Well it was 16 above and sunny and that's good enough for me. So I went out to the range and discovered I was frozen in at 35 yards. Seems the stand will be there for a while. So that's where I decided to shoot. Or I could have broke the stand.

I decided to shoot a rifle I had not shot in a while. Its a .54 caliber New Englander. I bought it NIB and also got a 12 gauge barrel for it. I shot a lot out of the shotgun, but very little out of the 1-48 twist barrel. So I had read, these will shoot powerbelts, roundball, conicals, and sabots. I have shot and sighted the rifle in with roundball.



I started with 300 grain Speer Gold Dot .452 hollow points in some Harvester (red) EZ load sabots. I am sure glad they were EZ load or I might not have got them down the barrel. The circle in green is the sabots. They actually did not do to bad. I did swab between shots or there was no way I could have loaded the next one. I was shooting 90 grains of Graf's & Sons 2f powder.

I then swabbed and switched to 405 grain copper coated hollow point powerbelts. Since FG always preaches not to load these things hot, I lowered the charge down to 70 grains of 2f Graf's . These are the blue hits.

Now I was concerned. Is the gun really this bad I thought? So I swabbed and loaded 90 grains of Graf's 2f and my home cast roundball, with moose milk juice as the lube and pillow tick patch. That is the black circle. That made me feel better as I knew it was not me or the gun. Actually thats a pretty good group.

I had also brought out some 250 grain Speer Gold Dots and decided to try them. I loaded 90 grains of Pyrodex RS and shot. The unmarked are the 250 grain. Here is where all the trouble started. I got terrible and I do mean terrible hangfires with the Pyrodex RS. I was using Dynamite Noble caps so I knew it was not the cap. And it was not a misfire, but you'd pull the trigger and had time to scratch your nose before the boom. Well maybe not that bad, but it was a big delay. Also, I swear them 250 went in side ways. Now at 35 yards I doubt it, but the holes are sure strange.

I then changed targets to some frozen cakes of water and smashed them with roundball until I was finally tired of shooting.

Why the monster hangfire with the Pyrodex I have no idea. It was a brand new jug. It was not clumping at all. I was swabbing with alcohol between shots. And the Graf's went off just fine, so I knew the fire channel was clear. Maybe just not Pyrodex RS's day. Tomorrow I am going to try the Pyrodex RS in a different rifle and see what happens.

It may just be a RB shooter. I have a 1/48 that I can't get to shoot sabots at all... But it'll sure shoot RBs with the best of 'em.

Well heck, that .54 ball will do the job for sure. As for the .452 GDs, that's not a bad group either. But there's something about bullets that are small for the bore size that turns me off (.45 bullets in a 54, .40 bullets in a 50, etc.). Not that it's bad or wrong, I just don't see the advantage. If you've got any .54 Great Plains conicals you ought to give them a go in that gun.

I think the New Englander was the best ever entry level sidehammer - one that you keep forever. I wish TC would put them back into production with a full interchangable barrel set of .45 caliber1:30 twist, .50 caliber 1:48 twist, .54 caliber1:66 twist, and 20 gauge shotgun.

I do have the 12 gauge shotgun barrel, and it is a great upland bird barrel. Maybe not for water fowl, but grouse it works fine.

Me too. Sure would love to have a smooth barrel, soon as I get a little cash I'm gonna check the auctions sites for one. Anyone know if Fox Ridge still makes them?

Dave those 300 Gold Dots don't look too bad. Did they trail up or down the target in sequence? Does look like the 250s keyholed. Mine likes roundballs too (with 90 grains real black, like yours)though it did about as well with maxiballs the second time around.

The 300 grain went down as I shot. And I agree, them 250 looked like they keyholed. Those powerbelt are what surprised me.. they flew all over the place.

Looks like you have a real shooter there as long as you give it what it wants,and only what it wants.Them gold dots do
look like they turned,like a arrow right out of the bow.

Dave-I had some 235gr QT-40's keyhole with my 50cal NE.pretty wierd. It will however shoot 250gr nosler 45 Colt pretty well. Conicals and RB it is deadly

Charlie

Do you think if I cut back the powder charge to say 80 grains it might stop that key hole looking effect? I normally never shoot sabots out of my traditional rifles. But Sabotloader got me started on this kick, and now I want to develope a traditional rifle that shoots sabots real well. I have one already, but cheated because the barrel is a stainless GMB with a 1-28 twist. That thing will just drill a .430 300 grain XTP.

If you wnat to shoot PowerBelts, I'd try 80 gr before giving up on them. I've also heard that guys have better luck when they remove the plactic cup, apply some lube on the stem, then replace the cup. never shot them personally though.