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50/120

REX6666REX6666 Member Posts: 188 ✭✭✭
edited February 2007 in Black Powder and Cowboy Action Shooting
what is the diff. in pouring 120gr of black powder down the barrel
and seating 50gr bullet on top of it, and shooting the same in a cart.
reason for the ques. is i keep hearing the front stuffer is good for 200-250 yds and i have heard all my life about the great long range
shots from the big fiftiy.
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    dcinffxvadcinffxva Member Posts: 2,830 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    First of all, it would be a .50 CAL. bullet, not a 50 gr.

    There are plenty of muzzle loading loaders that are capable of incredible accuracy, even by todays standards.

    "The accuracy of the Whitworth rifle was estimated from the following facts, a figure of merit of 10.5 inches has been obtained at a range of 1,000 yards, 20 shots being fired. At a range of 500 yards it is a common thing to obtain a mean deviation of 3 to 5 inches, from my mechanical rest in the gallery, with 20 shots." - Rifle Trials at Hythe in 1857.

    Most people today would be happy with a 3" group at 100 yards, much less a 20 shot 3" group at 500 yards.
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    Hawk CarseHawk Carse Member Posts: 4,367 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The .50-140 is kind of a freak monster cartridge, few made because it was too late for the buffalo hunt and kicked too hard for long range target shooting. If you could stand it, a 700 grain paper patch bullet would have a lot longer effective and accurate range than a saboted pistol bullet driven by pelletized fake powder advertised for 200 yards. A darn sight faster to reload, too.

    What serious Long Range BPCR shooters use for thousand yard shooting is .45-90 or .45-100; with 540 grain bullets and 85-95 grains of real black powder.

    dcinffxva, the Whitworth (and other "smallbore" British rifles) was accurate, but a "mean deviation of 3 to 5 inches" is not a three inch group. It is a statisitical measure that usually represents a group of three or four times that much. So he was shooting into maybe a foot group size at 500 yards.
    "In the gallery." Mr Whitworth had money, he built a 500 yard indoor range to test his theories out of the wind and English rain.
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    dcinffxvadcinffxva Member Posts: 2,830 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hawk,

    Thanks for the correction. I wasn't exactly correct in my assessment of the data, but the way I shoot, I'd still be pretty happy about a 20 round, 1 foot group at 500 yards [:D]

    Still, there were/are some very accurate muzzleloaders floating around, and some very accurate marksmen behind them.
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