80-95-110gr 2fg Goex 1:48 Twist

[exMember]

Normally I shoot 70gr 3fg Goex in this rifle as its all out hunting load. Super accurate and dead on the money. Since I have a good supply of  black powder, I tested some loads.

Since 70gr 3fg is normal, I upped the 2fg Goex to 80 grains and took my first shot which was dead on the money where 70g 3fg hits!

Afterward, I went to 95 and two shots with 110gr 2fg goex to test its group size.

Really impressed me how 10 grains lifted that ball and pushed it to the left a bit. 110 grains really shows it going up high and to the left. If I were to ever shoot that load, I would need to order a front sight and file it just for that load. I have no intentions of using more than 80 grains of 2fg in this rifle. Those 110gr loads were also swabbed between shots. So much for the myth about 1:48 twists and high powder charges not being accurate with patched round balls. I was extremely impressed. But my neck was NOT! I heard a crunch and said to hell with that!

This was from last year before I went hunting. This was 70gr Pyrodex P at 100 yards. Notice how perfectly 80gr 2fg Goex ( Above)  measured up spot on.

 

[strong eagle]

i dont know for sure but i believe ive read the hawken rifles made by the hawken bros. use a 1/48 twist. they used this twist in all the cal. they made. may be someone here cal set us straight on that if it is true or not. ive found the 50 cal and i think thats what you have the 1/60 twist is best for me. i got that from the deer island guys before they quit making rifles. ive done the 1/72 and to me it took too much powder to make it accurate. the 1/60 seemed to take any load. again, maybe some one here can add more info to this one. it is always nice to learn every thing one can about muzzleloaders.

 

[Okie Hog]

That's good shooting.   

The Hawken guy who went west took a 1/48" twist rifling guide with him. 

i don't have a proper slow twist gun.  Soon as i can find a roached .50 caliber New Englander barrel i'll have Mr. Hoyt build me a ,54 caliber deep rifled slow twist barrel. 


i've fired a couple thousand round balls from rifles with 1/48 and tighter twists.    All my testing was done with Pyrodex, JSG, Pinnacle and Black MZ.  Black MZ is a really good round ball powder.  Black MZ  likes a tight fitting ball seated hard on the powder.   i never tried powder loads over 100 grains. 

My findings: 

1.  1/48" twist is very accurate with patched round balls. 

2.  My .54 caliber TC FireHawk has 1/38" twist:  It shoots patched round balls like a lazer. 

3.  The older CVA inline rifles with 1/32' twist shoot patched round balls very well using powder loads to about 70-80 grains.  

4.  1/28" twist is too fast for patched round balls.    Never got one to shoot well with any powder load over about 50 grains.   

There is a reason for slow twist round ball rifles.   Those old rifles had fixed sights.  Shooters varied the powder charges depending on what they were hunting.   They drew coarse or fine beads as required.  

A slow twist barrel will put the balls on the same vertical plane regardless of the powder charge.   A fast twist barrel will not do that; increase the powder charge and you introduce horizontal dispersion; as happened with Jon.

 

[Muley Hunter]

It's not that a 1-48 twist can't take heavy loads. It's shallow rifling that can't handle heavy loads. They tend to skip over the rifling. Some of the production guns have a 1-48 twist and shallow rifling so they can also use conicals. Those can be inaccurate with heavy loads.

A 1-48 twist with deep rifling will be an excellent PRB shooter. They usually don't need heavy loads either. Slower twist usually need heavier powder loads to be accurate. It's a matter of getting the right ball rpm to be accurate. A 1-48 spins the ball faster and needs less powder. A 1-70 twist needs more powder to spin the ball fast enough.


Yes, the original Hawken had 1-48 twist, but was deep groove rifling.


The above is general knowledge, but like anything with muzzleloaders. There's always exceptions and every muzzleloader is a bit different.

 

[strong eagle]

i like post like these. we are here to learn. and ive done that. i like pure linen cloth patches as they dont burn and dont skip out of the grooves. that is one of the reasons i get good round ball accuracy.

 

[Muley Hunter]

I'm kind of hung up on pillow ticking. It just looks traditional and is pretty tough to burn through.

 

[Smokin' Joe]

Jon, you wouldn't actually hunt with 110 gr of powder with a .50 cal would you?  Sounds like a pretty stout load!

Seeing your range report is getting me a little anxious to go do some shooting. Too cold for me to shoot here though.    I took the dog for a little run and thought I was going to freeze to death with the wind.  The temp was near "0" F.

 

[exMember]

images fixed