Wool Wads for PP or GG Bullets

[Matthew323]

One of the joys of a properly set up round ball rifle is that with the proper crown, ball diameter, patch material, and patch lube; a shooter can repeatedly load, fire, reload, fire.....over and over again.

WITHOUT ONCE HAVING TO RUN A PATCH DOWN THE BORE TO SWAB OUT FOULING.

The tight-fitting, well-lubricated patch that COMPLETELY fills the grooves will push each shots fouling down on top of the fresh powder charge. Leaving the bore above the patched ball virtually clean.

The key to this is a TOUGH patch material like a tightly-woven linen, or a cotton duck canvas.

For an entire days shooting, up to as many as 200 shots. The equivalent of two 100-shot woods walks.

I have been spoiled rotten, because all of my flintlock longrifle's (4) have been capable of this.

My trouble, and the reason for the title of this thread, is I now find myself with a percussion, Renegade Hunter rifle equipped with a GM, .50 caliber, LRH barrel.

I desire a lead bullet/combo that will allow me to shoot that 100-shot woods walk without swabbing.

I AM NOT LOOKING FOR M.O.A./ 2 M.O.A. ACCURACY AT 300-500m.

Idaholewis, and other's, have proven that these LRH barrel's are fully capable of this kind of accuracy. Perhaps, at some point in the future I might wish to explore long range shooting; but for the present I just want 2 M.O.A. accuracy, WITHOUT HAVING TO SWAB, out to 150m for hunting purposes.

Will a oversized-for-bore-diameter wool wad that is lightly greased with animal fat (Trapper's Mink Oil Tallow for instance) push the black powder fouling down onto the new powder charge in the same way that the tightly-fitting patched ball does?

So that a grease groove, or paper patched bullet can be easily seated upon the wool wad?

Thanks for your answers and help.

Bruce

 

[lwscrim]

I haven't had that kind of luck with the wads with GG bullets...
The best I have achieved with a wad is three shots in a half inch group, the first two cutting the third a half inch high. Shooting done at 100 yards.
With Hornady Great Plains bullet, I achieved a five shot group of about 1-1/2" group without swabbing and no wad.
The last two were starting to widen the group.
Also seating the bullets at the same level became an issue...
Leading would be an issue with this load.
These results were good enough for hunting purposes but would not fulfill your requirements.
Best of luck with the search, I'll be watching.
Sam A.

 

[Matthew323]

I haven't had that kind of luck with the wads with GG bullets...
The best I have achieved with a wad is three shots in a half inch group, the first two cutting the third a half inch high. Shooting done at 100 yards.
With Hornady Great Plains bullet, I achieved a five shot group of about 1-1/2" group without swabbing and no wad.
The last two were starting to widen the group.
Also seating the bullets at the same level became an issue...
Leading would be an issue with this load.
These results were good enough for hunting purposes but would not fulfill your requirements.
Best of luck with the search, I'll be watching.
Sam A.

I am not sure whether or not what I desire is possible with the LRH barrel, thus the question.

Since I have been away from all shooting for 30 plus years, I am going to need quite a bit of range time until I will feel that I have reaquired the skills necessary to ethically hunt.

I am NOT going to want to stop every few minutes to swab the bore in order to use the fast twist LRH barrel to acquire those skills.

If necessary, I will just return to a deeply-grooved, slow twist (1-70), round ball barrel.

I KNOW that once all of the elements are worked out, it will be powder, patch, ball, short start, cut the patch, ram, cock, prime, shoot, and repeat until I am finished/tired.

I am hoping with fingers and toes crossed that someone here has a solution for shooting lead bullets without wiping the bore.

 

[lwscrim]

Most of the time hunting, I only get one shot at game. Gotta make it count!
I still hunt with a .54 PRB.
But I am having a great time with the LRH and big lead!
I've even been sneaking in a few sabot loads just for fun.
All of those have been great hunting loads as well!
Thanks Idaho Lewis for the inspirations!
Sam A.

 

[Matthew323]

Most of the time hunting, I only get one shot at game. Gotta make it count!
I still hunt with a .54 PRB.
But I am having a great time with the LRH and big lead!
I've even been sneaking in a few sabot loads just for fun.
All of those have been great hunting loads as well!
Thanks Idaho Lewis for the inspirations!
Sam A.

At the end of the day all muzzleloader's are single shot weapons. And, I don't have any problems with that. It's why I've always wanted a Ruger No. 1. Came real close to buying one when I lived in Alaska.

One of the reasons I came over to MM was Idaholewis, and all the shooting he was doing with bullets out of his sidelock's.

Not only was I spoiled by the flintlock's that I owned being capable of extended multiple shots without wiping the bore, every single one of them was quite accurate.

For a guy like me that was born with lousy eyesight, on my good days I could keep 5 shots under a silver dollar at 75 yds. Offhand.

Most of the time I was putting those 5 shots into a 2"-3" circle at 75 yds.

But, that was in my late teens through my early thirties. Then I gave up all shooting for 30 years. I'm 65 now, and I need a scope to see, not even a aperture sight is going to help.

 

[lwscrim]

I can sympathies with the lousy eyesight! If it weren't for the corrective lenses, I would be stuck with smooth bore shooting only...

That is great shooting, just wish like you that we could carry those abilities with us always.
Father time is catching up to me also, I will turn the 60 milestone in four days...

I have found that with aperture sights, that for targets if I use the open circle front hooded sight and a 3" target dot, I can keep a relatively stable sight picture. Sure makes for a pretty shot group when everything comes together!

I use a red fiber optics front sight for hunting. It is not good in bright sunlight, but in poor light it is great!
And when it no longer glows, it is time to go to the house as legal shooting light has passed...

And yes, like you, I am growing more dependent on the scope for positive shot placement. I have one inline set up for the inevitable future...
But until then, I have been enjoying PRB shooting at soda cans filled with water at 50 yards. Very satisfying when they are hit!

Sam A.

 

[Rlsmith]

I have a TCencore I had bobby Hoyt rebore one of my 50 cal muzzleloading barrels out to a 54 1 60 twist I have a nice scope on the rifle so I love my sidelocks but have my encore with a scope I just like shooting in round ball so now I have the best of both worlds

 

[lwscrim]

I like that solution! I may have to give that one a try one day...

 

[idahoron]

I don't know about a 100 shot situation but I did a test and made video.

 

[lwscrim]

That is some positive results to the question the OP asked!
I have just started testing GG bullets with the 1-28" twist LRH in .50 cal. I have two weights and designs to try, sizing makes a difference...

I am hoping to achieve similar results as IdahoRon... With any luck, I will try today... If the weather cooperates...
Great demonstration video! Thanks IdahoRon!

Sam A.

 

[snapbang]

what or who is GG bullets????

 

[lwscrim]

Grease groove(GG) bullet as apposed to a paper patched (PP) bullet.

Sam A.

 

[snapbang]

Thanks Sam, Still more to learn for me.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Grease groove(GG) bullet as apposed to a paper patched (PP) bullet.

Sam A.

I thought GG bullets were the bullets that Great Gramma cast for me. An PaPa made the PP bullets.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

I thought GG bullets were the bullets that Great Gramma cast for me. An PaPa made the PP bullets.

Normally, if I was still employed, this is when someone would tell me "shutup, yer an idiot"!

 

[lwscrim]

Ok, so I went out and shot a few groups.
Center group is a .50 cal Lyman Plains bullet 395 grain straight from the mold, 75 grains of Swiss 2f under a .54 lubed felt wad at 100 yards, no swabbing between shots.
Swabbed the barrel between the different bullets.
Left group is a .515 Lee bullet sized to .501 cast at 450 grains, 80 grains of Swiss 2f under a .54 lubed felt wad at 100 yards, no swabbing between shots.
And just for fun, I put 5 more of the 450 grain bullets into the target after taking the first photo.
All ten shots were fired without swabbing between shots.
The groups aren't the greatest, but I am still breaking in this barrel and working on loads.

The out of group shots were #2 for the center target and #2 and #3 for the left target.
Not sure if it was me or the load. I just mounted a new hooded front target sight and this was it's first outing.

I enjoyed the shooting time, but those 450 grain loads will sure let you know about them...

Sam A.

By the way those are 2" target dots for reference...

 

[HC]

Good shooting.

 

[snapbang]

Im jealous. Cant wait until I can get out. Great report and nice shooting. Deer or Elk will not be safe in your hunt area.

 

[lwscrim]

I sure miss IdahoLouis's posts, his targets were some of the great ones.

But most of all, he would tell of his trials and errors to help those of us that followed his posts.

Sure got me motivated!

Sam A.

 

[lwscrim]

Deer or Elk will not be safe in your hunt area.

Shamefully, no Elk in East Texas...

Only deer and pigs, but some of those pigs are monsters(think 450 lbs plus)...

Sam A.