My first REAL attempt at Patched Roundball

[Idaholewis1]

I call my .440 Roundball a .490 :shock: Other than that I didn’t do to awful bad :lol!:

This is a VERY Different Game than i am use to playing Fella’s, but i had a LOT of fun with this! I will be back at it again soon with a little more Knowledge than i had this morning :Red tup:

1 thing i found REALLY odd, my Home Cast .440 Balls made of 1-40 Alloy looked AMAZING the first 2 Shots! I mean REALLY Good, As good as my BEST Bullet Groups! I was Grinning :lol: I just knew i had this DOWN! That was until the 3rd shot, it went about 2” out??? The first time i chalked it up as my Fault, somehow i had pulled it? NOPE, it done it EVERYTIME!! The CRAZY part is, the first 2 Shots are literally Touching, But the 3rd and Each Shot after go AWOL??? What starts out as REALLY TIGHT ends up About a 3-4” Group? Luckily i had Some Soft Lead (Store Bought Hornady Swaged) I had wasted most of my Supplies before I realized that my Harder 1-40 Roundball weren’t gonna Cut it, at least after 2 Shots, CRAZY?? I am glad I didn’t pour up a Bunch of those in 1-40, I only have like 20-30 of them, I need to Cast up Some Pure lead and get back out, This Old CVA Mountain Rifle Shoots REALLY good, and is a LOT of fun to Shoot, Just barely Bumps the Shoulder, But this little Ball has to be SIZZLING right along, it should be about 1,700 FPS according to my Load data Stuff? I recovered 1 of my 1-40s, Pretty Darn Impressive! it actually Mushroomed like a Bullet? Pretty Cool!


I have no DOUBT i can beat this with more Pure lead, and Some actual Load development. This Group measures Exactly 1-3/4” Not bad for my First go around
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[Idaholewis1]

The little 128 Grain Ball performed like a Bullet, The Way it Mushroomed Back

You can actually see the Patch Impression here, if ya didn’t know better, This would pass for a Cast Bullet instead of Ball. To bad they Don’t Shoot a Group as good as they Look here

 

[Henry Frapp]

Pretty cool how you can see the impression of the patch on the back side of the ball.

Are you measuring your powder by volume or weight?

 

[Idaholewis1]

Pretty cool how you can see the impression of the patch on the back side of the ball.

Are you measuring your powder by volume or weight?

Here goes the long answer, even though you didn’t ask 


I Weigh By Weight Grains on a Beam, and or Digital Scale (Quality Beam scale is always a safer bet) I have weighed my charges from my very beginning in Muzzleloading, in fact i have never used a Volume measure, other than to Compare Volume to Grain. Everything i do in this Hobby is about Accuracy, Trying to get the ABSOLUTE Most out of my Rifles, and from my Experience a Volume Measure is NOT Accurate enough for me, They were designed to get you “Close enough” for Field Use, Which is NOT good enough to me. I do whatever is needed to take out as many variables as I possibly can. By weighing my Powder Charges on a Scale they are not “Close” they are DEAD ON Perfect, each charge is Identical to the one before it. 

 A lot of my mentality in this Hobby comes from my 30 PLUS Years of Reloading Precision Centerfire, I Shoot them out to 1,000 Yards, everything has to be PERFECT! I feel the EXACT same way about my Muzzleloaders, NO WAY in Hell would i EVER trust a Volume powder measure for my Precision Centerfire Rifles!! So Why would i trust a Volume Measure that is designed for “Close Enough” with my Precision Muzzleloaders? I DON’T!! 

 Pre weighing Powder charges is not only MUCH more precise/accurate, it is also VERY simple to do, once you KNOW your Rifles needs, Pre weigh out as Many Charges as you could possibly use/need for an upcoming shoot. Do this the evening before the Shoot, place your charges in little Vials. Some think this is a PAIN to do? They Couldn’t be more Wrong! Think about it, When i go out to Shoot I don’t have to Fiddle around with Tapping a Volume Measure, to try and get my powder Charges close, My charges are Already Done! And they are done PERFECTLY

 

[Renegadehunter]

That's good you can see the patch weave on the ball, that means you're using the right patch thickness.  Should need a short starter to start them and then they push down pretty firmly.
An inch and three quarter 4 shot group at 80 or so yards is excellent for your first load combo attempt.  Most would call it good, never try any other load combos, and walk away from that.  I bet you can improve on that by simply playing around with your charge by 2-3 grains.


I think someone as picky as you will love patch RB shooting, there are several variables to play with and it's fun to play around and find what your particular gun wants.  It's amazing how much just simply the amount of lube can affect groups.  I've found that the absolute least amount of lube I can apply and still push it down the barrel, and not get burnt up patches, is the most accurate for me generally.  I've also found that my rifle can be picky about type of lube, no matter how good the lube may be.  I haven't tried Jon's patch lube yet, but I've tried several other tried-and-true lubes and some of them can affect my groups by 3"-4".  Mine also likes very little fouling in the bore.

 

[Marty1]

You're off to a great start with round balls Idaholewis.  I wouldn't mind having that .45 setup myself...but in a lefty version.

 

[exMember]

80-90 yards, first time out with the rifle, that is one freakin hell of a group!

 

[Idaholewis1]

80-90 yards, first time out with the rifle, that is one freakin hell of a group!

I am DEFINITELY HAPPY with it! :Red tup: I love this Old CVA Mountain Rifle, AWESOME Rifle!! I am gonna get back out with it tomorrow and test some Larger .445 Roundball, and Different Patch thicknesses, Try a Few groups of Olde E 2F vs Swiss 2F, Both pre weighed 50 Grains on my Beam Scale, See if i can tell any difference?

Jon, Didn’t you have Odd Luck with Harder Round Balls? I can vaguely remember reading something like that? Maybe it was somewhere else i read that? This 1:40 Shot LIGHTS OUT good for the first 2 Shots, I mean they were Touching eachother Good! I just knew i was gonna turn out an INSANE Roundball Group, But after the first 2 Shots, They would start Straying off??? It Made no sense? I tossed the few 1:40s i had left back in the Lead Pot, I need to Cast up a Bunch of Pure Lead :Red tup: I can see how this PRB stuff can be addicting Fun! I am looking forward to a LOT more of it to Come

 

[exMember]

Yes I used wheel weight and after a few shots, the accuracy went to hell. Swab the bore, right back into the good stuff, then 4-5 shots later, accuracy would go to crap.

 

[Henry Frapp]

Pretty cool how you can see the impression of the patch on the back side of the ball.

Are you measuring your powder by volume or weight?

Here goes the long answer, even though you didn’t ask 


I Weigh By Weight Grains on a Beam, and or Digital Scale (Quality Beam scale is always a safer bet) I have weighed my charges from my very beginning in Muzzleloading, in fact i have never used a Volume measure, other than to Compare Volume to Grain. Everything i do in this Hobby is about Accuracy, Trying to get the ABSOLUTE Most out of my Rifles, and from my Experience a Volume Measure is NOT Accurate enough for me, They were designed to get you “Close enough” for Field Use, Which is NOT good enough to me. I do whatever is needed to take out as many variables as I possibly can. By weighing my Powder Charges on a Scale they are not “Close” they are DEAD ON Perfect, each charge is Identical to the one before it. 

 A lot of my mentality in this Hobby comes from my 30 PLUS Years of Reloading Precision Centerfire, I Shoot them out to 1,000 Yards, everything has to be PERFECT! I feel the EXACT same way about my Muzzleloaders, NO WAY in Hell would i EVER trust a Volume powder measure for my Precision Centerfire Rifles!! So Why would i trust a Volume Measure that is designed for “Close Enough” with my Precision Muzzleloaders? I DON’T!! 

 Pre weighing Powder charges is not only MUCH more precise/accurate, it is also VERY simple to do, once you KNOW your Rifles needs, Pre weigh out as Many Charges as you could possibly use/need for an upcoming shoot. Do this the evening before the Shoot, place your charges in little Vials. Some think this is a PAIN to do? They Couldn’t be more Wrong! Think about it, When i go out to Shoot I don’t have to Fiddle around with Tapping a Volume Measure, to try and get my powder Charges close, My charges are Already Done! And they are done PERFECTLY

Cool. I was just curious.