Originally Posted by
ADVWannabee
I understand you seat the ball in the center of the patch and ram it on down, but what size ball and patch do I need? I have seen balls at .490 so do you get a .01 patch or a .005 patch since the patch is basically doubled when surrounding the ball? Is 90 gr of powder sufficient? My goal is to take a deer within 70 yards.
This is the fun part of hunting or just shooting patched round ball (PRB) sidelocks. The 50 cal. comes in two dia. sizes, .490 & .495. As to the patches they are pretty much three sizes, .010 - .015 - .018. There may be other sizes of ticking (patch material), but I don't know them. Now what you need to do is go to the range and experiment with the two different balls and patch combinations.
I have a Hawkens Carbine and it likes the .490 ball and the .015 patch.
Two other things I did to help me out in the woods is to change the #11 cap nipple to a musket cap nipple. The gave me a hotter ignition system. It is also easiler to handle the musket caps in the woods, in the cold.
And the other is to tape over the muzzle with electricans tape. Don't worry about doing this, because it will not obstruct the barrel and cause any harm to you or any shooter. Check it out if you want.