Patched round ball vs. maxi ball

[Hoyter]

I shoot a traditions deer hunter. Can anyone tell me what the difference in accuracy will be if I switch from my patched round balls to maxi balls or something similar?

Thanks for your help.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Best way to answer that question is.....you, the gun and some quality range time..... :grin:

 

[Zonie]

The way the gun shoots patched balls has absolutely nothing to do with the way it will shoot a slug except the slug will kick harder.

While one can frinkle around with ball diameters and patch thicknesses and "work up a good combination", you will have to find the slug that fits the barrel the best to get good accuracy.

Some slugs work very well in one gun and very poorly in another.

That said, try to find several different brands, types and weights of slugs and try them.

If your lucky you might find one right off the bat. If your like me, you may spend a lot of money trying to find one that works well.

 

[Semisane]

I've generally had the best luck with Hornady's Great Plains bullets.

 

[galamb]

Are you really asking about "accuracy".

If you work up a (formula - powder/patch/lube) your roundball might give you 1/2" groups @ 50 yards.

If you work up a (formula - powder/lube) a given conical might give you a 1/2" group @ 50 yards.

Neither "formula" will be the same.

All else being equal, the conical will weigh more than the ball so your trajectory with the conical will look like a rainbow in comparison to the ball - ok, exaggerating a bit, but if you sight in your ball for 100 and find you are say 2" high @ 50, then you might find if you sight the conical @ 100 that it's 3 or 4" high @ 50 (as an example).

If you use the same powder charge then the conical will be slower and drop faster - is that more or less "accurate"? No - it's just a different trajectory.

So what is your real question?

Black Powder guns are "hand loaded" - if you fiddle enough they can be as accurate as you want regardless of what you are spitting out of the barrel.

 

[Lonegun1894]

Unfortunately, this is one of those times when every gun is different and likes different loads so even if one of us had the gun just prior to your or just after yours off the assembly line, our answer still wouldn't be valid for your gun. Honestly, if it was me and my gun, I would decide what exactly it is that you want to do and how you want to do it, rather than trying to decide on a projectile first and then beating my head against a wall trying to make that one projectile work. So what exactly is it that you want to do? What caliber is your gun? These questions are what you need to figure out first. And just so you know, I am prejudiced, and prefer to use a PRB for everything if possible.

 

[nkbj]

Yo Hoyter.
The Deerhunter is a fun gun!

Just a suggestion (my narrow minded opinion really), you might want to try some fifty cal hollow base minies. The maxies are solid base and are liable to require more oomph (powder charge) than will be fun in the light weight rifle or good practice in the thinner walled 7/8" across the flats barrel.

 

[Don Steele]

The answer to your question is : NO.
FWIW: Just beacuse I wanted to know...Last year, I set out to find the best load for a conical type (Non-roundball) projectile for a 50 cal. T/C Hawken type rifle. 28" long, 1:48 twist bbl.
Gets a little pricey, buying boxes of bullets that don't work...but I was "on a mission". I tested 5 different projectiles, at various powder charges.
The CLEAR winner was the Hornady Great Plains, 385 gn. HP-HB over a stout load of Goex.
Probably be different for your rifle. I only posted this to illustrate that there's no easy, immediately obvious answer to your original question.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Actually...I'd say it will perform worse. You see you will be adding mass with the conical bullet. IF you keep your present powder load, that will then reduce your muzzle velocity, which will cause more bullet drop. You are already using a short barrel at 24"...so going to the heavier conical will add to your problem. You then must increase powder to compensate for the change in impact or adjust your sights. This will as mentioned, bump up your recoil, while not really adding to accuracy, while your present round ball load is probably very accurate AND will slay deer.

LD

 

[piper987]

I have a 54 cal New Englander. Sighted in with a 430 grn Maxie and 100 grains of Pyrodex for hunting I can get good enough accuracy with the same powder load and round balls for busting water bottles/paper/horse apples/etc.

 

[piper987]

Emphasis is on good enough accuracy....Basically saying good enough for casual target shooting....

 

[Rat Trapper]

I've generally had the best luck with Hornady's Great Plains bullets.

2X

 

[Rat Trapper]

The answer to your question is : NO.
FWIW: Just beacuse I wanted to know...Last year, I set out to find the best load for a conical type (Non-roundball) projectile for a 50 cal. T/C Hawken type rifle. 28" long, 1:48 twist bbl.
Gets a little pricey, buying boxes of bullets that don't work...but I was "on a mission". I tested 5 different projectiles, at various powder charges.
The CLEAR winner was the Hornady Great Plains, 385 gn. HP-HB over a stout load of Goex.
Probably be different for your rifle. I only posted this to illustrate that there's no easy, immediately obvious answer to your original question.

I have always found conicals worked better for me with heavy loads as it will cause the base to open up and seal the barrel better. use a felt wad under bullet also does wonders. If the bullet loads hard it should shoot well. power belt bullets are junk.

 

[azmntman]

I've generally had the best luck with Hornady's Great Plains bullets.

2X

3X (but I'm 95% PRB these days)

 

[Semisane]

..... power belt bullets are junk.

Rat Trapper, you should have said "power belt bullets are expensive junk". :grin:

 

[Rifleman1776]

your trajectory with the conical will look like a rainbow

Bingo! Well stated and a factor often overlooked. The 'bigger is better' crowd usually do not care about the reality of the issue. With a slug/bullet at ranges nearing 100 yards the projectile is more falling onto the target than heading towards it. A slight misjudgement in range can, and often will, spell a miss. Using a round ball and learning your rifle will bring home the ded Bambi.

 

[Vaino]

Have a TC Hawken and both PRBs and Buffalo Bullets are accurate....although w/ the PRB, the charge has to be below 80 grs 3f or the accuracy suffers. The Buffalo Bullets like 100 grs 2f. This rifle is used for elk and the Buffalo Bullets are only used.

Didn't take all that much to find the most accurate loads...one day at the range....Fred

 

[longcruise]

I shoot a traditions deer hunter. Can anyone tell me what the difference in accuracy will be if I switch from my patched round balls to maxi balls or something similar?

Your "accuracy" will be pretty much the same once you find the ideal load for each projectile. Most of the posts here have assumed that you are working on hunting loads. If that is so, the next question is "what do you plan to hunt?".

My Deer Hunter shoots a ball with pretty good accuracy. One of the grandkids played around with it and 370 gr maxis at the range and found accuracy to be pretty good with 50 to 70 gr of 2f.

Your original post inspires more questions than answers. If you clarify your goals, the answers would be more relevant.

 

[Spikebuck]

I've generally had the best luck with Hornady's Great Plains bullets.

2X

3X (but I'm 95% PRB these days)

4X. I've had several guns that shoot both PRB and Hornady GP bullets very well even with slow twist barrels. TC Maxi's would not work in those guns and I think the real differnce was the hollow base in the Hornady that sealed better. I say that because Buffalo Bullets also worked. Same 90 grs of 2F with PRB and Bullet.

The GP's did have about 4" more drop at 100 yards, which is certainly not a "rainbow." Sighted in a couple high at 50 yards, it was still not necessary to do much adjustment of aim on big whitetails out to 100 yards.

I will say this after shooting a number of deer with PRB and Conical...the PRB kills them just as dead and just as quickly.

 

[fleener]

It all depends on what your rifle likes. I shoot power belts and I have 3 rifles that loves them. We have killed quite a few deer with them. They are very accurate and deadly. I have tried a few of the different weights of power belts and my rifles do not like them.

I might try 10 different conicals until I find one that the rifle likes.

Conicals that load hard are not necessarily more accurate.

Fleener