Calibre accuracy?

[Jarikeen]

I've had the opporuntiy to shoot a couple of different cal. muzzleloaders from a .45 Kentucky to a .75 brown bess. A lot of fun. I was looking towards a .45 cal to purchase but was told that a .50 cal and up tend to be more accurate. Is this true for both rifle and smoothbore?
Regards Peter

 

[jdixon]

Can't really comment on the smoothbores as I don't shoot those much. As for rifles, I don't believe calibre has that much to do with a particular rifle's accuracy. Contray to what you were told, many BP target shooters trend toward the smaller calibres say .40. This is more to do with comfort of shooting all day than that size being more accurate than another. Proper charge, patch, projectile and technique are far more important than calibre size. Get the size that fits your needs w/ a quality barrel and ignition system and you will do fine.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I've had the opporuntiy to shoot a couple of different cal. muzzleloaders from a .45 Kentucky to a .75 brown bess. A lot of fun. I was looking towards a .45 cal to purchase but was told that a .50 cal and up tend to be more accurate. Is this true for both rifle and smoothbore?
Regards Peter

Hi Jarikeen,

I'm not convinced that any particular caliber is more accurate than another. Big difference in accuracy between a rifle and smoothbore. Rifles are accurate out to 200 yards or more. Smoothbore accuracy is tough much beyond about 60 yards with a tight, patched ball. Loosely patched ball, better keep that smoothbore shooting within 50 yards and don't expect good groups.

Most of the folks I run into with rifles are .50 or .54 caliber, rather than the .45 or .40 caliber. I think there's a couple of reasons for that. One is that some states require at least .45 caliber to hunt deer with a muzzleloader. Because you are shooting at lower velocities than modern centerfires, the larger caliber heavier patched balls will deliver more energy to the target within about 100 yards, where most muzzleloading shots are made.

Another reason is that I tend to gather round with a bunch of Revolutionary War reenactors, and .50-.54 caliber is more representative of the time period. When the Jaeger rifles came over from Germany, they were short, thick, and typically around .62 cal. As the American long rifle developed, the calibers kept shrinking. Somewhere around .50-.54 cal was typical during the revolutionary war. After the rev war as long rifles were being made in what is known as the "golden age", calibers dropped down to .45 and .40. Smaller calibers used less powder, more balls could be made from less lead, and the guns started to be made with more delicate and sweeping architecture. The classic crescent-shaped and thin butt started showing up on stocks. Squirrel guns with calibers in the .30's started to become popular for smaller game.

Then as the westward movement started, the need for larger bores for big game (deer, elk, buffalo) drove the calibers up again. Riding a horse across the plains instead of walking in mocassins through a hardwood forest made the use of the shorter, stockier, plains-style rifles more popular. Next thing you know they started putting caplocks on the dern things.

Notice I gave approximations for the calibers. Barrels that were made in the US were hammer welded around a mandrel and their just wasn't the consisency of size or interchangability that came with later with the industrial age. Because of that calibers would vary from maker to maker and sometimes from barrel to barrel, new rifles were supplied with a "bag mold" that would cast the appropriate sized ball for that particular rifle.

So in a nutshell, check your regs if you want to use the rifle for hunting, and check your styles if you want to use it for reenacting. It's less expensive to shoot the smaller calibers, but the larger calibers deliver more energy for big game. Once you get a rifle, be aware that regardless of caliber, you will need to spend time working up a load and prime that your particular rifle likes. Good news is that once you find it, your rifle will consistently shoot the same time after time.
:yakyak: :yakyak:
Enjoy!
--------------------------------
Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[Mike Brooks]

It really depends on how well the gun is put together and who's doing the loading and the shooting. Those three elements are probably the most important when it comes to accuracy.
Most of the "expert" say the .40 is the best ballistically.
I personally shot a .40 cal. the best ever....to bad I didn't own the gun.... But generally I prefer to shoot a .54 rifle with a long, 46" to 48" swamped barrel. I feel the extra length helps my sighting ability.
In smooth bores the smaller bores seem to shoot better for me. I like the 28ga with long barrels for pattched round ball. Minimum length of 42" on these.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Several ways to look at this, but it's mostly opinion. Without getting into the ballistics, sectional density, coefficients (which I think favor the larger round balls slightly) lets just look at some basics.

The only way to equally compare calibers is to use identical firearms, or exchangable barrels in one firearm. If you take, say, a Green Mountain barrel in .40 and shoot it against a .58 in the same gun, you are effectively comparing a sporter weight barrel to a bull barrel; because the outside dimensions are the same so the .40 has much more metal and is heavier.

On the other hand, heavier round balls have more inertia and are less effected by crosswinds.

Smaller calibers recoil less and cause less flinch and shooter fatigue. The .40 has a reputation for accuracy, but part of that may be that whan you find a .40 it is usually a custom and was built with target shooting in mind. Usually on a barrel profile that would be the next size up rather than down. Makes it kind of a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Smaller smoothbores tend to be more accurate, but I feel a lot of that is because smaller smoothbores tend to be constructed like rifles and lend themselves better to aiming vs. pointing. The narrower barrel is also easier for your eye to "point" at a target, like traditional archery.

Since round balls all lope along at about the same 1,600 or 1,800 fps muzzle velocity your choice should be based on game size.

 

[Jarikeen]

Thankyou for such great responses. You have put a lot of time into the reply and the information was just what I was looking for. I think I will go for the .45 cal as the .40 seems pretty rare here. I did want something I could shoot all day comfortably.
Regards Jarikeen

 

[Java Man]

For sheer acuracy, I would suspect the bigger ball is better. Take a look at some round ball bench rifles. .58 cal is about the minimum. A friend of mine has a .62, shooting at least a .010" oversize ball, and about 200gr of 2f.

My answer probably does not quite fit the question, but its one look at specialty guns made purely for accuracy.

Java Man

 

[vermontfreedom]

I wonder if some competition shooters out there might be able to weigh in on this. I am not one, but am relaying the following opinion from a gunsmith friend of mine who has built over a dozen hunting flintlocks and talks regularly with barrel makers. He (the gunsmith) says that all else considered (recoil, powder volume/expense), .45 and .54 caliber have the accuracy edge over .50. That's not to say that .50 can't be accurate, but competition guys seems to prefer those two calibers.

As others pointed out, I suspect it has to do with preference, using less powder to push smaller calibers faster (flatter), and larger calibers being less susceptible to wind drift.

Someone somewhere sometime has done this test using good machinery, precise measuring, and consistent equipment (e.g., same size, weight barrel, etc.). We just have to find it.

 

[tnlonghunter]

I suppose it depends on your point of view. To me, the heart and soul of any gun is the barrel. If you have a crappy barrel, then it won't matter how consistent the rest of your shooting is. When picking the rifle, if you get to choose the barrel, choose the best one you can get, even if you might have to skimp a little on the cosmetics.

After that, then you can get into the infinite combinations of powder brand, charge size, calibre, patch, lube, etc. Buy a great barrel and you get a step up that will eliminate a lot of headaches.

 

[CrackStock]

If you are wanting accuracy and wanting to shoot a lot, you should consider getting into casting your own rounds in a size that your chosen bore likes. This way you control your ammo supply and quality.

As to caliber accuracy, my best is a .40 followed by a .54 and that very closely by a .50.

CS

 

[weirdjack]

I am pursuing a different approach to accuracy.
I am steadily lengthening my barrel until I get it a full 25 yards long. Then I will simply rest the muzzle against the 10x and pull the trigger.
Jack