Can anyone tell me what a decent load for the above gun would be? The catch is that I have a bunch of 295 gr. powerbelts that I want to use in front of a charge of 2F black powder. In my area, 35 yards is a long shot, so I feel that I will get more than enough accuracy even though the gun is rifled for patched round ball.
Being that the Powerbelt is much heavier than a round ball, I don't want to take a chance of overloading the piece.
Anyone out there able to help?
Thanks

Pedersoli makes many rocklocks. If yours has a rifling twist in the 60s or 70s I'll be surprised if the powerbelt strikes nose first much past the muzzle. If the ranges are so close why not use the round balls the rifle is intended for? They really do kill just fine. If you want a little more weight in a slow twist rifle there is something called the "ball-ette" which is a slightly lengthened projectile. Might be worth a try instead hitting the target sideways with a powerbelt.

I would try loading from about 60 grains up to 80 grains of 2f powder. I am not sure what the twist rate on the Pedersoli is so I can not really comment on the accuracy potential. Anything slower than 1:48 is generally considered a patched round ball shooter as tou say. 1:48 shoots PRB and conical equally as well. Faster than that you get into conical and sabot territory. I have never tried shooting powder belts from my Flinters so I really do not know what would overload it but I doubt a 60 - 80 grian charge would do so. But then again I don't know.

One way to find out would be to ... Load it up with 100 grains and a power belt and strap it to a tire with a long string and give her a try.

OR, You could also give Pedersoli a call and see what they say.

Now on the other hand the PRB is quite effective up to and beyond 100 yards. Since your shots are going to be under 50 yards otr even under 35 yards the patched round ball seems like the logical fall back possition. A load some where in the 70 to 100 grain range should work just fine.

Good luck

Twist is a big deal, I had one of these a long time ago, I think the twist was 1 in 45. It was a round ball gun. It shot well with seventy grains of FFg. Here in PA, we've used round balls only until recently, and they do kill deer at close range (less than 75 yards). I can't shoot any further than that with open sights, so can't say if they work any further or not. You can do a quick check of twist with a tight patch and marks on your cleaning rod.
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