Slug Guns and Muzzleloaders

[Slugun45]

Over on the Muzzleloading Forum there is a topic about rd. ball bench gun loads, etc. It kinda sounds like 100-120 gr. FFg is a fairly standard loading of .490 patched rd. balls in the .50 cal. guns.

Regards
IR

Mike, sine the Bresien rifle has a slow twist and a false muzzle I would start with this. 165 grains of Goex 2f, a .500 round ball, and a 20 thousandths Teflon coated patch. You will have to see if a larger bullet is necessary, but the .500 is a good starting place for this barrel. Cleaning between shots is important. A wet patch followed by a dry one. CCI is a good choice for percussion caps. I really don't like the RWS in the plastic can. The old ones in the metal container were the best, but when they changed to the plastic container they changed the thickness of the metal in the cap. Good luck.

[MikePifer]

Over on the Muzzleloading Forum there is a topic about rd. ball bench gun loads, etc. It kinda sounds like 100-120 gr. FFg is a fairly standard loading of .490 patched rd. balls in the .50 cal. guns.

Regards
IR

Mike, sine the Bresien rifle has a slow twist and a false muzzle I would start with this. 165 grains of Goex 2f, a .500 round ball, and a 20 thousandths Teflon coated patch. You will have to see if a larger bullet is necessary, but the .500 is a good starting place for this barrel. Cleaning between shots is important. A wet patch followed by a dry one. CCI is a good choice for percussion caps. I really don't like the RWS in the plastic can. The old ones in the metal container were the best, but when they changed to the plastic container they changed the thickness of the metal in the cap. Good luck.

IR, That sounds like a good plan, my rifle is set up for pistol primers rather than percussion caps, I have some of most brands, think I will start with Federal's. I did get to shoot some today, we made it up to 50. I shot the #14 rifle for the first time. There was a lot of switching wind, however I just shot when I was loaded and ready, did not adjust or wait for the wind. My intent was to get use to the rifle as have a starting point. Shot four different load, two with Goex FF and two with Swiss 3f. Both held vertical of 1" of course the L R was 3". Swiss a little tighter.

[Kermit1945]

Over on the Muzzleloading Forum there is a topic about rd. ball bench gun loads, etc. It kinda sounds like 100-120 gr. FFg is a fairly standard loading of .490 patched rd. balls in the .50 cal. guns.

Regards
IR

Any chance someone could do a copy/paste/post of that thread? Danged if I can find it! I need all the help I can find.

[Ironramrod]

Over on the Muzzleloading Forum there is a topic about rd. ball bench gun loads, etc. It kinda sounds like 100-120 gr. FFg is a fairly standard loading of .490 patched rd. balls in the .50 cal. guns.

Regards
IR

Any chance someone could do a copy/paste/post of that thread? Danged if I can find it! I need all the help I can find.

[Ironramrod]

Kermit, Go on Google and type in "muzzleloading rifle benchrest round ball loads" and the topic should pop up for you on the muzzleloading forum. I couldn't find it w/o Mr. Google helping me out. I couldn't find it on the forum index or searching individual topics either, and don't have a clue where they have it rat holed. Not many posts on the topic (7 or 8), but they mostly say similar things; too much powder ain't necessarily better. If you want to go higher on powder loads, you might try an overpowder card wad (e.g. milk carton, etc.) to minimize patch damage Good shootin' to ya!

Regards
IR

[Kermit1945]

Thanks, IR. Found it. Pretty general stuff. I've been shooting 120 grains of Goex FFg in my .54 x 36" RB bench gun. Having fun with it. Might try some heavier loads one day just to see. I'm skeptical.

NObody hereabouts knows of these guns, much less has seen one. I get some curious folks gathering when I take it to the range. Chunk gun is even worse for gathering gawkers. I avoid weekends so I can actually get some shooting in.

[Ironramrod]

Kermit, I kinda remember an article or 2 re: shooting benchrest ml. rifles (especially slug guns) in the Black Powder Cartridge News magazine; probably 4-5 years back or thereabouts. If you don't have access to those, I can try to find them for you; if that is of interest. Also, about that same time there was a good 2 part article on making your own bench gun scopes and mounts.

I also run into the gawkers at the range, when shooting 1 of my heavy Sharps rifles. They seem especially interested in the paper patch bullet loads; both the shower of confetti at the muzzle and the ability to hit things at longer distances in the wind. Lots of questions sometimes.

Regards

[Kermit1945]

Here's most of my outfit. It sure gets a lot of questions. The one that doesn't get asked so much is "Why?"

[Ironramrod]

A very nice looking rifle, and your tools look top of the line from here. If you don't mind, would you give all us cartridge shooters/ml. hunting rifle shooters a brief synopsis of bench ml. round ball shooting? Things like makers of your barrel, action, scope, loading procedures, expected precision at 100, 200 and maybe 300 yards w/ your rifle; and anything else you feel is important to know that I can't think of at the moment for those of us who probably don't know much about bench ml. shooting?

Thanks for the picture of a very nice rifle and tools.

Regards
IR

[Kermit1945]

I"ll tell you what I can. The rifle is about 23 lbs, with a stainless barrel .54 x 36" x 1-5/8" dia, 1:72 twist. The stock is curly maple with nice stippling at the grip. The receiver is machined from aluminum! Yup. Trigger is not a set trigger and there's no safety and no halfcock. The ignition is sealed and uses percussion caps rather than the more usual rifle/pistol primers. I've been using .535 balls and some .018 prelubed patches that were lying around. Goex FFg, but I think I'll get some Swiss or Olde Eynsford to try. I think there are a lot of teflon patches used by the serious.

I bought the rifle with little known about it. It came with no sights, but was drilled/tapped for scope and irons. I first mounted my 16x Fecker, but what you see on it is a long tube sight, homemade. Started with a 3' piece of heavy stainless tube and bought some old Fecker scope mounts. There is a removable aperture at the back and a modified Lyman globe at the front, reversed so the inserts load from the front. The bubble level was on it, so I left it for no good reason. I'm using Champions Choice clear plastic inserts. Unlike the old externally adjustable scopes, there is no rail to keep the scope oriented when it moves on recoil. Ahead of the front mount I put a 3/4" Weaver rimfire scope ring, inverted. I filed a "v" in a piece of aluminum flat bar to fit the ring so that when the scope is returned to battery the "v" orients the scope to vertical and stops it in the right place. This sight is considered an iron sight--no lenses. Inside the tube are three faucet washers as light baffles to constrain light from straying.

In the photo is my Belding and Mull powder measure, a brass ramrod/wiping rod with bore protector, and a drop tube I made with 3/8" brass tube and stock plumbing fittings. Also shown is a starter that Joe Gussenhoven made from aluminum. Joe also did the machining for the tube sight.

The rifle was made by George Berry of Ohio, now deceased. I've talked to some who knew him. He apparently worked in a hardware store and was a self-taught amature machinist who made other rifles as well. He did all the work on the rifle, including rifling the barrel. I feel privileged to be the rifle's current keeper. I bought it not knowing much, and not knowing much more now. I plink around with it at my club at 50 and 100 yards, and refuse to embarrass myself with accuracy data. I have more photos, but thought I'd spare the bandwidth. Feel free to ask questions. Always willing to share my ignorance!