Crazy_Ed

I am new here. I hunted with an old CVA frontier that I had put together from a Kit since about 1990. I really liked the round balls, and got a deer every year with it. As my eyes are getting older, I decided I needed one with a scope. My wife picked me up a CVA Wolf, which probably work fine since I don't foresee shooting over 75 yards..

I have tried to do some research on shooting patch and ball with it. I always shot 75 grains of black powder with the .50 caliber round ball in my old gun and it shot well. I am aware of the difference in barrel twist, But don't really undersatnd if that will effect accuracy or not. I was hinking about starting out with 75 grains of tripple 7 with the patch ball, which was my old load. Any input?

spaniel

My understanding of the reason why patched round balls typically do not shoot well out of fast-twist modern barrels is that the faster twist of the rifling will essentially shred the patch. Judging from the patches I recovered after attempting this, it makes some sense.

People have had luck getting round balls to shoot out of fast twist barrels, myself included. But typically it requires reducing the powder charge below what you would want to shoot a deer with. One of my fast-twist caplocks shot round balls well as long as I only used about 50gr of powder.

But each gun is different. All you can do is try. Otherwise you could go to a conical and still avoid sabots if you want.

oldsmellhound

Ed,

Your Wolf is a 1-28" twist, which means that it probably won't shoot round balls accurately. You can always try- use a light powder charge (50 or 60 grains or so 777) and try at 50 yards to see if you can get it to shoot straight. The Wolf shoots sabots very accurately, and can shoot conicals, but is not designed for round balls.

Another option- it is usually possible to install a scope on traditional rifles. I've seen several people with scopes installed on sidelocks. Have you ever thought about putting a scope on your Frontier? That would be one option for you.

If you want to stick with the Wolf, you'd probably be better off using a sabotted round (if it's legal where you live). Several people on this site have Wolf's and they seem to shoot well with a wide variety of rounds. A good starting point is the 240 grain XTP and 80 grains of 777- that would be an excellent deer load out to at least 100 yards- plenty for your purposes.

cayugad

Actually, the inlines (some not all) will shoot roundball. The trick is to reduce the powder charge down so the patch and ball does not start skipping the rifling. For when it skips the rifling it does not get the spin needed to stabilize it. I shoot 50 grains of Goex and a patched ball out of my Wolverine and small game (bunny) hunt with it. Just put the scope on the snowshoe's head and fire. The rest is easy.

What I would recommend is, save the roundball for your CVA. Try some 250 grain shockwaves and about 80 grains of Triple Se7en. It should give you a very accurate, hard hitting deer load that should get a pass through. Another good bullet you can buy in bulk is the .44 caliber 300 grain .430 diameter XTP in a green crushed rib Harvester sabot. Again, use 80 grains and I think you will have a good shooter. Of course you will have to play with the rifle to see what it likes, but that would be a good place to start.

Of course you could try 70 grains and a patched ball and see how it shoots. If your shots are close and the accuracy acceptable, you'd still have a deer load there. Good luck.

lemoyne

I have not tried PRB in my 1-28 because I thought a decent load would overstablize them but I do shoot them in my 1-38 twist and they group well to a 100 yds with 90 gr RS. You might consider the FPB by Hornady as an alternitive, I have a friend who is using them on deer this year with good sucess they are very accurate out of his Wolf. Lee

Crazy_Ed

Thanks for the information. I tried round balls with 75 grain 777...it was definitely a no-go. At 50 yards they were flying all over the place. I tried 245 gr PBs and had a one inch group with the 75 grains of 777. I've still got some time to mess with bullets, and see how it does at longer distances.

Thanks again

bronko22000

Ed - Them PBs can get expensive. I would take Cayugad's suggestion of 300 gr .430" XTPs and the Harvester Green Crush Rib sabot with 80 gr of Triple 7 of FFg. I prefer the FFg as it is more accurate in my inline.
Also, be sure to get the Crush Rib sabots - they are much easier to load. Tight but not too bad.

kabic

What about those round balls that come with the plastic sabots? I saw some of those at the Dunhams sporting good store yesterday.

Edit: found them online
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=730268

dmurphy317

Crazy Ed,

Patched round ball can work fine in a fast twist barrelif the load is fine tuned. I have had good success and accuracy with up to 80 to 90 grains of 777 in one of my inlines and a PRB. The secret seems to be how tight the patch is and ballance that with the correct powder load. For my gun I had to go to a .020 to .022 patch and a .490 ball. It is very snug going down but shot sub 2" groups at 50 yards. I haven't shot that load through my chrono yet but I would guess it is moving along quite well. I am going to do some more testing once the hunting season is over and will report back on the results.

UncleNorby

I've never shot round balls, nothing against them. I was also wondering about the sabots that are made for round balls. No reason they shouldn't work if you really want to stick with the round balls.

My recommendation though is to try Hornady FPBs. They are a full-bore copper jacketed conical. No sabot, no lube. I know guys like to tinker with sabot-bullet combinations, but I like to take variables away rather than adding themif possible. I'm shooting them this year and have not used them on deer yet. I'm hoping some others will try them as well so we can get some reports of their performance on game.