Good load for FFG black powder?

[Greenhills]

Have not yet made it to the range, courtesy of several days of rain and business travel, but as I read this forum (and reread the relevant section of Dave Ehrig’s book), one question occurs to me: for shooting at 25-50 yards, is there a significant gain (in terms of MV, trajectory, accuracy, etc) with a 90 grain charge, as opposed to a 70 or 80 grain charge? I am using Schuetzen FFg as propellant.

 

[anonymouscowherd]

For just "plinking" at <50 yards I shoot 30gr-ish (ok, I use a empty 223 case. 31gr water, supposedly 30gr BP) of 3f in my 54 with a PRB. Almost no recoil in my rifle, even an 8 year old could shoot it without issue. And it groups quite nicely at 25 yards.

If I were hunting and expecting a max 50 yard shot, I'd be OK shooting a PRB with 50-60gr 3F real black.

 

[smokepolehall]

Have not yet made it to the range, courtesy of several days of rain and business travel, but as I read this forum (and reread the relevant section of Dave Ehrig’s book), one question occurs to me: for shooting at 25-50 yards, is there a significant gain (in terms of MV, trajectory, accuracy, etc) with a 90 grain charge, as opposed to a 70 or 80 grain charge? I am using Schuetzen FFg as propellant.

Personally i would start very low with my loads. I would write down the load combo n accuracy of each load. Then i would use the best accurate load to hunt with. Now if your wanting a faster velocity n energy load fine one that is still accurate out to your hunting distance.

 

[txhunter58]

For hunting:

The best answer I can give you is no, it won’t make much difference up to 50 yards if you work up a load for each powder load and bullet.

For target shooting, it might make a noticeable difference. Could be most accurate at the lower powder levels. But you might be surprised at what you find. EACH RIFLE IS DIFFERENT. You should shoot 3 times at 50 yards with 70, 3 times with 75, 80,85,90…. Find the most accurate load for your gun with that powder and bullet, the adjust the sights to hit dead center. Trajectory won’t really be an issue at those ranges.

And when you change bullets. Have to start all over again!

 

[deermanok]

As mentioned, every gun is different. Your most accurate load may or may not be the fastest. Start low and work up till you find the sweet spot.

 

[Greenhills]

Thanks to all for the advice on loads and patches. Finally made it out to the range today and the thinner patches worked. Shot 60 grain loads with a patched swaged roundball. Made it through the usual challenges (click, flash in the pan), but got it to shoot as it should. Not much sign of a group yet, but that’s more attributable to the shooter than the load. Many thanks to all for the helpful advice!

 

[Hanshi]

Always shoot the most accurate load you can find regardless of what it might be used for. In my .45 and .50 that works out to 60 grns up to 70 grns of 3F BP (say for deer). Some good news is that most rifles have MORE than just one sweet spot for accuracy. My .50 is good to 100 yards with 70 grns of 3F. But it also drives tacks at 30 yds with 30 grains of 2F and likely there are more loads than just these two loads that have excellent accuracy.

 

[edmehlig]

You will probably find 65-70gr of 3F or 75-80gr of 2F will work best for you.

 

[smokepolehall]

Just some of my way back experience. When i was in my early teens i had a ,410 n tick toter hunted with it n slugs. Lots of people laughed at me for that in school. I killed 3 Bucks in 2 years of its use. None were over 50 yards, but every one had double lung n exit. The KE at 50 yards is not much, but enough for the job. It equates to a prb .45 with a 40 gr load of 3 f blk. powder area

 

[CVA Fanboy]

Welcome From Kentucky
I use Pyrodex thus being said I had to work my load for the best accuracy I expect that Goex, Swiss have to do the same and those would be different some what