Smokeless and Conicals

Modern Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Modern Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mrhunterken

Well-Known Member
*
Joined
Dec 26, 2016
Messages
125
Reaction score
78
I read somewhere that Conicals are not to be used with smokless powder. It may have been in the owners manual of the Savage model 10 II. Is there any particular reason for this? I cannot see why this couldn't be a viable option.
 
Above a certain muzzle velocity, pure lead conicals need a copper gas check crimped onto the base of the bullet to prevent lead from being deposited upon the walls of the barrel.

This will occur for two reasons. First, smokeless burns hotter, and the faster you wish to propel the bullet, the higher the temperature behind the bullet will be.

Second, the faster the bullet travels down the bore, the more friction is created, thus the hotter the bullet becomes. This is where harder lead alloys come into play.

Ballistically, the base of the bullet steers the bullet, not the nose. Therefore, with a lead conical that travels fast, the base of the bullet must be protected.

At lower speeds, one can do this with a variety of wads. Wool, fiber, card, poly.

At higher speeds, a copper gas check is required, and the bullet mould's design must reflect this.

In a mould catalog you can often find the exact same bullet design, both with and without a gas check base.

Copper gas checks are crimped onto the base of the bullet during the lubing/sizing process.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Savage MLII load data is sabots ONLY......but if you wanted to try something that might work get some Thor copper conicals. You will need a sizing pack first and probably wont be able to use the max recommended load data. A 250gr Thor and "book powders" should be safe but upper end loads could be rough on the Thor's thin copper skirt. Starting loads for N110 and 5744 would be your best bets.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top