chrish said:I have a 70's era .50 Hopkins & Allen percussion muzzleloader. Barrel says "black powder only" and "made in spain".
It was given to me as a gift and I tried it out this weekend with Hornady .490 round balls, Traditions pre-seasoned .015 patches, and CCI Magnum #11 caps.
Using Pyrodex RS I am getting 9" groups at 35 yards with charges between 50 and 75 grains. I'm not shooting from a bench, but have no problem keeping tight groups with my shotgun and its smooth bore slug barrel.
I've read that it takes some trial and error to find a good patch/ball combo, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be trying and erring on. Where do I go next?
Do I try .495 balls? A different sized patch? Minies? And when I change a variable, do I then start back at, say, 55 grains of Pyrodex doing 5 shot groups and going up in 5 grain increments to see if the groups get tighter?
I'm not sure the rate of twist in the barrel, seems to be about 1:60 as i get roughly a half turn when I run a bore swab down the barrel.
The nipple seems to be fine. It's clean and the gun fires without a problem.
So is there something different to try or am I doing something wrong? :idunno:
Try BP rather that the substitutes.
Also note that the Spanish imports are not known for their quality.
Dan
