Traditions, what to use

[Mailman]

I just got 2 Tradition guns, one has a 21" barrel with a 1:20 twist and the other has a 24" barrel with a 1:48 twist. What will shoot best, round balls or bullets?

 

[gmww]

The 1:20" would be well suited for Conicals while the 1:48" will handle both Conical and RB.

 

[Mailman]

What is a good starting load with the conicals and round balls?

 

[gmww]

I like to start at 60 gr. of 2F and work my way up or down depending on what your intentions are for the rifle. I also like to start out with 50 gr. 3F and work my way up or down.

However, check with the gun company to see what they recommend.

 

[Zonie]

A good general rule of thumb for shooting roundballs is to start with the same number of grains of powder as the caliber (without the decimal point).

Another general rule is for guns with bores smaller than .46 use FFFg (or one of the new powders made for pistols like Pyrodex P).
for guns with bores larger than .46 use FFg (or one of the new powders made for rifles/shotguns like Pyrodex RS).

Using these rules, for a .45 cal gun use 45 grains of FFFg. For a .50 caliber gun use 50 grains of FFg.

In general, the conicals will want about 10 more grains of powder as a starting place.

Each gun will fire each projectile differently and will be best with a certain load. The fun place is finding out what that load is.

Shoot a 5 shot group with a load. Increase the load 5 grains and shoot another 5 shot string.
Keep doing this until you find the one that gives the best group size.

With a modern rifle, most .45s can be loaded up to 90 grains of powder. Most .50s can take up to 120 grains of powder.

You will probably find that these maximum loads do not give the best accuracy.

 

[Mailman]

Right now I am using 777 powder. So I should start at about 60 gr?

 

[Zonie]

Mailman: Part of the reason I answered your question with general rules is you haven't told us what caliber the gun is.

From what I've read (I haven't used any) 777 is more powerful than Pyrodex.
Pyrodex (which I have used) is just about the same as the equivalent black powder by volume . That is to say, a black powder measure that is supposed to measure 60 grains of black powder will measure the amount of Pyrodex which will give about the same velocity as 60 grains of black powder.

Because 777 is more powerful, the loads should be reduced by about 15% to be the same as a black powder load.

Knowing this, the 60 grains of 777 will be roughly the equivalent of 69 grains of black powder.

This would work in either the .45, the .50 or the .54 caliber guns.

If you use the 777, the maximum loads I mentioned up above would be 76 for the .45 and 100 for the .50.

Also, don't be suprised if you get slight delays between pulling the trigger and the actual firing of the gun.
IMO, All of the reproduction powders have a higher ignition temperature than black powder and they often take longer to get them to fire.

 

[Mailman]

Sorry, they are both 50 cal.