Round balls in NEF muzzleloaders

[db22]

I'm sure this question has been asked a lot before, but since the search isn't working, here goes . . . how is the accuracy of NEF muzzleloaders with patched round balls? The rifling twist is pretty fast compared to traditional round-ball barrels. I assume you'd use a .490" pure lead ball with a pillow-ticking patch lubed with something, or a commercial pre-lubed patch, in the current .50-caliber barrels. Suggestions for a starting load with Pyrodex or Triple 7?

My Pardner frame is at the factory now for a Huntsman barrel, and I'm not sure if instructions come with it. I've shot sidelock muzzleloaders with long-twist rifliing before, but never an in-line gun. Thanks!

Dave

[tscott]

60 - 70 gr 777   .10 pillow ticking pre lubed, .490 Hornady is what I used to get the rifle on paper, when I rescoped a few years ago. I recall 2 - 3" at 50 yds. I would use for deer over 70 gr. except that Powerbelts are extremely accurate in my Huntsman!

[hunterwinco]

My sidekick shoots under 2 inch at 50 y.  I shoot the hornady .490 with a tc prelubed patch and 50 grains of loose APP ffg.

[millwright]

Round balls do not shoot with any accuracy in my Huntsman unless I load under 70 gr of pyrodex.  Powerbelts are very accurate but expensive to shoot.  I finally settled on 45cal speer 260 gr handgun bubbets.  They are .451 in dia, and require a special sabot.  For 100 bullets and 100 sabots it cost about $35.00.  They are very accurate in my Huntsman and my Son's Remington with 100 gr of pyrodex.

[db22]

I ran this question around at the annual gun club banquet, and most guys said I'll have to hold the charge to 50 grains to maintian any accuracy. I'd been using 100 grains in a borrowed sidelock rifle with 1 in 60" twist for ML sillhouette matches. I wonder if the velocity using 50 grains will knock over the farther targets? Guess we'll see when the snow melts and they schedule the first match. Maybe I can borrow some of the targets and set them up myself. It would be embarrassing to hit the durn things and have them just sit there . . .

[db22]

Had my first chance to try swaged round balls in my Huntsman this morning. The range is still deep in snow, but paths have been cut to the rimfire and muzzleloader range, and so I got to burn some powder this morning. Fired about 15 rounds, with charges ranging from 50 to 70 grains of Pyrodex and TC pre-lubed patches.. With open sights at 25 yards and a partial rest, I got 2"-3" groups using standard Remington 209 primers. Federal primers were the only other brand I had on hand, and they were terrible. Shots went all over tha place.

Next trip, the snow will be more melted away and I'll have a chance to shoot at 50 yards. I'll give Winchester Triple 7 primers a try. I did not notice any rings of impacted fouling -- the barrel cleaned up nicely with hot soapy water.

There was quite a lot of fouling in the interior of the frame, which is worrisome. I scrubbed it out with wet Q-tips and used a hair dryer to evaporate moisture, then applied Rem-Oil. I hope the fouling within the frame doesn't cause rust -- you can'y get at it without disassembling the whole thing. Someday I hope to have the .25 ACP conversion plug, which is supposed to stop a lot of that blow-by from the breech.