I just posted a msg on the suggestions thread suggesting this very thread. I think there should be a thread as to the many inline and traditional hunters, enthusiasts and just plain smokepole lovers out there. This is the home of the NMLRA so why not?
I am actually selling my Thompson Center .45 rifle to help pay for a custom build that I am currently building with a local gunsmith near Cicero. A .50 cal Lancaster Longrifle Flintlock. Can hardly wait to finish it. I am taking pics of the build tho'.
Am also kind of apprenticed to him as he is teaching me the ropes of restoration, building and engraving.
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Believe it or not, the traditional lead round ball is more lethal on a single target than is pretty much anything conical I've seen. Imagine a .50 caliber round ball traveling at 1700fps and slamming into a deer, expanding to 2 to 2.5x its original diameter, and stopping on the far side: In other words, with a round lead ball, the energy of a higher-powered rifle is deposited in a wound channel the length of a handgun's wound channel.
However, the very thing that gives this thumping power is also the thing that limits range to 100, 125yds max: A sphere sucks with regard to ballistic coefficient. The BC of a sphere is largely dependent upon its speed, but one can estimate it using about .06. Suffice to say, the BC of a sphere is about half that of a .22 LR bullet.
Conicals were invented for war. They do not always kill well, but they certainly wound well. In .58 caliber, a Minie ball would be loaded with a weak powder charge of 60grns standard. This was done to prevent the skirt from blowing off. However, even with this weak powder charge, the Minie ball would go through three soldiers before stopping, taking all of them out of battle, whereas a round lead ball would hit a soldier, usually stop inside, and just kill him.
If a modern bullet from a muzzleloader does not expand, you've got the Minie ball all over again, only in a lesser caliber.
This is why I like to use round lead balls. As well, I almost never shoot beyond 50 yards with a muzzleloader, let alone 100 (though I'm confident in my ability out to further 125yds on deer and much further on a human adversary should it come to that with a blackpowder rifle). I have a few pure lead conicals, but honestly, I view them as a curio. I might shoot one to see what 350grns of lead feel like exiting a .50, but I can get almost two balls for one conical if I melt 'em down and cast 'em -- and they are more lethal, from my observations and reports form others, in ball form!
However, if you want to hunt cornfields, then a conical and maybe a modern inline makes better sense, though I personally would choose a .50 caliber Hawken or .45 caliber long rifle and a modern full-caliber cast bullet -- R.E.A.L. or maybe even a modified Minie they have out -- and a heavy charge of powder.
I am actually selling my Thompson Center .45 rifle to help pay for a custom build that I am currently building with a local gunsmith near Cicero. A .50 cal Lancaster Longrifle Flintlock. Can hardly wait to finish it. I am taking pics of the build tho'.
Am also kind of apprenticed to him as he is teaching me the ropes of restoration, building and engraving.
The NMLRA is the National Muzzle Loader Rifle Association headquartered in Friendship In, near Batesville. They are like the NRA but for blackpowder nuts like me!! They train, encourage, shoot and have a spring and fall shoot that have vendors, shooting camping etc available. Go to the NMLRA's website and go down there for some fun. Great people, great time and great organization. Top notch.
Also in Feb. (third weekend) at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds, there is a Antique/Replica firearms show with 240 tables of goodies, rifles, pistols, accoutrements etc. for sale. A lot of fun.
I don't know what that is?Anyone attending the "Not so Grand Valley" event next week in Plymouth?
As to getting a custom rifle, yes it does depend on what you want. Do you want a flintlock or a percussion. and then from there you go.
I am apprenticed to a gunsmith and just held a rifle worth over $22,500 so you CAN go crazy!! But then again you can find a good rifle under 5-600 dollars if you go to an antique gunshow. Many good shows out there. Also Track of the Wolf sells used rifles and pistols and many at a steal.