rafsob

Well I finally got to take the .58 Big Boar to the range yesterday. I only had an hour and a half to get some rounds down range. I went with the PRB loads first.

This was done at the 50 yd range:



When I started I put 70 gr charge in the barrel and it seemed too lite. I upped it to 85 grs and that seemed much better. I ended up at 95 grs and that seemed the best. I didn't have a chance to adjust the windage becasue I had an appointment to go to. I did have one problem with the patches.

I used a commercial patch that was a little old. It wasn't working too good. I noticed that the lube was only working to within about 7" short of the end of the barrel. I need to work on making up some new patches. I would still like to use some .018" patches I have to see if that it up any.

My next trip, hopefully on Monday, to the range I want to try my Maxiballs and hunters. I also have some N-SSA bullets to try also. I will get back to you all with the results. If I cam get my hands on some R.E.A.L bullets I want to try them.

As of now, I think I have a nice load with the PRB and 95 grs. for deer. We do have wild pigs on our hunt club property and would like to come up with a good conical loadfor them!

Semisane

Oh man Rafsob, you've got yourself a shooter for sure. Looks like you've already found your hunting load with 95 grains and a PRB. That's some fine shooting!

Have yourself a little fun playing with those conicals, but I bet you return to patched balls for the serious stuff. They are all you will ever need.

nchawkeye

Looking good...I'd ditch the store bought patches and go to WalMart and buy cotton pillow ticking and bake my own lube...Once you go to big bores and full house load you are asking that patch to to a whole lot...

I use Stumpy's Moose snot but used SnoSeal for about 20-25 years...Here's the recipe...

http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fu...hp?tid/203261/

lemoyne

Raf
I would not hestate to use 95 or 100 gr & PRB on boar done it before, it will do the job right well.

Semisane

You might want to try something real simple - plain old olive oil for a patch lube. Saturate a dozen or so patches, then wrap them in a couple of paper towels and squeeze the excess oil out as well as you can, until the patches feel almost dry. That's all I use these days. I've tried a lot of different lubes and haven't found anything that works better.

UncleNorby

I'm guessing it will shoot the Maxiballs pretty well, and will prefer them to Maxihunters. That has been my experience with those 2 bullets. I'll bet that the gun will shoot as tight a group, if not tighter, with Maxiballs than it did with your shots 7-14.

I'm wondering what a 58 cal roundball weighs, and what kind of velocity you'll get with a 95 gr charge. I know it will put the hurt on a deer (or just about any living thing for that matter), I'm just curious.

rafsob

Semisane, I think you are right. But I will give the conicals a try. I am interested in them for the hogs. Will a RB make it through a hog's thick hide???

Haweye, thanks for the recipes. I will print them out and get my hands on the incredients. When you get the pillow ticking at Wally World how do you cut the material? Into squares or is there a cutter I can buy?

UncleNorby

Just checked, the RBs will weigh around 440 gr and the Maxiballs around 555. My 54 Renegade shoot the Maxiballs well, and they weigh in at 435 gr. That bullet is mean on deer, and I would guarantee it will shoot through a hog broadside.

I have almost zero experience with roundballs, and I know they flatten out. Couldn't say if you could expect a passthrough on a good-sized hog.

nchawkeye

I simply rip the ticking in strips...About an inch and a half for the .54 and an inch for the .40...I cut at the muzzle or at the loading block but you can simply cut into squares as well...When I lube the patches, I take a putty knife and smear lube on both sides then roll up and put in microwave for about 20 seconds on a paper plate to help it saturate the ticking...I then roll up and put in the patch box so I have a strip if I need more shots than what's in the loading block...

On those ingredents, you can go to a natural food store and buy cheap castor oil like you rub on your skin...If you don't know any bee keepers you can buy bees wax from Hobby Lobby...I'd also get a ball mold and roll my own, then you know you always have something you can shoot...

cayugad

They were killing hogs with .50 caliber and roundball out of flintlocks last year in Tennessee. A .58 caliber will floor them hogs. Personally I'd kick the charge up even more and try some more roundball. That rifle is a shooter no doubt.

I also use the pillow tick from Wal Mart and Stumpy's Moose milk formula. Although I have shot off a quart of the stuff now and might make my old batch up using the water soluble cutting oil from NAPA. See if I like that as well (since I ran out of Castor Oil).

My .58 caliber Green Mountain Barrel likes 110 grains of Goex 2f and a patched .570 roundball. I think that could take on anything I want to shoot.