This mornings adventure

I took one of my Very first Hotrod Hawken’s out for a Stroll this morning, .45 Caliber Green Mountain LRH Barrel (1:30 Twist) This is a 1” Blued Barrel in an Old .54 Cal TC Hawken Stock, I bought this Barrel BRAND NEW from Green Mountain for 75.00 Bucks 6 years or so ago. This is the first Muzzleloader i ever shot at a Longer Range Target, 505 Yards. This is an Honest Shooting Rifle, it has ALWAYS done it’s part when i do mine  

I wanted to test one of my Custom BACO Paper Patch Bullets in it, From a Mold i had them Make for me. Target was 75-80 Yards out, Powder Charge was 80 Grains by WEIGHT of Swiss 2F, This Bullet weighs 427 Grains Cast of 20-1 Alloy, I patched these with Strathmore 300 Series Tracing Paper

The Mold, This is my 1 and ONLY Nose pour, Cupped Base Mold. Typical BACO High Quality, As i’ve said many times BACO’s Molds are 2nd to NONE!


The Bullet



This morning’s Target, 4 Shot Group, 75-80 Yards

Well that ain't that awful bad Lewis.  don't you hate when you get flyer like that in an otherwise decent group!!!
Before I came down to FL I picked up a couple lbs of Swiss FFg. I plan on using it when I get back north.

Whats it like there now as far as snow. Most forest roads still closed or was the snow not as bad this year as normal. Or you staying down in the flats to shoot ?

1874sharpsshooter wrote:Whats it like there now as far as snow.  Most forest roads still closed or was the snow not as bad this year as normal. Or you staying down in the flats to shoot ?

This has been a pretty rough year as far as Snow goes, a guy can’t get anywhere up these Mountain roads right now due to Snow, Right now would be just like the First time you were here. I am sure ready for Warm, Nice weather! Are you thinking on another Bear Hunt?

Bronko22000 wrote:Well that ain't that awful bad Lewis.  don't you hate when you get flyer like that in an otherwise decent group!!!
Before I came down to FL I picked up a couple lbs of Swiss FFg.  I plan on using it when I get back north.

In my opinion, and Experience shooting MANY pounds of it, You can’t beat Swiss 2F, It is in a Class of it’s own

As usual I’m amazed by what you are able to accomplish by your dedication to detail. I’ve followed you for a number of years now and although I like to believe that I’m not totally incompetent, I’m still not able to come close to replicating your quality of casting or your ability to shoot consistent groups. Thanks for all the inspiration and stay safe.
Smoke

Lew as usual FANTASTIC SHOOTING! Were you wearing your new glasses?
Pictures like that give us the drive to achieve at least half what you are able to do.

Clem, I don't know what you paid for Swiss down in Florida, but if I were you I'd buy more. Dixon's has none in stock and don't know when he'll be getting more and doesn't know what he'll be charging for them. The last time he sold a bottle the price was $40.

Wait just a minute...Lewis has glasses now? Now those targets are in real trouble!! He couldn't see before

I am very curious about this. What is the bullets length ? Have you yet or will you try it at longer ranges ? With a 30" twist a 45 caliber bullet will likely have to be less than 1" long to shoot well at longer range. I cant remember the numbers off the top of my head without looking them up but think with my 20" twist barrel the bullet length is limited to 1.18" length to remain stable in flight out to 1000 yards. I am just curious if you have done any calculations to determine the maximum bullet length for a 30" twist to remain stable to 500 yards and beyond ?
I have in the past been fooled into believing that because I had a load that shot good out to 300 yards that it would also shoot good to longer ranges but in practice found I was wrong. My load was in preparation for the Quigley shoot and shot extremely well to 300 yards but when the target was moved to 500 yards my cone of fire was something like 25 yards. The issue was with too long a bullet for the rifling twist rate used. The tell tail sign I ignored was the bullet hole prints on paper at 300 were not perfectly round. The fix for that barrel was to reduce bullet length which I did and placed quite well at the shoot. Had I not discovered my error before the shoot and had not enough time to correct it I suspect all my scores at targets beyond 300 yards would have been zero.

Here is a great calculator for bullet length, twist rate, velocity. Velocity is just as critical a factor as twist rate.
https://www.tmtpages.com/twistrate.htm4

I ran some numbers and with a 30" twist and .452" bore
With a velocity of 1800 fps the optimum bullet length (OBL) is 1.01"
reduce the velocity to 1600 with all other parameters being equal and OBL is .952".
Now if you had a 1.5" bullet and ran it at 1800 fps you would need a 1:20 twist.
Drop the velocity to 1600 and the twist rate would also drop to 1:19

With an 80 gn charge of FFG his velocity is going to be closer to 1300 fps so with a 30" twist the bullet length will have to be shorter that the .952" given with your 1600 fps calculation, probably closer to .9" for a 1300 fps MV.

Is that the BACO adjustable weight mold?

From the looks of the cup base pin and its alignment system I would say no its non adjustable