user 49399
54 Cal.
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2020
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Yep. This exactly. With my loose fitting loads, I can still hit a cereal box at 50 yards. It’s easy to load and I can use different materials for patching and not loose any accuracy. At least what I consider accuracy. I don’t use a short starter. I normally use .490 or even .440 round balls in a .50 caliber rifle.This is another good argument for probable use of smaller balls and looser loads historically.
Just using a .45 caliber rifle as an example, if one was using a .445 ball and it shoots well with some scrap linen that was on hand (and if it were measured would be .011") and one had run out of that cloth, if your buddy's patch cloth,or the stuff from the trader, was thicker, one might have had a problem. If our historical shooter had used a .440 ball, he could still maintain "minute of *****," or "minute of deer vital," accuracy, most likely even if the replacement material was slightly thinner.
And, no need for extra junk like a ball starter.
Unless one is shooting in serious competition where cutting X's is the difference between 1st and second place, I just don't see the need for these loads that need a starter and then to be beaten down the bore. Why do folks put themselves through that for something that should be an enjoyable pass time? And please don't get me wrong, I'm all for accuracy. I have very high expectations of my modern pistols, but it doesn't take me extra stuff to carry around or extra effort and messing around when loading to get what I want.
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