caionneach

I pulled the article up through Google.com <http://www.google.com/> when I was researching flintlock rifles. I'll do the search again to try to find the article and post the link to this discussion board.

Another general type muzzleloader question: which caliber gives better long range trajectory? I really like the .54 caliber and I plan to go with that, but my father in law is really partial to his Thompson Center .45 percussion, which he says has a flatter and longer range trajectory.

Thanks.

Kenneth

Charley

With roundball rifles, there is not a huge difference in trajectory. They are all 100 to 150 yards rifles, for the most part, in terms of practical accuracy and proformance on game. Shooting conicals, the .45 will have an advantage over a .54 in any practical bullet weight.

caionneach

That's what I thought, but I haven't seen any ballistic tables comparing the various black powder loads and bullets. I bet Lyman's Blackpowder Handbook lists those comparisons. But even if the .45 is a flatter shooting conical bullet, I still favor .54 cal because of the Elmer Keith principle of ballistics.

Charley

A .45 conical, in any reasonable weight, is going to have a huge ballistic advantage (ballistic co-efecient) over a reasonable weight .54 conical. Terminal ballistics would tend to favor the .45 in terms of sectional density as well. You COULD simply scale up a .45 to a .54 and give it a similar BC and SD, but it would be one heavy, hard kicking SOB!

caionneach

Is that not what most of the conical bullets do? My old TC Maxi balls look like a scaled-up version of the .45 Maxi. Do not the .50 and .54 Maxis have a greater terminal energy retention than the .45?

Looks like I need to go ahead and purchase Lyman's Blackpowder Handbook.

Kenneth Smith
Monroe, LA

caionneach

Another question I hope you muzzleloading veterans can answer: How do I properly protect the muzzle of the rifle to ensure accuracy?

I once owned a T/C Renegage in .54 cal and the barrel quit grouping consistently. Not sure why, as I've stated in another thread on this board. I am posting the question here because the failure of my Renegade caused me to give up the muzzleloading "hobby" for a few years, and I truly enjoyed shooting that rifle. I had eventually switched to blackpowder only and I only shot round balls I had made from my Lee mould. I routinely used "modern" lubricants to protect the rifle and the bore. Any ideas? I don't want that to happen to the Lyman flint rifle.

Briman

f you are shooting a GP flintlock, your rifling twist is roughly 1:66 which probably isn't going to work very well with conicals. You can buy a seperate barrel from lyman with a 1:48 rifling for conicals though.

A .54 and a .45 are two entirely different ballgames.

caionneach

Just put my order in for the Lyman Great Plains Flint rifle in .54 cal, and the 1-60" rifling. The Lyman site has the 1-32" rifled barrel for sale too, and I will probably add that barrel to shoot conicals.

Kenneth Smith
Monroe, Louisiana

caionneach

I am now the proud owner of a new Lyman Great Plains flintlock rifle. Fit and finish are quite good, though it needs a thorough de-greasing now.

I am very new to flintlocks. Now the fun part begins!

Kenneth Smith
Monroe, Louisiana