Jack - Round balls won't shoot worth a hill of beans out of his Knight. The twist rate is too fast.

Bronko you might be right but I would have to disagree with you about the round ball. I shoot round ball all the time out of my inline muzzle loaders. Especially my Knight LK rifles. The trick is not to push them too hard.



The star marked hits were with the UC Short Mags. I later learned if I changed to 777 2f the group tightened right up. But the center hits were with round ball. With 70 grains and a pillow tick patch and some moose milk that rifle really laid the ball in there. I am positive that wih 70 grains and a round ball I could deer hunt with that rifle.



Now I admit, I didn't shoot a lot of round ball at longer distances. But 50 yards and under, they are real accurate "Off the bench rest."

Next time you are on the range, try some round ball in one of your fast twist rifles, just for the fun of it. I would be real curious of your results.

I just might do that Dave. That sure is a cheap way to practice that's for sure. My trouble is that I'm still down here in FL. But on the bright side I did miss the 30"+ snowfall on Tuesday!
But my first priority when I get back up north is to cast some 405 gr and 500 gr .457" conicals and load me up some black powder cartridges for my Pedersoli Sharps that's waiting at the gun shop for me. I have the molds, a new electric melting pot, bullet sizing die, and veggie wads waiting for me at my friends house.
Yesterday I went to Lowes and picked up a 4' 1x4 and 2 eyelets and made me a nice drop tube stand. I have some 3/8" copper tubing up there to make the tube itself. I am going to look around to see if I can find a small copper, brass or aluminum funnel to attach to the upper end of the tube. Or maybe I'll just flare it some with my flaring tool.

Sounds like he bought the wrong gun if he wants to shoot cheap.

I don't think he wants to shoot cheap. I think he wants to shoot cheaper than shooting Powerbelts or Barnes or any other prepacked ML bullets with supplied sabots.
We gave him a bunch of options to choose from. Like Cayugad said, maybe his ML will shoot round balls. And if it does it would be pretty cheap for sure.

Secret to shooting round balls in those is to be sure it is super tight patch and drop the powder charge down to a minimum and work up. You never will get very high, probably not enough for big game but may be enough for fun and small game.

It strips the patch through the rifling with too much bang.

If I wanted to save and still hunt with it, I'd start looking to hard cast bullets and work up from a minimum until they start stripping instead of spinning. May be able to make a satisfactory velocity that way.

You could always use cast bullets to fit sabots for the gun and shoot cast that way instead of jacketed. Those should match the copper jacket weight bullets exactly in about every way and be able to shoot them just as hard.

Another vote for the venerable Hornady XTP. You can pretty much get the 20 bullet/sabot package anywhere BP products are sold, sometimes under their own name, sometimes they are re-packaged and sold by TC or Traditions. 10-14 bucks for a package of 20 bullets and sabots, it is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to quickly get out to the range with a hunting worthy bullet.

My old CVA Stag Horn with 1/32" pitch shoots round balls very well. i kill a lot of squirrels and rabbits with that gun and round balls. The powder load is 70 grains of Black MZ.


My .54 caliber Fire Hawk with it's 1/38" twist shoots round balls like a laser using 100 grains of Black MZ. i've swatted hogs at over 100 yards with that load.


Tried patched round balls in the TC Encore using 70 grains of powder but the accuracy was not there. Maybe 60 grains or less would do the trick.


i use a tight fitting patch that loads pretty hard. Probably can't get there with a wooden ramrod.


Here's a great article on use of patched round balls in fast twist rifles from Mr. White himself:


http://whitemuzzleloading.com/round-...-twist-rifles/

My main issue with the Bighorn (plunger style hammer) is that My thumb keeps getting hit by the plunge during recoil. Have any of you ever had this issue? I have a bloody gouge. I don't see how to keep my thumb enough under it to not get hit, nor off to the side where I won't get hit but my grip will suck. Every time my thumb gets hit and opened up again the thumbhole stocks look more attractive.