Ball-ET Performance

[Walkabout]

Anyone have experience with Buffalo Ball-ET bullets in slow twist rifles? Are they sufficiently accurate? Thanks

 

[longcruise]

How slow?

 

[Grimord]

They worked great in my T/C with a 1:48" twist.

 

[Walkabout]

How slow?

1:60"

 

[64Springer]

1:60"

Stick with PRB.

 

[longcruise]

They worked great in my T/C with a 1:48" twist.

Yes, I also found them to be good at 1:48. Not much accuracy testing done, just shot about 6 to get a fell for compatibility with a tc 50.

1:60"

Here are calcs for the twist required to stabiluze a PA conical. (identical to the buff ball et)

Showing you need at least a 67.1 twist rate so the 1:60 should work. This is based on the Greenhill formula which I have found to be accurate for ML conicals but of course you need to prove it out for yourself.

Bullet Length​	0.559​
Bullet Diameter​	.500​
Alloy​	PL​
Sectional Density​	.137​
Max bullet length​	.78​
Twist Needed​	67.1

 

[RMH]

They shot fine in my 54 Lyman Great Plains rifle. I believe it is a 1:60 twist. I played with them but settled on a patched RB in the end.

 

[longcruise]

They shot fine in my 54 Lyman Great Plains rifle. I believe it is a 1:60 twist. I played with them but settled on a patched RB in the end.

It's my own direction as well. In Colorado the requirement for elk and moose hunting is a minimum 50 caliber and a minimum 210 grain projectile. I acquired a hundred of the PA conicals to make the 50 caliber guns of family members legal since elk and deer are often hunted at the same time.

For myself, I have two 54s and a 58 in the arsenal.

 

[Omega Vision]

Anyone have experience with Buffalo Ball-ET bullets in slow twist rifles? Are they sufficiently accurate? Thanks

Why not name the ML make / model?

At the very least, tell us how long your barrel is.

Maybe even offer-up how far you expect to shoot these Ballets

Lastly, what powder and how much powder volume are we talking about here.
For example: A powder like 777 FFF will send that bullet flying out of your bore differently than (lets say) Pyrodex FF. So trajectory and distance will be affected.

Judging by your twist of 60, I'm guesing your ML is a Lyman Great Plains Rifle. That means long barrel and shorter-than-normal conical. Personally, having never owned a Lyman, I wouldn't expect improved accuracy & distance, over-that of a roundball with pillow-ticker patch.

I once ran out of roundballs at the range with my 1:66 twist Shenandoah. So I switched MLs - then after about 10 shots with it, I put down my inline T/C Omega with 1:28 twist and grabbed some of it's leftover 200gr XTPs with Harvester ribbed sabots to shoot in that 1:66 twist Shenandoah. I was shocked at how well the paper target looked at 50 yards, using 75gr Goex FFF.

I didn't have the guts that day to venture over to the 100 yard range there.There would be no friggin' way anyone on a messageboard like this one would believe me, had I told them the next day that my 100 yard paper targets looked good enough to hunt with that deer hunting season, using a sabot bullet with a 1:66 twist barrel roundball gun.

So I chickened-out (never moved to that 100 yard range) and went home instead. I do believe I made the right call and not waste my precious time experimenting with a crazy idea like that.

 

[Thingamajiggy]

Only have experience with the PA conical which is a ball-et. Shoots well out of my 1:48 barrels and really well in my TC Pa Hunter in 1:66.

 

[William O.]

Out of my 1/48, .54 Lyman trade rifle the accuracy was good but not as much as a prb. My .50 fast twist barrel gave poor accuracy to say the least.
After working up a load in my .54 rifle using prb, nothing comes close accuracy wise.

 

[William O.]

I will offer another comment on the PRB vs. conical discussion as more often than not it is the depth of the rifling that determines which projectile gives the best accuracy. The twist rate also affects accuracy depending on the projectile but the depth of rifling will ultimately be the key.

 

[hanshi]

I have barrels ranging from 1-48" to 1-66" and all have grooves of from .010" to .016" and they all eat prb like candy.
There is one exception that has shallower grooves of around .006". And this rifle is a tack driver with prb. conicals? Not really.

 

[deerstalkert]

shot 15 yesterday. 50 cal over 110g of 777 i was gifted and am trying to burn up.
up to the 10th shot i had them inside 2 inches at 50 yards. as the bruise on my shoulder grew the group opened to 6 inches.
1-60 TC Hawken with a Green Mountain barrel.

 

[nkbj]

The deeper the grooves the more difficult it becomes to prevent gas cutting.
When you learn what bullet design and how much force your particular deep grooves require then you can see:
(1) How far away your grouping is good enough for which purposes.
(2) What color your shoulder is.
(3) How few people can believe your results.

PS,
A barrel maker once told me that deep grooves will shoot "conicals" accurately.
He was right, but experience says the bullet designs and how much powder it takes to make things come together can take the fun out of it for me. It's like trying to tune a racing engine into maximum performance.

 

[leadhoarder]

If we are talking about those ballets that are no longer or are barely any longer than a roundball I think you will be fine.

 

[TCMonts]

I shoot them in a roundball rifled gun I have, and they shoot well enough. Haven't had any experience with their performance on game yet.

 

[sqqy14]

Anyone tried an over powder wad with them?

 

[Dusty_Traveler]

experience says the bullet designs and how much powder it takes to make things come together can take the fun out of it for me. It's like trying to tune a racing engine into maximum performance.

You nailed it....And its a points/condenser fired, carbureted, non-laptop-tuneable engine with a thousand variables.

 

[longcruise]

Anyone tried an over powder wad with them?

I've wondered about that. They do have a hollow base but not too extreme. I get this mental picture of some wads sticking in the base and some not.