.54 caliber 310 & 338 ball-ets

[cayuga]

This was my attempt at shooting new targets with a .54 caliber Renegade and some different size ball-ets. I started out with the 338 grain HP ball-et and since I had never shot them, loaded 70 grains of Swiss 3f black powder. I circled the hits on the yellow target in green. They were all over the place. I then changed to Pyrodex RS and upped the charge to 90 grains of powder and the 338 grain ball-ets behaved much better. I should point out that I did not swab the barrel while shooting the group.

I then swabbed the barrel and changed the target. I also went to the 310 grain RN ball-et. Again, since 90 grains of Pyrodex worked so well I stuck with it. I fired a three shot group that clover leafed. I then adjusted my POI to see if I could hit the bulls eye. After that I decided to see just how fast I could load and shoot the ball-et so I fired off I belief eight more. On the last one the loading was becoming hard, so I stopped. I really was happy with the accuracy of the 310 grain ball-ets.

Today was 23?s a light snow and light breeze out. Very overcast, but any day is a good day to burn off powder. All shooting was done at the 30 yard station frozen to the ground...

 

[Admin]

I always had good results with the 310 ballets in .54 with my Lyman GPR 1-60. It would stack em about like your groups there. They are a very under rated bullet.

 

[cayuga]

I decided to shoot a different .54 caliber rifle to day and test the 310 grain Ball-ets so I decided on a flintlock. I took the Lyman Trade Rifle out. It was headaches at first then it got better. But at least I learned a little something about the rifle.

I was shooting 90 grains of Goex 2f as the main charge and 4f as the prime. I did not swab the barrel during this shoot. They actually began to load quite hard towards the end of the session, and I only fired eight total shots with the ball-ets.

The first shot out of the rifle was the closer of the two outside the red circle. I pulled the shot when the rifle frizzen failed to open properly. For some reason the spring on the frizzen was not allowing the thing to snap away from the flint. It how ever did open enough to get a spark and so I pulled and knew it before I checked.

So we went back in the house, tore the rifle down and cleaned the lock all over again. That resulted in the six in the red circle. I think the flint was dull as I was not getting as fast of ignition as I usually do. Although there was light snow falling. Whether that accounted for the slower lock time I do not know.

The final shot outside the circle was when the flint just failed to spark enough to fire the rifle. I had got a couple of fuse burns out of the pan but no flash. So I picked the vent (which I had to retrieve from the house) and while standing out in the yard about 45 yards away, and not expecting the rifle to fire anyway, I just pulled up and took a poke at the red circle. Well the gun fired that time. In fact I think you might be able to notice the angle of the hit in the box. I was at about a 30? angle to the box when I took the poke at the red dot.

I decided it needed a new flint and did not feel like putting one in, so we changed targets and rifles for the remainder of the afternoon.

 

[Redclub]

Cayaga
Where in Wi. do you live that you have snow? Here in Central Wi. Waupaca Co. We haven't seen snow in a month. :lol:
Ken

 

[cayuga]

I am up near Lake Superior. We have over a foot on the ground still and it was snowing today also. Just lightly but we got five inches the other night.

On fact yesterday I shovelled off the wood shed roof and there was about 18 inches of snow on it.

 

[elite-50]

Who makes the ballets and where can I get em? Are they a lubed bullet?

 

[cayuga]

The ball-ets come pre lubed and are made by the Buffalo Bullet Company. http://www.possibleshop.com/ball-bullet.htm

check that sight... they have a good selection. If you have a traditional usually the lighter ones shoot best out of a 1-48 twist. I have been also shooting them out of inline rifles with excellent results..but the heavier ones seem to work best in the faster twist.

 

[scauper]

Cayuga,

Would I be able to shoot the 50 cal ball-ets out of my MK-85? Which weight would give me the best accuracy? What would be a good starting load for T7? I'm looking for something to plink with that won't cost me a whole bunch of money.....not to ask a stupid question but would I have a leading problem? Do you have to put a card wad between powder and bullet or just seat in flush? I saw a round ball advertized that was attached to some kind plastic short sabot. Years ago I shot round balls out of my .54 using a plastic cup that the ball fit into and the end towards powder was concave......got real good accuracy too but they were saying you had to be careful because the ball would move forward creating an air space.....I took super glue and that kept the ball in place...still shot real good.

 

[cayuga]

reference the ball-et in a Knight inline

I got some excellent results with the .50 caliber 270 grain ball-ets out of my Knight Wolverine LK-II which is very similar to your MK-85. I was shooting with all different powder charges but for plinking I would bet with T-7 that 75 grains would give a good starting point.

I also shot the 245 grain ball-ets and they did well too. The 270 grain are harder to find at most stores.

The 270 grain Ball-ets did a little better out of my Wolverine

 

[n8dawg6]

cayuga, have you ordered from that possiblesbag website before? his prices on ball-ets are pretty good. better than cabelas. ive been burned before by small-time internet shops, though . . .

cayuga, i just reread your post above describing your flintlock shooting at the range. are you saying that your flintlock went off while you were downrange looking at the target? in other words, your gun shot at you while you were downrange??? :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[cayuga]

cayuga, have you ordered from that possiblesbag website before? his prices on ball-ets are pretty good. better than cabelas. ive been burned before by small-time internet shops, though . . .

cayuga, i just reread your post above describing your flintlock shooting at the range. are you saying that your flintlock went off while you were downrange looking at the target? in other words, your gun shot at you while you were downrange??? :shock: :shock: :shock:

n8dawg6 I have ordered from the Possible Shop but it has been a long time, well over a year or more. I used to order a lot from them and October Country before I got my inline rifles, so it might be closer to two years now.

As for my rifle going off .. what I mean't was I was still in my back yard, but not in the firing line itself. I picked the vent hole and just fired it out across the yard. I can actually shoot from anywhere in my yard in any direction since I have no neighbors.

I was going to shoot flintlock today until the blizzard hit. They called for minor flurries. One thing about our weather men, they never get it right.