Cant, wont, can dos and a surprise or two by randy d. Round ball ballistics calculations for muzzleloaders. Considering the limited effective range on big game of the patched round ball, the 3x is likely the best choice for easily getting game in the crosshairs at 10 to 50. Most inline muzzleloaders shoot patched round balls very well. Traditionalmldata1 north american muzzleloader hunting.
If youre interested in hunting with muzzleloading rifles you have, no doubt, read the ads espousing the extreme performance capabilities of the high velocity. Round balls in fast twist rifles white muzzle loading. Traditionalmldata5 north american muzzleloader hunting. How in the world did some of our countrys patriots, in the late 1700s and early 1800s, make reliable head and chest shots on british officers at 200 to 300 yards using patched ball rifles, thus, cutting the snakes head off, as it were. Because the forces on the ball rise sharply with velocity, this extra forward resistance from what the ball would normally feel is translated to a side push which accelerates the ball to the side. I am feeling really good after 9 days of hunting in southern. Several side hammer round ball guns are available in. The higher bc, the longer it will retain velocity and the less windage affects will occur. Now im not sure if the patch gets spun off the ball or if patch and ball just skims the rifling but either way a round ball wont shoot for squat out of a fast twist barrel unless you cut the powder down to an absolute minimum which makes it impractical for most purposes.
This evening i skinned and quartered the carcass of the. I have taken deer with both but never studied the numbers on these. Have a hawken style rifle that i want to use a patched round ball in. Black powder comes in various grain sizes designated fg, ffg, fffg and ffffg.
For slow twist barrels 1 turn in 56 to 72 inches use a patched round ball. My tc black diamond also shoots patched round balls very accurately. Velocity increases ballistic coefficient, the higher the velocity, the higher bc. This ballistics calculator is a computer simulation which analyzes the behavior of a round ball in its flight from the muzzle to the target. That is the projectile fires on both sides of the civil war, the minie ball. Remember that a round ball slows at 100 yards to about 5060% of its muzzle velocity. Knead the bag for a couple of minutes, and all of the patches will fully absorb the lardlube.
Medium twist barrels are designed to shoot both patched round balls and conical bullets. The round ball had killed off most game east of the big muddy by the 1850,s. The patch round ball challenge long range hunting forum. Apr 18, 2019 50 cal muzzleloader with a round ball, is this a good choice for white tailed deer. An old rule of thumb about round ball is that if you push them above 1800 fps muzzle velocity you are wasting powder as deceleration increases with increased velocity. Bumping a round ball to the proper diameter is the only way to get any accuracy from them.
If you drop to a lower charge 100gr you can go back to a patched round ball with good accuracy. The squirrel tumbled off the limb to the woodlot floor. In a 54 caliber rifle, sixty grains of fffg creates the same. Traditionalmldata2 north american muzzleloader hunting.
The patched round ball challenge hunt page 2 hunt talk. Energy is generated by velocity more powder or bigger ball. A good patch is made of good quality, dense natural material. With 8 ounces of pressure, the hammer fell, sending the 45grain patched round ball skyward in a plume of white smoke. It was by far the most accurate load in that gun, and while labeled light by a lot of guys, it killed with alacrity. Minimum deerkilling muzzleloading loads for young and small. Stated again, the best performing projectile for a muzzleloaded rifle is a properly patched, soft lead round ball, fired in a rifled barrel with appropriate grooves and twist, fueled by a balanced charge of black powder.
Apparently velocity only suffers in round ball rifles not built to take commensurately larger loads of powder. The lightest projectile in this caliber is a patched round ball. That ball isnt made for big game all the typical brain washed fubar where some think you need plastic, ss, scoped and high priced pretty shaped bullets in order to down game. With a ball, youre gonna have a rainbow trajectory with its inherent bad aerodynamics.
These lowvelocity loads shoot very accurately out to 75 yards and are effective on turkeys. Note that with a longer length barrel, velocities with the same charge of powder behind the same weight patched round ball increases right along with barrel length. Last time i fired patched round balls from my black diamond there was an active duty army nco at the next bench shooting an ar15 at 100 meters. This evening i skinned and quartered the carcass of the deer.
Many years ago i was a frequent visitor to the nmlra matchs in friendship in, and i have seen many matches won with this technic. Jun 26, 2014 most inline muzzleloaders shoot patched round balls very well. The trick is to load them down to levels where the patches are not torn up. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. Round ball vs cut lead gelatine tests, accuracy, ballistics, historical. My cheapo cva stag horn has 2 twist and it shoots prb like a dream. Not true, as my turkey hunting experience has shown. My normal ffg loads are 100 grains for patched round ball and 120 grains with. The original gunsmiths first making patched round ball rifles determined. But for those who shoot a more aerodynamic conical bullet, like the hornady fpb shown here, these old style scopes in 6 x will keep em in the zone well past. But you still may want to have a bit of an edge in trajectory if you hunt in open areas.
A round ball is unique among projectiles in that its ballistic characteristics are solely dependant upon its diameter unless its made of something other than lead. For fast twist barrels 1 turn in 16 to 28 inches use a conical bullet. Sight height the distance from the top of the front sight to the bore center. Patched round ball gun and game the friendliest gun. So, my load for all round ball shooting is 80 grains of fffg goex, a. Killing power of patched round ball prb the high road. If i recover a round ball it is usually because the animal was walking straight at.
With the barrel at 30 inches in length, velocity was down to 1,642 f. In the typical lightweight rifles that a young hunter can handle 67 lbs. Minimum deerkilling muzzleloading loads for young and. Id think that if the patched round ball in those calibers was ineffective they would have gone to guns with larger bores. Small game hunting with muzzleloaders realtree camo. Sep 09, 2016 shooting 47grains of fffg dupont black powder behind a cloth patched 93grain. These low velocity loads shoot very accurately out to 75 yards and are effective on turkeys. Were wounds caused by low velocity minie balls in the u.
The cut lead bar bullet was an auxilary bullet when round ball was not available. However, for the greater part, truly good long range shooting, as we moderns know it, was a distinctly unusual circumstance in the days of round balls and patches. The patching material is the key to be accurate with a round ball load. Aug 04, 2014 the patching material is the key to be accurate with a round ball load.
Were wounds caused by lowvelocity minie balls in the u. Shooting 47grains of fffg dupont black powder behind a cloth patched 93grain. On the left are all of the variables you can change. Round ball vs cut lead gelatine tests, accuracy, ballistics. Data reflect changes in velocities and energies depending n barrel. Typically, loads of about 55 grains of ffg and a patched round ball are about right in. Point blank zero for a 12 diameter target at 140 yards would be 125 yards, the rb rising no more than 6 inches and a bit and being a tad more than five low at 140. Ff powder, pillow ticking patchbore butter, from a deer. This means that the most damage done by a cross wind occurs in the early part of the flight. At that velocity, the midrange trajectory is very similar to my previous note.
A muzzle velocity difference of 200 fps can be as little as 70 fps at 100 yards in a 54. These retardation rearward forces caused it to lose velocity over time, and this information could then be used to calculate ballistic tables. Muzzle velocity the muzzle velocity in feet per second. I dont think i need to mention the bc of a round ball is horrid. Is the rate of twist of the rifling compatible with round ball. Poking a long hole in any animal smaller than a fullgrown holstein will put it. I will adjust loads with a chronograph to get the velocities charted. Blackpowder muzzleloading muzzleloading round ball ballistics. A round ball doesnt touch the rifling itself, the patch does. Muzzle velocity the first subject i would like to address is muzzle velocity the speed of the projectile as it leaves the barrel. For me, round ball loads tend to shoot higher than point of aim in a revolver and lower than point of aim from a rifle. Still, velocities are low enough that range will be limited. Poking a long hole in any animal smaller than a fullgrown holstein will put it on the ground. Round balls may be used in a muzzleloader with a fast twist with good results.
The pacific rifle company cites the followiing round ball ballistics. If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the faq by clicking the link above. You can buy good quality patches in your local blackpowder shop, but you can also make your own. Really handy round ball ballistics calculator general. I put 100 dry patches in a zip sandwich bag and pour about 12 fluid oz of melted, 100% hog lard in the bag with the patches. How does barrel length affect blackhorn 209 performance. Data reflect changes in velocities and energies depending n barrel length, the charge of powder, granulation of powder, and retained velocity and energy at 50 a. Im not even sure if i could shoot a band that would push a 250 grain ball to 175 fps, those would be stout bands.
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