Sub-loading

[Hawken1820.50cal]

Have question about sub loading my .50 hawken with .36 ball and leather patch for small game.....anyone have experience in this ?....I can find much in the way of tutorial videos on it....any help would be appreciated....I don't have the $$ for a .32 right now....butbdo have a .36 pistol and thought this might work
What leather ?
Wet the leather ?
Stuff like that...thanks yall.

 

[longcruise]

Have question about sub loading my .50 hawken with .36 ball and leather patch for small game.....anyone have experience in this ?....I can find much in the way of tutorial videos on it....any help would be appreciated....I don't have the $$ for a .32 right now....butbdo have a .36 pistol and thought this might work
What leather ?
Wet the leather ?
Stuff like that...thanks yall.

I did something like this except not sub loading. Just loading 490 balls using suede tanned leather for patch. I was thinking that back in the day that it might have been common practice on the Frontier where brain tan would be readily available whereas cloth might be more scarce and highly valued.

Anyway, it worked fine. Only problem being that the economics of it are the reverse of the frontier situation.

You would want to use soft leather and probably multiple layers. Anything thick enough for one layer would probably be way to tough to load.

I lubed with crisco.

 

[bpd303]

I tried it and found accuracy to be how you say lacking. I found shot like # 4 and a paper cup with tow over shot to be better on squirrels.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Have question about sub loading my .50 hawken with .36 ball and leather patch for small game.....anyone have experience in this ?....I can find much in the way of tutorial videos on it....any help would be appreciated....I don't have the $$ for a .32 right now....butbdo have a .36 pistol and thought this might work
What leather ?
Wet the leather ?
Stuff like that...thanks yall.

As a kid, I hunted with a .50 calibre CVA Mountain Rifle. By “kid” I mean I bought my 1st muzzleloader at 13 years old, before I learned about cast lead round balls. I hunted mostly prairie dogs and when I’d run out of .50’s, I found that .440 or even .445 RBs with denim patching or heavy cotton canvas material, shot just fine. No such luck with smaller projectiles.

I have 2 rifles that are .40 calibre, and both will shoot .375 RBs with light loads. 1 rifle likes 30 grs fffg, the other likes 33 grs.

Below are my .40’s. The top is a Kibler SMR, the lower is a TVM Southern Poor Boy.

My experience has been that sub-loading will work, but only by 1 calibre or so.