Been just too cold out and deep snow on the ground to sit out at -5 to -22 in the deep snow at the range so I put an X on a box and filled it with snow and put it on a pile of snow about 50 yards out in the yard.
I just got this .54 Southern Mountain rifle late last summer and it's been fun shooting it.
Lately I step out the front door with it and let a ball find the X and step back in the warm house to reload and out again.
I guess I will find a bunch of lead balls in the yard when if it ever melts again.

So that's what snow is good for. Good looking rifle I wonder how far those 54 cal round balls go in the snow guess that you'll get some idea in a couple of months.

RB

Hard to say RB. Snow is dry and powder this year so they will go in deeper.
Usually the 500 gr+ .44's and .45's cartridge bullet will go in around 8' this year I shot some .45 513 gr and a 21 foot drift did not stop them.
But I will put a stake in the pile where it went in just for curiosity and look for them when the snow if it ever melts this year.
That rifle was built by Steve Losey. This steel mounted rifle to resemble the ones that J. Henry was building for trade with the American Fur Company it has a 44" rice swamped barrel in 54 cal.
I like the plain steel mounted rifles and when I saw this one it just followed me home It's a fine shooter with a good follow through when I set it off.


Kurt

We need a flintlock antelope hunt.

dat'l work Don!!

Well it's getting close to time to send in the application..

Something that is being discussed on another forum is how much a round ball will upset in the barrel while being fired. If at all, personally I think that with a good charge as in a hunting load or as most bencehrest shooters use it does upset. And that's one of the reasons that these loads shoot better day in and day out accross the board. And also one of the reasos that the very light charge guys don't shoot well consistantly. I think that the light charges of powder and the light weight of a round ball per caliber do not upset and that contributes to the lack of constant accuracy accross the range. Just try to convince the light charge guys of that!

But anyway come this Spring when the snow melts it would be nice to see if any of the balls that you recover show any signs of "upsetting". Just a thought on cold winter day with freezing rain and snow back in the forecast.

RB

We do know that roundballs upset a bit as they do swell enough to enguage the rifling on the way out of the barrel.
I have seen roundballs, not only upset but come clean apart going thru deer chests etc.
Also have seen round balls picked up from a popular camping spot not far from a historic western fort, that look more like double ended wad cutters, only the end's are both roundnosed with a long shank inbetween.
Lyman's old muzzleloading blackpowder handbook had a number of still hispeed photos of roundballs in flight.

I always suspected rd. balls expanded to make a tight fit in the barrel, when the rifle is fired. The big pure lead conical bullets (e.g. T/C maxi-balls) certainly do expand, because the base 2 bearing bands are heavily engraved by the rifling at recovery. They are lightly engraved at loading (pulled bullets), because they are just slightly over bore size. Also, the big conicals always performed the best on paper w/ heavier loads, and didn't shoot well at all w/ lighter loads. For me the heavier loads that perform well for hunting also perform the best for target work. They do knock one around a bit more, but the results are worth the effort, too.

Regards
IR

Kurt I'd love to see more pics of your rifle. Love the southern mountain rifles. I've been considering building myself a Bean style rifle.