traditions Pa pellet

[brianpa40]

I've been shooting the Pa pellet with sabots and it is very accurate but I am trying to shoot round balls now and I can't get them to group.I've tried different charges and it did not help.
.490 RB with .10 patch.
Any suggestions?

 

[coloradoclyde]

The Pa pellet wasn't really designed for round balls with its very fast twist....



:v

 

[cynthialee]

Get some loose powder.

Those pellets do not allow for proper load development.

 

[mooman76]

Try a thicker patch. Stick to light charges or not so heavy of charges. They tend do better in tight twist barrels with RBs. Too heavy strips the patch and kills accuracy. Like stated if you are using pellets drop them and use powder so you can do better load development.

 

[brianpa40]

I'm using 75gr of Goex 2f. I'll try dropping to 60 and working up from there.I never tried RB out of a 1in48 twist before I used to shoot them out of a Thompson I had years ago and I think that was a 1 in 66
Thanks

 

[brianpa40]

Thanks Clyde I was thinking that.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Participate in a twice yearly shoot to introduce kids to the shooting sport. We use two rifles, 60 grains of FFFg powder, .010" prelubed patches ( for speed's sake) and a .490" round ball. We go through about 199 to 150 kids a day for two days for three days twice a year. Works every time and the kids get about 75% hits on the iron ram at 100 yards. One young lady got him low and neutered him of his metal manhood! If you can knock that off an iron ram, Bambi will fold up! :wink: :haha:

 

[AZbpBurner]

1:48" twist barrels work very well with roundballs. 50 gr 3F should give you superb accuracy, but depending on barrel length you may want to start out about 5 grains lower & work your way up in 5 grain increments until you get the performance you want. The faster twist 1:48" will give you better PRB accuracy with a lighter charge than the 1:60"

My 1:48" Cabelas/Investarms Rifle busts quart milk jugs with boring regularity at 100 yards with 50 gr. 3F

 

[brianpa40]

Thanks for the replies I will try lower charges but all I have is 2f.So I will have to work with that.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Over the years, I've mostly shot 2f in my 50 cal. rifles. I got into the habit in the 70s before many started recommending 3f and it worked then and does now. 3f may burn a little cleaner and give slightly more velocity, but it also raises barrel pressure for a given charge. It also seems to kick slightly more on recoil.

I've used both and wouldn't feel short changed using it.

 

[Zonie]

Traditions site says the Pa Pellet flintlock has a 1:28 twist rifled barrel.

Most of the guns I've seen with a fast rifling twist like that use very shallow rifling grooves, meant for the modern types of projectiles we don't talk about on this forum.

Having tried to shoot patched roundballs in barrels with similar rifling I can say the accuracy is usually poor.

I've come to the conclusion that the cloth patch is unable to grab onto very shallow rifling and this is a large part of the problem.

Using thick patches to get a very tight patch/ball squeeze and reducing the powder load helps, but it never has made the guns into a target rifle.

 

[cynthialee]

He could use paper patched conicals in it though couldn't he?

 

[Zonie]

Paper patched slugs would probably work fine but finding the right loads and slug/paper thickness for good accuracy takes a lot of shooting.

Then, there is the cost.

The paper patched bullets I use in my .40 caliber Schuetzen cost about 70¢ each when I can get them.

That price is a whole lot greater than the 15¢ cost of a .490 diameter lead roundball.

 

[coloradoclyde]

In my opinion....The PA Pellet is something of an enigma....A modern muzzleloader designed to meet the requirements of a primitive flintlock season....

Like an Amish buggy with a V8 engine... :youcrazy:

 

[Okie Hog]

According to Traditions that rifle barrel has a twist rate of 1/48". It could be made to shoot patched rounds quite well.

For many years i've successfully fired patched round balls from barrels with twist rates of 1/32" to 1/48". Tried patched round balls in a couple rifles with 1/28" twist rates. My results with those were not good.

The magic thing about patched round balls and slow twist rifles is the fact that you can vary the powder charge and the gun will still shoot to point of aim. The same is not true of fast twist barrels.

IME: Fast twist barrels are accurate with only one powder load. Start with about 50 grains of powder and work up until the sweet spot is found. T

 

[nkbj]

Will REAL's work in shallow rifling with that fast of twist?

I don't remember how the REAL's did in my .50 Green Mountain barrel.
Regular .50 rifle molds lubed and sized down to .499 worked but they had lots of weight to resist the initial movement and expand into the rifling.

 

[brianpa40]

Yes it is a 1/48 twist.I know it is a modern style flint lock and it shoots the sabots well but I cast round balls for a .577 cal. percussion gun and wanted to for this one so I bought the Lyman mold and off I went.So I guess I will try some more with reduced powder and may thicker patches.
Thanks for the advise.I never tried shooting RB out of 1/48 before and was at a lose.

 

[cynthialee]

With a 1:48 twist you should be able to find a good PRB load after awhile.

Changes things from when we thought you had a fast twist.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Your gun may have plastic fouling.....clean the dickens out of it and try a thicker patch....What do your patches look like after they have been fired?

 

[mooman76]

REALs will shoot out of it if not pushed too hard and a over powder wad usually helps.