My 11 year old son is interested in shooting my New Englander .50 in an upcoming deer hunt (Youth Weekend). What would be a good load recommendations for PRB for him that would have light recoil but get the job done effectively? I was thinking 70 grains of powder. Thanks in advance for any responses.
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New Englander .50 Cal Question
- Thread starter mcdenney
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bpollock_sr
40 Cal.
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.7O Grns should be a fine accurate load in the new englander, and the recoil should be handeled easily by an 11 yr old. The deer will never know the difference.
70 gr FFg should get the job done. I use 84 gr FFg in my New Englander and it blows right through whitetails.
Nice little deer gun.
I duded mine up a bit.
Nice little deer gun.
I duded mine up a bit.
Been out the last two days shooting the New Englander and I have got problems and horrible results. I need to get this figured out so my son can begin practicing with it for his upcoming deer hunt.
First let me give a little history on the gun. I got the (used) gun as part of another purchase (new muzzle loading shotgun) from a private individual and had not shot the 50 caliber until yesterday. I thought it would be a good gun for my son as described above. It looks like it has been taken care of. However, I ran a brass cleaning brush down it and cleaned it before shooting.
Anyway, after about 2 dozen shots of 70 grains FFFg black-powder and PRB (.490 Hand Poured Lead Round Ball, feather ticking patch) I am all over the place at 50 yards. Probably shooting 6-8 inch groups shooting off sand bags! I run a couple wet patchs after each shot to help provide consistency. Shortly before I quit today I tried something different (a Hornady Sabot) and that seemed to help my pattern greatly (2-3 inches at 50 yards). However, it was so erractic I am not sure it was any better. Any suggestions on what might be causing such poor results on the PRB.
First let me give a little history on the gun. I got the (used) gun as part of another purchase (new muzzle loading shotgun) from a private individual and had not shot the 50 caliber until yesterday. I thought it would be a good gun for my son as described above. It looks like it has been taken care of. However, I ran a brass cleaning brush down it and cleaned it before shooting.
Anyway, after about 2 dozen shots of 70 grains FFFg black-powder and PRB (.490 Hand Poured Lead Round Ball, feather ticking patch) I am all over the place at 50 yards. Probably shooting 6-8 inch groups shooting off sand bags! I run a couple wet patchs after each shot to help provide consistency. Shortly before I quit today I tried something different (a Hornady Sabot) and that seemed to help my pattern greatly (2-3 inches at 50 yards). However, it was so erractic I am not sure it was any better. Any suggestions on what might be causing such poor results on the PRB.
Been there, done that. My New Englander STUNK with patched balls. Groups as you describe. I lapped the bore with a 3-M scrunge pad to smooth it up and set to work to find a good load. It took months.
Now: This is offhand at 50 yards, and repeatable.
.490" round ball, 84 gr FFg, 0.018" patch and Moose Snot lube.
Do a search on +Moose +Snot here for the recipe. I ended up creating my own lube because nothing else worked.
Now: This is offhand at 50 yards, and repeatable.
.490" round ball, 84 gr FFg, 0.018" patch and Moose Snot lube.
Do a search on +Moose +Snot here for the recipe. I ended up creating my own lube because nothing else worked.
WV MZL HUNTER
45 Cal.
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You should try a 370 or a 320 gr. maxi ball. They shoot better our of the 1:48 twist barrels. If you want to shoot round balls you have to slow down the ball, in turn less powder. 2 F powder at around 70 to 75 gr. should do it.
Good luck.
WV MZL HUNTER. :hmm:
Good luck.
WV MZL HUNTER. :hmm:
Thanks for the input guys. The PRB load is very tight, maybe too tight. I noticed after a couple shots that the patching was cutting when trying to load and allowing the .490 ball to be pushed through it while loading. This was basically just having the ball on top of powder, no patch. I was also thinking about switching to FFg.
My questions now reside around what patching should I use and what type bullet to use while adjsuting the powder. Should I stick with round ball and just adjust the patch and powder or do I need to try something else. Comments welcomed. Thanks!
My questions now reside around what patching should I use and what type bullet to use while adjsuting the powder. Should I stick with round ball and just adjust the patch and powder or do I need to try something else. Comments welcomed. Thanks!
Had the same problem, until I scrubbed the devil out of the bore with Shooters Choice cleaning gel. Now my TC NE shoots well with prb (490 with .15 prelubed patches) Your rifle may have had a steady diet of conicals and now has lots of lead in the bore. Give it a try, and good luck!
gmww
70 Cal.
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I started out with the Bore butter lubed patches and round ball. You should be able to keep shooting and loading without having a build up of fouling between shots.
If you are getting fouling I'd suggest spit patching between shots. That's spit patch (moist not dripping) followed by dry patching to take out excess moisture. However you do this, do it the same way every time between shots to keep consistancy. Then loading and shooting again. You should be able to do this all day provided you're using too much moisture.
If you are getting fouling I'd suggest spit patching between shots. That's spit patch (moist not dripping) followed by dry patching to take out excess moisture. However you do this, do it the same way every time between shots to keep consistancy. Then loading and shooting again. You should be able to do this all day provided you're using too much moisture.
