1 in 32 twist in .50 cal, will it shoot a roundball?

[GregP42]

Hey guys,

Do you think a 1 in 32 twist .50 cal will shoot a round ball? I have been having issues finding sabot rounds that fit and I don't have to hammer down the barrel. This is an old CVA Stag horn that I have had for years but never shot much as I have always had problems finding rounds to fit in the tight bore on this thing, it is .505 on the land and .515 in the groove. So now I am looking at round balls unless you guys have a better idea.

Greg

[simonkenton]

That is getting to be a pretty fast twist for round ball.
I have a Savage with a 1:28 twist. Some of the Savage guys were getting accuracy with round ball with greatly reduced loads, maybe one half of a hunting charge. If the round ball is fired with the full hunting charge, it will skip the rifling and accuracy deteriorates.
There ought to be an elongated slug that your gun will shoot.
I have some Hornady Great Plains bullets here. The info sheet says the diameter is .509.
I am guessing that these would shoot in your gun. They would only have to engrave a little bit on the lands, so they shouldn't be too hard to load. They have a concave base, like a minie ball, so that would expand to give a nice tight fit when the powder goes off.
Buy a box and try 'em
You didn't say if you are trying for a deer hunting load. Even if you are, buy a box of round balls and give them a try. You might be able to get them up to 60 or 70 grains of powder with accuracy, that would be enough for hunting.
Good luck.

[S.S.]

Only one way to find out.
Can't be worse than a smoothbore !
My .45 cal. smooth bore is easily a "Minute of deer"
rifle at 50 or 60 yards !

[Critter]

For a sobot try the T/C Shockwaves with the yellow Super Glide sabot.  My knight was tight bored as heck and these load wonderful in it.  Three shots in a row with no spit patch and they still load easy.

[flintlock]

Its not made to shoot a roundball...Especially a patched round ball...those guns are made with deeper rifling and a slower twist...That being said...I have heard of guys shooting a .45 caliber round ball in a sabot with reduced charges for plinking, small game hunting, etc...I have killed deer with a flintlock and a .45 caliber... But I was shooting 75 grains of FFF....

There are a ton of things you can try...First are you cleaning between each shot?? In a inline I do, with sabots its hard to not only load the 2nd shot into a dirty barrel, the 2nd shot usually doesn't group as well...With muzzleloaders you are hand loading each shot, so I prefer to sight in with a clean barrel...

Also...There has been alot of improvements in sabots the last few years, are you using the sabots that come with the bullets?? Or  buying bulk...MMP makes a thiner sabot (I think its a MMP-24) and Harvester has come out with a Crush Rib sabot to make loading easier...You could try going with a .44 diameter bullet (the Hornady .240 grains) with the green sabot, this will make loading easier...Or you could even go with PowerBelts, while some guys don't like them because they expand easier especially with higher powder charges, I do know some guys that use them and kill deer with them..

In addition...I prefer loose powder so you can taylor the charge to what your gun like...My Knight Disc prefers 90 grains of Pyrodex over 100 grains....The group size goes from about 2 1/2 inches at 100 yards to one ragged hole....

What have you tried so far??? Are you just fighting the tight bore or is accuracy poor as well...What type powders have you tried...Is it tight with a clean bore???

Finally...I have lapped a few bores that were tight, this might help, especially if the bore has tight and loose areas in it...

[Biff Mayhem]

The Harvester Scorpions 260s are very lethal and easy to load. Sold at cabelas.com
So are the lighter weight Dead Centers and Extended Range sabots between 180-240 grains. Also sold at cabelas.com. While shopping there, order some easy-loading plastic sabots. Just swap your old sabots with these.

http://www.cabelas.com/products/Cpod0012633.jsp

[Wolfhound]

Hey guys,

Do you think a 1 in 32 twist .50 cal will shoot a round ball? I have been having issues finding sabot rounds that fit and I don't have to hammer down the barrel. This is an old CVA Stag horn that I have had for years but never shot much as I have always had problems finding rounds to fit in the tight bore on this thing, it is .505 on the land and .515 in the groove. So now I am looking at round balls unless you guys have a better idea.

Greg

Have you tried MMP's new 3 petal sabot? It might be worth a try as it's smaller than the HPH 24. It loads very easy in my Omega which is pretty close to your bore diameter (.500).  It's called the EZ something.

And to answer your original question, a 1-32 will shoot a ball accurately. It's just a question of how fast. I had an old 1-32 CVA hunterbolt that shot them pretty well at 90 gr of Pyrodex RS. The patch was ripped but it still shot acceptably. Most of the time your looking in the 30-60 gr. range for that twist though.

[GregP42]

Its not made to shoot a roundball...Especially a patched round ball...those guns are made with deeper rifling and a slower twist...That being said...I have heard of guys shooting a .45 caliber round ball in a sabot with reduced charges for plinking, small game hunting, etc...I have killed deer with a flintlock and a .45 caliber... But I was shooting 75 grains of FFF....

There are a ton of things you can try...First are you cleaning between each shot?? In a inline I do, with sabots its hard to not only load the 2nd shot into a dirty barrel, the 2nd shot usually doesn't group as well...With muzzleloaders you are hand loading each shot, so I prefer to sight in with a clean barrel...

Also...There has been alot of improvements in sabots the last few years, are you using the sabots that come with the bullets?? Or  buying bulk...MMP makes a thiner sabot (I think its a MMP-24) and Harvester has come out with a Crush Rib sabot to make loading easier...You could try going with a .44 diameter bullet (the Hornady .240 grains) with the green sabot, this will make loading easier...Or you could even go with PowerBelts, while some guys don't like them because they expand easier especially with higher powder charges, I do know some guys that use them and kill deer with them..

In addition...I prefer loose powder so you can taylor the charge to what your gun like...My Knight Disc prefers 90 grains of Pyrodex over 100 grains....The group size goes from about 2 1/2 inches at 100 yards to one ragged hole....

What have you tried so far??? Are you just fighting the tight bore or is accuracy poor as well...What type powders have you tried...Is it tight with a clean bore???

Finally...I have lapped a few bores that were tight, this might help, especially if the bore has tight and loose areas in it...

The bore is tight even clean, I have tried the green sabot .44 hornadys, the black sabot .45 hornady, the TC shockwaves in the black sabot, and one other sabot round that I can't think of right now, out of all of them the TC is the only one that loads even half way easy, and I about broke a rod getting it down the bore. As for powder I have used Goex 3f, 2f and Pyrodex RS, all three shoot well out of it, and the rounds that I load shoot well, but they are a royal pain in the backside to load! I will look and see if I can find those MMP sabots you mentioned, and I will see about the power belts, never tried them. I have my Hawkins to hunt with, but I want to use this one if the weather turns bad out there.

Thanks,
Greg

[GregP42]

For a sobot try the T/C Shockwaves with the yellow Super Glide sabot.  My knight was tight bored as heck and these load wonderful in it.  Three shots in a row with no spit patch and they still load easy.

Critter,

I will look for them and give them a try.

Greg

[GregP42]

Thanks for all the info guys, I have some playing to do this weekend it seems.

Greg

[GregP42]

OK guys,

I forgot the update after playing with the gun. First off I converted it over to 209 from musket caps. I tried the Shockwaves, like to never got one down the barrel, ended up using a mallet to finally tap it into place. Yes it was a nice sparkling clean barrel, gave the box away to one of the guys at the range. So I broke out the .490 round balls I had, used some pillow ticking that I had soaked in a 50/50 mixture of bee's wax and olive oil. With 80 grains of Pyrodex RS it put 5 rounds into a 2" outside to outside group at 50 yards, this opened up to 3 1/2" at 100, so it looks like I will be using round balls until I can find a sabot that will work in this dang thing. I am heading back out later this week for the last of firearms season here and I will take it with me and see how a round ball does on a deer.

Greg