blown skirts and a nice 20" pattern at 50 yds. A buddy of mine and I have been casting 50 cal. 360gr conicals for potential use this season on Whitetail. We have discovered that a 100gr charge of 777 yields nasty patterns while a saboted pistol bullet shoots much better. I guessed that we were blowing the skirts on it but when we looked at the condition of the skirts on the "high pressure" sabots, we knew that the lead skirt on that miniball must be disintegrating. We got much better results with the miniball using real BP. I know this revelation by a couple beginners is probably a "doh" to the more experienced but what the hey.. learnin is half the fun of it.
I've got a 50 cal Knight "Big Horn" inline and am not very pleased with it. It just doesn't feel right. I think I'm gonna trade it in on a 54 cal GPR and just shoot patched ball at those dear deer. A 54 ball should be more than plenty for'em.

One question for those in the know: What is the difference in a Miniball and a Maxiball?

good shooting,
Ian

Don't they make a "fiber" insert to help stop the melted base syndrome?

Just an idea, sorry I cannot remember the name of the product.

Goodluck

If you substitute a solid-base conical for the Minie type, or get one with a very thick skirt like the Buffalo Bullets, I suspect they would shoot a lot better than a thin-skirt type.

I did go trade the Knight for the Lyman Great Plains rifle in the 54 cal 1 in 60 twist. I'll be shooting RB. That solved the blown skirts problem... now I gotta worry about blown patches. Hehe

Good shooting,
Ian