I just purchased a 16" 45 cal black powder barrel made by Gonic Arms. This is going to be a fun barrel since I can use it in either handgun form or as a great short range rifle. I'm hoping to do some league shooting this summer with it and some deer hunting this fall.
Now all I need to do is figure out some loads for it.
Ive heard these barrels are quite accurate, but are also quite fussy about which bullets to use because the bore is slightly tighter than typical ML barrels. Ive been using a T/C Hawken up to this point and the inline powder thing is new to me. I understand inlines need a different powder than the Pyrodex RS that I am now using in my Hawken.
Does anyone have any ideas on what loads may work in gonic barrels? I have some 10mm Hornady 180Gr HP/XTP and brown sabots that came with the deal. The person I bought it from didnt give any load data. In fact I dont know if the 10mm is what I really want/need to shoot. I'd like to avoid having to buy 3 powders and 8 types of bullets before I figure something out. Apparently sabots vary as well and are differentiated by color??
Any suggestions on powders, loads, projectiles, and sabots would be great.
bj
