45 Cal. smokepole
I just finished putting together a semi-custom 45 cal muzzleloader. I say 'semi'custom because I started with a fluted stainless barrel/action from a Knight DISC rifle. The fella I picked it up from gave it to me out of disgust as he was unable to produce any kind of accuracy with it. The only thing that I find odd about it is the fast rate of twist of the barrel-I believe it is a 1 in 20" twist. I have so far been able to get 100 yd groups of only about 6" or so but have not had alot of bench time with it yet. I've been trying out the 10mm XTPs in a tan sabot(both 180gr and 250gr) over 60-70 gr of Triple7 and/or Pyrodex P(even tried some 'magnum' loads up to 120gr). Anybody have any suggestions as to what bullet weight/powder charge may be a better choice for this rifle given the fast rate of twist? The 45cal front-stuffers are not very popular in Canada so any local info is very limited. My main interest in the 45 is to see if I can gain a little more accuracy and velocity out to longer ranges. Like I said, I've only had a couple of hours of trigger time with it so far and it looks promising but any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Men, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest.
Men, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest.
0
-
Six inch groups are poor. Assuming that you have inspected the bore and found no problems, and that the muzzle crown is in good shape.
A lot of Knight's rifles use Green Mountain barrels, and while they may not be the top of the heap they are pretty darn good barrels.
1:28 and 1:30 I've heard of but I've never heard of a 1:20 rate on a Knight.
Following is a link to Knight's site, and they have a "contact us" feature. So I would run things by them.
http://www.knightrifles.com/
Following's a link for some load info., etc.
http://www.clcweb.net/Muzzleloading/muzzleloading.html
Hope this helps ...
If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!0 -
Sounds to me like your shooting a Round Ball in a Slug Barrel...
Ideal Twist for Round Ball is 1 in 42'....any faster Twist and the Ball will start to OVALATE...and get really radical further out from the Muzzle and ...never Hit the same Hole..
The 1 in 20" with a Conicle Bullet or a Slug should bring Your Grouping to One Big Jagged Hole....
Captain Kirk, Tech Staff0 -
I have yet to try a solid conical in this rifle yet, only 180 and 200gr Hornady XTP hollow point slugs in a tan sabot. Conicals were my next course of action but I'm concerned as to what range of bullet weights I should be trying. Thanks for the input so far.
Men, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest.0 -
Good rule of thumb when thinking about rfiling twists and bullets (non-ball) is that the larger/heavier or more bearing surface the bullet has the quicker the twist rate.
Now I'll work in a "dumb" question - You have pulled the breech plug and examined the bore to make sure that the groves are not loaded with deposits, right??? I'm sure you have, so moving on ...
I still think you should contact Knight as you should not be shooting 6 inch groups with saboted ammo from one of their barrels. Something just isn't right here.
If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!0 -
The boys over on huntamerica.com are knight experts. Go to the inline forum. 0 -
my first questions is are you swabing the bore between shots? if not you should be ,,,2nd question is did you clean that barrel really well? if not them start there , tear that gun completely down , take the barrel and soak it in kerosene over night which will lossen any plastic residue that may be in the bore from the sabots ,, after that clean it like you normally would ,, now put it back together and take it out for a test drive[:D]
shoot your first shot and them swab that bore and dry , do the same thing for each shot in your 5 shot group and see what you come up with ..
the gun is scoped right ? if not put one on it so you know it not you thats the problem ....
if your gun still doesn't shoot better them try 90 or 100 gr load with a CVA Power Belt bullet , I've had very good luck with them [:D][:D] good luck0 -
The bore is mint and I just spun a new crown on the lathe so I'm leaning toward a bullet issue. I was hoping to go with lighter weight slugs to keep my velocity up, but it had also crossed my mind to try the heaviest cast 45's I can find(as you were saying, Contender)for accuracy. It's supposed to be a nice weekend so maybe I'll get a chance to go make some smoke soon. I'll keep ya posted.
Men, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest.0 -
I found some really interesting info on this 45 cal business. Turns out that these guys are located only about 15 miles from me. Definitely worth the read.http://www.prbullet.com/s45.htm
Men, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest.0 -
Capt Kirk is right. 20" twist is more suited to a long bullet of two calibers or more diameter. 0 -
You are not gonna believe this one: I shot two, 5 shot groups today of 1.1" and 1.2' respectively. 155gr Hornady XTP in a tan sabot over 65gr of T7. Don't know how much 'punch' it's gonna have but I'm very happy so far with the accuracy. Hopefully I'll find out this week how it performs. Opening day is tomorrow and we have a bit of snow on the ground today so.....
Men, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
10 comments