RE: Maxiballs in sidelock
 

Well, they should..... that's a much heavier bullet!! My Maxi Ball load now uses 140 grains of GOEX ClearShot FFFg and gives a vel of 1742 FPS @ 10' from the muzzle. The rifle weighs 7.5 pounds, and my recoil calc. formula gives the recoil energy as 50.7ft/lb.......

RE: Maxiballs in sidelock
 

My goodness, thats a hot load. But I wasn't really talking about out of the ordinary loads like yours eld. I can't name one person in the blackpowder club shooting remotely your load.

What I was emphasizing again was you hear people complain that you shouldn't shoot 150gr inline loads cause of the recoil difference. My point was a typical 350gr maxihunter load of 80 to 90gr of blackpowder has more percieved recoil from a more traditional gun.

Also, not always does a heavier bullet make more recoil. My 338 or 300RUM will put more a hurtin on you with a 150gr bullet than any ML load I have shot.

RE: Maxiballs in sidelock
 

Well, at first glance, that load seems quite heavy. But if you'll note, it is with GOEX ClearShot powder. I was having trouble getting even normal velocities with the stuff when using powder charges comparable to the BP or Pyrodex loads I had been using. So I contacted GOEX, and they said "switch to the FFFg granulation, and increase your powder charge 5 grains at a time until you get the grouping you are satisfied with, up to 150 grains or so." So I did, and the best grouping load turned out to be 140 grains. I then chronographed the load, and found out that the velocity at 10' from the muzzle averaged 1742 FPS. Please note that this is a HUNTING LOAD ONLY, not a target load. When shooting targets with this rifle, I use 90 grains of Swiss FFg BP and a .500 PRB with .010 linen patch.

All myexperience with GOEX ClearShot (now discontinued!!) showed it to be much lower in power than any other propellant I had ever tried in ML rifles.But after I discovered this FFFg load, I was able to locate five more pounds of ClearShot FFFg, so I can continue to use this load when hunting. I wish it didn't take so much to get a good group with it.

My rifle has a Bill Large barrel, made of chrome moly just like a modern rifle. It is a .50 that measures 7/8" across the flats, and this loadshows absolutely no signs of being too much in that rifle, except for what the buttplate does to your shoulder!!.

I also have a .45 with the same kind of barrel, andI use 90 grains of T7 FFgwith a 250 grain Maxiball in it. I have not chronographed this load, but it also shoots quite well-both rifles have slow-twist RB rifling.

RE: Maxiballs in sidelock
 

Anyway it goes, that heavy a projectile and over 1700fps, thats some horsepower.