Originally Posted by
Josmund
Muley,
Mind sharing your PRB load, etc. with me? I struggling with my stock 54 Rene barrel & a PRB.
Thanks,
Sure. I found out one thing about my gun, that might not be the same in yours. It doesn't like heavy loads. A lot of conversations have gone on about the shallow rifling in the TC 1-48 twist barrels. With that in mind. I use this:
After trying a boatload of ball/patch combos. It likes the most common one of all. .530 ball and a .015 patch. I can squash a pillow ticking .018 in, but I feel like i'm deforming the ball to do it, so I stick to .015. I use cast pure lead balls. I cut the patch at the muzzle.
I have two powder loads. I like Swiss 2F 75 gr. It's a strong powder, and probably equal to 90 gr of Goex 2F.
Sometimes i'll run out of Swiss before I can afford to buy another case. When that happens i'll use 85 gr of Pyrodex 2F. If I try to use 90 gr the group starts to open. The same with more Swiss.
I find my loads for my gun are the most accurate. Less or more opens the group. Very little, but still not as accurate.
Now, some guys will give up a little accuracy to have a more powerful load for hunting. I might too if I thought my loads wouldn't get the job done.
With my eyesight, and open sights. My loads will kill deer and elk if shot placement is where it should be. That's why I want the most accurate load. Shot placement is more important to me than blowing off a shoulder. A double lung will get you meat every time. Nick the heart along with the double lung. All the better.
No guarantee the same load will work for your gun. I burned a lot of powder to get mine. I started out with 60gr and went up to 100gr in 5gr increments. I shot two 5 shot groups at 25-50-75 yds. I did shoot 100yds too, but my eyesight is too bad to use the results.
Hope that helps.