i made a mistake. my story is this. i had the pleasure of shooting a real musket from 1863 from a friendly guy at my local range. i was immpressed that this gentleman let me shoot his 2600$ springfield original and found that he was a competition shooter. we got to talking and his feeling was that with the 50 cal. rifle a ball of .475 and a patch of .150 would yield the most accurate result. he said the patch would act as a sabot and that the bullet doesnt touch the rifleing resulting in way less fouling! so i guess i need a .475 ball or mold to try this theory out. any suggestions or opinions on this combination. he also said to start at 50 grains of powder. i learned that 70 grains works great in my tc- new englander.