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RANGE TEST: .45cal DOUBLE PRB deer load
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Booshway
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posted
.45cal DOUBLE PRB RANGE TESTS

EQUIPMENT
.45cal Early Virginia
Rice 42” x 1:66” x .016” round bottom groove barrel
Chambers Deluxe Siler / Fuller black English flints
Davis DST
Rifle sights zeroed at 50yds for existing 90grn Goex 3F PRB deer load

DOUBLE PRB TESTS USING SAME SIGHTS / SAME SIGHT PICTURE
3grns Goex 4F prime
Tested 100 and 80grns Goex 2F main (skipped 90grns)
.028” precut square / prelubed pillow ticking
Hornady swaged .440”/128grn balls

SHOOTING SITUATION
Bench rest
Short started 1st PRB, then 2nd PRB, then seated them down together as a single unit

TRIALS
Started with 100grns Goex 2F like T/C originally listed for their .45cal double PRB loads
Shot 3 pairs at 25yds, got single oval shaped holes barely larger than a single ball
Tried 100grns at 50yds but due to extra muzzle rise they were above the 3” aim point sticker.
I had no interest in changing my sights so I adjusted the powder charge down.
From experience I suspected only dropping back to 90grns would still print too high.
So I dropped back to 80grns Goex 2F and it shot 3 pairs of figure-8’s basically dead center.

FIELD TEST
Will try to take a deer with it this fall and see how it does first hand.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: roundball,


Flintlock Rifles & Smoothbores
Hunt Like The Settlers
 
Posts: 1867 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 28 January 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Pretty good group. Just be sure you take that deer during regular deer hunting season. VA like Maryland restricts muzzleloaders in muzzleloader season to a single projectile.

"Muzzleloading firearms must be single shot, capable of firing only a single bullet or saboted bullet (.38 caliber or larger)." VA DNR

Maryland is a little bit more precise:
" Muzzleloaders used for deer and bear hunting must be at least .40 caliber in size and use not less than 60 grains of black powder (or a black powder equivalent) and propel one all-lead, lead alloy or copper soft-nosed or expanding bullet or ball at a single discharge. ".

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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I don't live or hunt in those places.


Flintlock Rifles & Smoothbores
Hunt Like The Settlers
 
Posts: 1867 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 28 January 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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RB,
Just want to be clear on one thing. Were both balls in one patch? According to your listed info that would appear to be the case. So you place the largish patch, push one ball into the bore just far enough to seat the next ball on top of it while still being covered by the patch? Or did you patch one ball and then patch the second separately?
León


pistuo deo lalo
 
Posts: 3714 | Location: Acatlan de Juarez, Jalisco, Mexico | Registered: 22 October 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Just how is a game official going to know if you have one or two round balls seated in a chamber? I doubt very seriously if they're going to pull your charges to find out. I also doubt if they will dirty their hands dissecting your game to discover how many balls are in it.

Load fast and aim slow.
 
Posts: 1726 | Location: Pacific Northwest | Registered: 08 March 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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quote:
Originally posted by volatpluvia:
RB,
Just want to be clear on one thing. Were both balls in one patch? According to your listed info that would appear to be the case. So you place the largish patch, push one ball into the bore just far enough to seat the next ball on top of it while still being covered by the patch? Or did you patch one ball and then patch the second separately?
León

Both patched:
"...Short started 1st PRB, then 2nd PRB, then seated them down together as a single unit..."


Flintlock Rifles & Smoothbores
Hunt Like The Settlers
 
Posts: 1867 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 28 January 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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quote:
Originally posted by White Finger:
Just how is a game official going to know if you have one or two round balls seated in a chamber? I doubt very seriously if they're going to pull your charges to find out. I also doubt if they will dirty their hands dissecting your game to discover how many balls are in it.

Load fast and aim slow.

Agree...and there are no restrictions like that here in NC...just can't use anything larger than a 10ga.


Flintlock Rifles & Smoothbores
Hunt Like The Settlers
 
Posts: 1867 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 28 January 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
<mtnmike>
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Roundball,What is our minimum caliber ML allowed for deer hunting here in NC?
 
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Booshway
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There are no ML related restrictions listed at all.

The only restriction even close is that if a shotgun (a.k.a. smoothbore) is being used it can't be larger than a 10ga.


Flintlock Rifles & Smoothbores
Hunt Like The Settlers
 
Posts: 1867 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 28 January 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
<mtnmike>
posted
I am honestly not understanding the difference between caliber vs gauge,is there a formula for deciding? Is it smoothbore vs rifle? What is the difference in your bird hunting ML and your deer hunting ML?
This sounds crazy I know,but how do you know a 50 caliber from a 10 gauge?

Does my rambling questions make sense?
 
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Booshway
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RIFLES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliber


SMOOTHBORES (shotguns)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_(bore_diameter)


Flintlock Rifles & Smoothbores
Hunt Like The Settlers
 
Posts: 1867 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 28 January 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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quote:
Originally posted by mtnmike:
I am honestly not understanding the difference between caliber vs gauge,is there a formula for deciding? Is it smoothbore vs rifle? What is the difference in your bird hunting ML and your deer hunting ML?
This sounds crazy I know,but how do you know a 50 caliber from a 10 gauge?

Does my rambling questions make sense?


Here's a link that gives the relationships and how to calculate:
http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/math.html

Nowadays in muzzleloading, "caliber" applies to rifled barrels, "gauge" or "bore" to smoothbores. Gauge tells you how many round balls fitting the bore snugly you can get out of a pound of lead, whereas caliber pertains to bore diameter.

In the 18th century even rifles were often described in terms of 'balls per pound'. In your 10 ga vs 50 cal question, a 50 cal roundball weighs around 180 grs, and is therefore more or less a 40 gauge (7000/180 = 39). A 10 gauge barrel would take a ball weighing around 700 grains, and a ball that weight would be a sphere with diameter of 0.776 inches.


Here's a health to the King and a lasting Peace. May Faction end and Wealth increase....Old Loyalist Ballad
 
Posts: 767 | Location: Panhandle Florida | Registered: 02 February 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Thanks Roundball,
Out of curiosity, would you try the other method that I described? Maybe just a shot or two for fun. I am very curious here.
León


pistuo deo lalo
 
Posts: 3714 | Location: Acatlan de Juarez, Jalisco, Mexico | Registered: 22 October 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
<mtnmike>
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SCLoyalist,,Thanks
 
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Booshway
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quote:
Originally posted by volatpluvia:
Out of curiosity, would you try the other method that I described?

I'll let you try that next trip you make to the range, LOL


Flintlock Rifles & Smoothbores
Hunt Like The Settlers
 
Posts: 1867 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 28 January 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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quote:
Just how is a game official going to know if you have one or two round balls seated in a chamber? I doubt very seriously if they're going to pull your charges to find out. I also doubt if they will dirty their hands dissecting your game to discover how many balls are in it.


Well let's see, the game warden sees you shoot the deer once, and it has two lethal holes in it when he comes up to talk to you. The deer wasn't fatally wounded by a person with a silenced rifle, then wandered in front of you so you could kill it a second time eh? Sure Roundball's group is touching at that distance, but would everybody's do the same? You're assuming a DNR officer doesn't observe the game and the hunter before approaching. Many regulations require the officer to actually see the events leading to the stop.

Another point..., is it your contention that we should only follow the game laws that are easily detected by the DNR officer in case we get stopped?

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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IF you get away with it!! how are you going to feel and IF you dont get away with it????
If your caught,your name is in the Newspaper,the State revokes your Hunting Licence for a year minimum and can revoke ALL other hunting/Fishing licences,they get some of your money,your vehical,rifle oh and you to for a period of time,possable, not worth it to me. Your friends/neighbors and family know you as a Criminal from then on,cause you are.If it is a Felony conviction,in Maine,you can NEVER own or have in your posession a fire arm,ever,can't even be in the place where you live,a vehicle you ride in.
Would a DNR get their hands dirty to catch you??The Warden in our area would strain a month old gut pile through his teeth and not gag to get the evidence to catch you,then hound you. He said "It's like someone spitting in my face when someone tells me their smarter than I am and that is what a law breaker is saying.
If the DNR has "probable cause" he can get a Warrent to Search everything you have with you,and you wait while he does it,and brother they are in no hurry.They do not put your gear/truck/camp back to geather either,they just take it apart.
But back to the double balling,,Does the extra weight of two balls change the trajectory,like comparing a maxi slug to PRB??or deform the PRB to effect accuracy If they both hit that close together,,what is the point,other than you can,like Danial Boone did.
 
Posts: 1839 | Registered: 11 February 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Out of curiosity where did you get the idea to load two balls down yor rifle?
 
Posts: 357 | Location: Colorado Territories | Registered: 20 March 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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quote:
Will try to take a deer with it this fall and see how it does first hand.
Basically, I'm experimenting with this because I want to, and because I can.

Going to the range year round except for a couple months hunting season each fall...and doing the same old thing week after week gets kind of boring after a while...and I like experimenting with different things to know first hand how something performs.

For example, last year I researched, then range tested, then hunted a non-lead solid brass ball out of my .58cal and dropped a good Doe with it at about 50yds...a satisfying project.

This year I'm going to try the double ball load...its been said it was not all that uncommon 'back in the day' for certain circumstances...and T/C's load data charts listed double ball loads for the .45 & .50cals.

MV would be around 200-300 fps less, running about the same as the MV for an equivalent weight conical in the load data charts.
IE:
Two 128grn PRBs = 256grns
T/C has a 255grn Maxi-Hunter


Flintlock Rifles & Smoothbores
Hunt Like The Settlers
 
Posts: 1867 | Location: North Carolina | Registered: 28 January 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Roundball,they put dimples in golfballs to improve accuracy???Wondering for sometime how/if they would improve a PRB as well??The pattern use is some Scientific Formula from what I read. I dont believe you would have to wear those funny pant to shoot them.ha ha ha and a hole in one is good,as is a birdie,just dont shoot an Eagle.
 
Posts: 1839 | Registered: 11 February 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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