally woudln't give the best accuracy with either.

After Pennsylvania adopted the round ball only, flintlock only rules for what they called the primitive season (designated muzzleloader season) T/C came out with the Pennsylvania Hunter rifle, a flintlock with a barrel that had the twist opitmized for round ball.

At my old club in Pennsylvania years ago I saw one guy land 3 of 5 shots from his .45 Pennsylvania Long Rifle on a 12" gong at 500 yards, and judging by the dust puffs the other two didn't miss by much. He was shooting a patched round ball and IIRC about 55 grains of 3 Fg.
 
My .54 Caliber Thompson Center Renegade has a 1:48 twist and is accurate with patched rounds balls, Maxi-balls, Maxi-Hunters, and PowerBelts 405 gr lead conicals and 90 gr of Pyrodex or 777.

I have killed deer with all of them.

I wish TC hadn't stopped making the .54 Maxi-balls and Maxi-hunters.

I plan on using the PowerBelts for elk hunting in November in Island Park, ID.
 
1. Patched round balls are cheap to shoot.
2. Patched round balls are accurate.
3. Patched round balls are effective on big game when put in the right place.
4. Shooting patched round balls is fun.
Click to expand...

5. Patched round balls are easier to load than conicals.
 
You can find them !!!

I wish TC hadn't stopped making the .54 Maxi-balls and Maxi-hunters
Click to expand...
.
You can still find some old/new stock on the Maxi's as well as molds. A very good sub or even better than the MaxiHunter, is the Hornady Great Plaines and still, there are better than those. ..... :rolleyes:

Be Safe !!!
 
I killed a 6x6 elk in Wyoming last year with a .50 cal patched round ball. I used a traditional flintlock with balls cast from wheel weight lead, which is harder than pure lead. Wyosmith advised me to use wheel weight lead to get better penetration than with pure lead. The ball performed exactly as he predicted. From 40 yds it passed diagonally through the elk's chest cavity, lodging under the skin on the far side. Had it not hit bone on its entry, I believe it would have passed all the way through. Oh, the elk stumbled only 40 yards before dropping.

The wheel weight balls are accurate too. I have a 50 yd target with 9 shots in a 1.65 inch group, shot from my flintlock with iron sights. Balls can definitely get the job done.
 
Some modern fast twist rifles shoot patched round balls surprisingly well. My old CVA StagHorn with it's 1:32" twist rate makes tiny groups using patched round ball and 70 grains of 3F Goex Pinnacle. The newer Stag Horn guns have 1:28" twist rate . My .54 caliber TC Fire Hawk inline has a 1:38" twist rate. It shoots patched round balls like a dream.

The slow twist rate of the old patched round ball guns allowed for a wide variation of the powder charge without horizontal dispersion when using the fixed sights.

This is a good article that dispels some myths and explains some things about the old patched round ball long rifles. The link may have been posted here previously:

http://home.comcast.net/~illinewek/faqs/boonegun.htm
 
Last edited:
"The wheel weight balls are accurate too."

I never had ANY success with balls that were much harder than pure lead. The guy I shot with said it was probably a case of the patch being unable to adequately grasp the ball.

"Some modern fast twist rifles shoot patched round balls surprisingly well."

It's easier to get decent accuracy from a slow-twist projectile in a fast-twist barrel than from a fast-twist projectile in a slow-twist barrel.

Over stabilized means stabilized, but under stabilized means not stabilized.
 
You can still find some old/new stock on the Maxi's as well as molds. A very good sub or even better than the MaxiHunter, is the Hornady Great Plaines and still, there are better than those. .....
Click to expand...

I have been looking for some, but I'm not having much luck.

I did pick up a box of the Great Plains to try, but I haven't yet.
 
Pure lead isn't necessary for good accuracy with a round ball. This target was shot at 50 yards using balls cast from used wheel weight lead. I fired 10 shots, though only 9 are discernible. After my first shot I adjusted my sight picture a bit to get the very nice group shown.
IMG_9836_2.jpg


I was shooting a .50 cal flintlock with open sights. I should note that I've never been mistaken for a true marksman. I suspect younger eyes could do better.
 
As I said, I never had much luck with anything harder than lead...

In MY rifle.

Thinking some more about it, based on what my shooting partner said, I wonder if using a different thickness or weave patch material might have made a difference...
 
With pure lead balls I used .495" balls with a 0.018" patch, which is a tight load. When I switched to wheel weight balls I dropped down to a 0.490" ball and 0.015" patch to make loading easier. That's what I used to shoot the above target. It seems to work. The elk thought so too! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top