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Post by wildchild on Nov 26, 2017 9:36:27 GMT -5
Goin smokless in the near future and what cal has the best ballistics and selection of bullets? From what im seeing it looks looks like a 45? While im creating another post lets add in some terminolgy questions. Lol Guys goin sabotless i read thinks about bullet sizing and fiting to bore. How hard does a 45 cal bullet muzzle load into a 45 cal barrel? I couldnt imagine cramn a 30 cal centerfire down a 30 cal bore. Lol Im tryn to wrap my brain around how these precision SML are shooting like they are on this group. Lol
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Post by AJ on Nov 26, 2017 10:31:47 GMT -5
I recommend reviewing your state’s (or any state you want to hunt) laws concerning the minimum caliber for muzzleloader for the game you want to hunt. Also find out if smokeless is legal in your state(s) during the muzzleloader season. In my state I can only use smokeless in the general firearm season. The nice thing about SML guns is you can shoot both BH209 and smokeless powders. The most popular SML barrels are .45 caliber. This will allow shooting anything from lightweight saboted bullets through some heavyweight 350+ gr bullets that are capable of taking that walks on this planet.
Pushing an out of the box jacketed .458” bullet in a .450”/.458” bore is not going to be done by human hands alone. Most of us use adjustable sizing dies (smooth and/or full form) to swage the bullet to a smaller diameter to fit inside the lands of the bore. In the event of a full form die the lands and grooves are engraved in the bullet allowing for a closer fit. It is not unusual that a smooth fitted bullet will shoot best with a wad (veggy or wool) to help seal the gasses during powder combustion. You will also find that different bullets require different settings on the die for a perfect fit. This is due to bullet construction differences (jacket thickness and hardness, core construction, etc).
Theoretically, smokeless muzzleloaders should be more accurate than centerfire rifles. If you start with a quality barrel and load the projectile concentric with the bore, and have a optimum powder charge, the bullet should go to the same place time after time. Since the bullet is already centered in the bore there is no jump that the bullet has to go through like a centerfire cartridge.
There is a crap ton of valuable information on this site. Take some time to search and read the volumes of data that are out there.
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busta
8 Pointer
Posts: 105
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Post by busta on Nov 26, 2017 10:40:12 GMT -5
First of all, a muzzleloader caliber has historically always been identified by the land-to-land bore diameter. A center-fire by the groove-to groove diameter.
A .45-70 uses a .458 caliber bullet as a center-fire, and engraves the rifling into the bullet after leaving the cartridge case. The land-to-land measurement will be in the .451"ish arena.
A .45 caliber muzzleloader, .45-70 conversion muzzleloader, or custom .45 caliber will generally have a barrel with .451"ish land-to-land, and .458"ish groove to groove measurements. These measurements could easily be +/- .001" or more, depending on the manufacturer.
Using land rider bullets in one of the rifles, you would use the .451"ish bullets either straight out if the package, or by smooth sizing them just a touch to fit your particular bore. You could also smooth size slightly larger diameter .45 caliber bullets to fit your land-to-land diameter as well.
There are also full form sizing dies that can be made out of a section (drop) of your rifles barrel. These dies will fully engrave your exact rifling into the bullets, allowing you to pre-rifle and load the slightly larger diameter .45 caliber bullets in your muzzleloader.
This question would be better answered in the smokeless muzzleloading, where there are several custom rifle builders, as they are the experts in this arena.
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Post by Dave W on Nov 26, 2017 16:20:37 GMT -5
Don't dismiss the .40 too easily, bullet selection has become very good lately. Better BC in some cases with lighter bullets.
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