I have a friend who is having severe trouble getting his 45 cal CVA to group at all. I tried to explain about the bullet weight/powder charge vs the rate of twist in a particular barrel but had a brain fart and for the life of me cant remember the rule of thumb to start from. his rate is 1 in 28, 100 grain cleanshot with a 245 gr powerbelt copper clad HP, he also has 190 gr bullets to experiment with but I told him to pick a starting point and get that working first. Can anyone "refresh" this burnt out brain here.

10 Pointers

Try looking here:

http://www.prbullet.com/question.htm

Precision rifle is (IMHO) the best muzzleloading bullet maker for many reasons, but the one I admire the most is that they actively test and shoot the bullets they make, and are obsessed with achieving exceptional accuracy and excellent ballistics from their bullets. The guys who make these bullets are hunters and shooters, not a bunch of accountants and ad execs.

I've had excellent luck with their QT polymer tipped .40 sabot bullets, but I also shoot a .50 caliber rifle.

Something to bear in mind too is that every muzzleloader in unique, and they can be very picky eaters. For example, my Traditions Buckhunter Pro .50 will not shoot 240grain sabots in .44 or .45 caliber at all. The best i could say it'd do is that I could keep all the shots on a shipping pallet at 75 yards, but they seemingly hit at random. My dad had me try some of his 460 grain Great Plains conicals and the next group measured 1.5" and it's always been consistent with those bullets since.

My Knight, on the other hand, will shoot any sabot I've tried well (3" groups or less) and particularly likes the 235 grain .40cal sabots (<1.5" consistantly). But it doesn't like the heavy conicals as well (3-4" groups).

I'd say start by following the guidelines given on PR's website, and if one bullet won't shoot to your liking, try a different weight or bullet.

Good luck,

Mike


Gun control means putting the second bullet through the same hole as the first- Ted Nugent
NRA Member
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Ben Franklin

Driftrider
Thanks forthe link. That is one informative website for the ML shooter. This is a must read for everyone out there who currently shoots or wishes to shoot Muzzleloaders.

10 Pointers

Rod,

If he wants to shoot that light of a bullet, he needs to back that powder charge down to around 80gr if he wants any consistent accuracy. For the short term, he might can get by with the 100gr of Cleanshot if he moves up to the 275gr PowerBelt - a bullet that I think he would be happier with anyway.

In the long term, I HIGHLY recommend contacting Cecil at PR Bullets and get his recommendation - he is truly a wizard at this stuff.


"Every moving thing that liveth, I give unto you as meat" (Gen 9:3)

Trust God..........but keep your powder dry!