New member here. Gent from another website suggested I try this site. Hope you all can help. A few months back I bought a nice used CVA 45 cal, percussion Squirrel rifle. I finally got around to shooting it yesterday. Performed well. I am shooting a patched .440 cal round ball using 60 grains of FFF. I was able to get a 1/2" group dead center of target using the Lyman open sight. Questions. How much of a drop at 100 yds using this sighting and load? What would be the feet per second on both of these yardages? At both of these yardages will this load be good on deer? Thanks for the help. Ed
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45 trajectory
- Thread starter mauserdad
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Welcome to the forum. 
You forgot to include one vital bit of information.
What range was the target at when you were hitting it dead center?
If we knew that, giving you the drop at 100 yards would be pretty easy.
You forgot to include one vital bit of information.
What range was the target at when you were hitting it dead center?
If we knew that, giving you the drop at 100 yards would be pretty easy.
60 gr would be a little light for deer at 100 yards but should do well at 50y. I would up the charge it you want 100y to more like 70 or 75gr but you will receive allot of opinions on this and that was my opinion.
OK. Thanks for that.mauserdad said:
Not knowing the length of your barrel I'm using the Lyman "BLACK POWDER HANDBOOK & LOADING MANUAL" data for the longest .45 barrel they tested. (28". 1"48 twist) and it says your 60 grains of 3Fg powder will deliver about 1719 fps muzzle velocity with about 911 ft/lbs of energy.
My roundball ballistic calculator says if your gun was sighted in at 50 yards, a patched .440 diameter roundball will hit 7.1 inches low with a velocity of 953 fps and 255 ft/lbs of energy.
Being new to shooting roundballs that may surprise you but, although the lead roundball is a devastating projectile it does lose velocity and energy quickly.
A more informative printout of the velocity and energy of a 60 grain powder load with a .440 diameter ball is:
60 yards = 1103 fps/347 ft/lb
70 yards = 1055fps/317 ft/lb
80 yards = 1016 fps/294 ft/lb
90 yards = 980 fps/274 ft/lb
100 yards = 946 fps/255 ft/lb
120 yards = 885 fps/223 ft/lb
Many .45 shooters use a 70 grain 3Fg powder load.
It will give a muzzle velocity of about 1790 fps and 911 ft/lb of energy.
The 1790 fps velocity will change the drop from 50 yards to 100 yards to about 6 1/2"
The loss in velocity and energy is due to the lack of aerodynamics the sphere has.
That doesn't mean it is a poor round to use on game. Most agree that the lightweight .440 diameter roundball will do an excellent job of killing a deer but its maximum range should probably be kept to distances of around 80 yards.
hanshi
Cannon
Welcome to the forum. I'm a .45 fan and can tell you it's a true deer killer. The farthest I've killed a deer with a .45 was a 75 yard shot using a load of either 60 or 65 grains of 3F (can't remember which). Most of the deer I killed with my .45 were killed with a load of 80 grains of 3F. Man, but that load would shoot and drop deer. You might want to sight in for 2" to 3" high at 50 yards. Your load would would be on at 100 yards. I also agree a light load like that is best used under 80 yards.
U will have to play with loads first. That 80 gr load may give you an 8 inch group where 65 may tighten the group to 1-2" (if yer gonna shoot longer than zeroed and "hold over" you want a good tight gropu to start with.). all guns er different. 65 gr RB in the boiler room at 80 yds means the work just started :grin:
When you said CVA percussion squirrel rifle,I'm assuming you meant the .45 caliber "Kentucky Rifle" they used to sell. I can tell you that 50 grains of FFFg got over 1750 fps velocity and it could go up to 1850 with 75 grains of FFg. If that's true, you can use the old quickie sighting rule for simplified sight setting. (There's a mouthful!) What that means is you can adjust sights to be dead center at 13 yards which is much easier to see on paper and trajectory will go about +1" at 50 yards-1" at 100 yards and -6" at 125 yards. This assumes velocity in the 1,800 to 2,000 fps category. You'll need to double check your own gun and load for final accuracy but gives you virtual no hold high or low within 100 yards. This is roughly true for all calibers form .45 to .58 but notice how fast the ball is decelerating and dropping in only 25 yards after the 100 yard mark. One of those old things you learn after 50 years dragging a smoke pole around the woods! :wink: :haha:
For calibers below .45 you can sight dead on at 50 yards and be + about 1/2 to 3/4 inch at 25 yards and -1 to 2 inches at 75 yards...about as far as you'd want to try smaller bores. These are basically a quick way to get on paper and shows the rough trajectory of muzzleloading rifles. Hope this helps adn good luck.
For calibers below .45 you can sight dead on at 50 yards and be + about 1/2 to 3/4 inch at 25 yards and -1 to 2 inches at 75 yards...about as far as you'd want to try smaller bores. These are basically a quick way to get on paper and shows the rough trajectory of muzzleloading rifles. Hope this helps adn good luck.
