I have an old CVA 45 caliber rifle with 1 in 66 twist. I have used round ball for it for years, but want to go with something heavier with more knockdown. I was thinking of going with the lightest weight conical I could find, a 200 grain, and that it might be stablized with a reduced charge. Has anyone used a conical in a 1-66 twist with good results? What weight would be recommended in my barrel? Thanks for the advise.

Good luck and good shooting,
Eterry

I think you'll find the shorter the bullet the better. I'd start with the lightest conical you can find and experiment.

I don't think a reduced powder charge is the answer considering you are looking for more power. Also I don't think you'll see much more "knockdown" power however you will see better penitration on less the ideal shot placement.

I have one of the same rifles that I bought as a kit and put together 30yrs ago. Haven't shot it in a long time, but the best accuracy I got out of it was with pure lead Lee REAL bullets . No patching and I always used heavier loads. After I discovered how well the REAL's worked I quit using roundballs altogether.

Ohiosam, I meant start with a low charge and increase until accuracy falls off.

Craigster, my father bought the kentucky rifle in kit form for me in 1979 and I assembled it in my 8th grade shop class. Try doing that now-days. I always used round ball as the manual stated only use them. It also said to only use cloth patches. Guess they didnt want me to blow something up. Do you remember what weight of REAL bullet you used?
I also have a cva 54 cal mountain stalker in 1-48 twist and use the 380 grain REAL bullet with good results. The T/C maxi's of around 410 or 420 grain, (I dont remember which) shoots particularly well but are hell to get rammed down the barrel after a few rounds and recoil is brisk in the composite stock and 120 grains of ffg.
If you can remember what weight of REAL bullet you used in the 45 I would be thankful.

Good luck and good shooting,
Eterry

Eterry,

I used both the 200 and 250 REAL's. IIRC, the 200's gave the best accuracy, and a bit more in velocity.

Buffalo Ballets might be a good choice with that twist.

Thanks for the info Craigster, I am looking at a Lee REAL mould in 200 grain. Do you recall what powder charge you used and did you ever chrono the load? Just wondering what kind of velocity I can expect with the 200 grain.
Good luck and good shooting,
Eterry

Sometimes you get a barrel that likes them all. Try as many as you can and work up the charges. There's no way to predict what your rifle will prefer and where in the charge curve your sweet spot will be found. MaxiBalls, MaxiHunters, REALs, Buffalos, are all worth checking out, as are Lee conicals and their improved Minnies. For hunting, it doesn't make any difference if the third shot loads hard, you probably won't get more than one anyway.

"For hunting, it doesn't make any difference if the third shot loads hard, you probably won't get more than one anyway."

I did get 3 shots off at a buck once, when I was young and dumb! Thought it was about 150 yards away, later paced off at about 250 yards. All clean misses, thank God! There was a fellow hunting with us one time that got off 4 shots, finially getting it on the last shot. But those are exceptions. Usually they wait around till about the time you get the ramrod out

Time for the truth here! 1 in 66 is a very slow twist made for the round ball. I don't know what everyones definition of accuracy is here, maybe some are happy with minute of elk at 25 yd's. I can only say you are going to waste time and money trying to get any boolit to shoot from that rifle. With accuracy that is, they will all go down the barrel and some might be OK for deer at 50 yd's if you don't care where you hit them.
I have been shooting and building muzzle loaders for 53 years and every boolit ever tried in a slow twist has been melted down into round balls. To get them to shoot, you have to launch them at a tremendously high velocity, much more then any black powder or soft lead is capable of.
And just what is wrong with the round ball?

Eterry:

IF you'd like to try some really hard cast 250gr REAL's, e/m your mailin address and I'll send you about 20-25 so you won't spend the bucks for a mold you'll never use again.

I've got a 5" .45 pistol kit and shoot it with up to 40gr FFg. I can't hit a thing with it offhand at 100yds of course. BUT: I can almost always put them thru a 4'sq target frame.

In a rifle I'd go to 60-90gr.
I really like them in my CVA 32" .54 and the 300gr. They won't hit a ram at 200yds, but, out to 175yds I hit a steel silhoette every shot. And after six shots did hit the 200yds ram with 120gr. That showed me somewhere beyond 175yds the accuracy was lost. What really pleased me about it. I found a fresh warm lead disk about the size of a half dollar. That shows it still had plenty of velocity even at 200yds. Assume m/vel is not less than 1500fps, and might be a bit more. I went with the 300gr and .54 because I'm an elk hunter and just might take it along sometime and sure want enough gun and load. Figuring the 400gr would be much slower and 300's heavy enough to do what's needed.

I don't have a .50, and never shot one with these so can't say anything about that.
But, the .45 pistol has a real slow twist. Tube's too short to get any idea what it is. But, don't look like even a full 1/4 turn in the 5". I'd bet you'd be happy with the lighter one in a rifle even with a 66" twist. Never know til YOU try it.

Don't know how many I've got, but, surely there's 20-25 left over. They ARE damned hard though. Don't know if you can get them started or not. I have to fight them some in the pistol. but, they ram easy enough once the groove's are made. I'd be pleased to send you this many and maybe more IF I have them. Just to get feed back from your testing. Fair enough?? georgeld@hotmail.com

Reason they were cast hard, I had gotten several ton of scrap bullets from the range and didn't know about hard one's being an SOB to get started before I cast up a 3# coffee can of each size. Once I discovered that problem and after reading about getting bullets centered just right with a relief bored muzzle I had the .54 reamed out for $20. Sure works slick, grease them up with butter and drop them in. Go right on in and they're strait too.

Just let me know y or n soon and they'll be on the way.

George

I shoot 370 gr Maxi's in my 50 cal 1 in 66. They work superb. A wonderwad behind them improved the groups notably. 2" 100 yards 1490fps.