Why hasn't ???

[plumberroy]

one of the manufacturers made muzzle loader that shoots a patched .376-.380 round ball and or a .451-.454 round ball ??? Seems like a no brainer with all the cap and ball revolvers sold.
Roy

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

Did not Ardessa in Spain make some .45 cal half stock caplocks marketed by Traditions back in the day?

 

[rodwha]

I've been wanting to see if I can double patch a .457" ball for my .50 cal.

 

[damoc]

I double patch my .454 to shoot in a 50 cal hawken works just fine for plinking and im sure any small game within about 50 yards
as well.

as a side note i will also squeeze in a .490 into my 58 pietta clone if its soft lead

 

[rodwha]

I forgot to restock my shooting box with .457" ball so I tried .490" ball in my ROA. It certainly went, but it took a little effort. A ROA will certainly handle that, but I'd be hesitant to do so in my Pietta '58.

Sure did leave a thick ring!

 

[hillbilly matt]

I get good results patching up a .454 in my .50 long rifle , but I have had no luck with .36 at all in it. Was thinking about picking up a cheap .45 that I could patch a 36 in for a knock around woods gun

 

[Crawdad1]

Good point.

 

[Stony]

Seems like a lot of effort as balls are so easy and fast to cast in the proper calibers. Even buying them...trying to save a dime here and there on a round ball ?

 

[rodwha]

The point for me would be to require only one size to carry afield or even store. And it would really suck if one forgot to label the bag of cast balls to find toy grabbed the .319" balls for the pistol and couldn't shoot your .32 cal rifle on your rabbit hunt.

I had thought along these lines until I decided I'd likely not shoot ball from a pistol. But I still consider it.

 

[EljaySL]

I understand the instinct but at this point I cast something like 12-15 different balls/bullets. I made an effort to keep things the same (I have a lot of stuff in .540 when possible) but then you'll get some friend who has some 1840s swiss rifle in some crazy size who needs to sell that hasn't been shot in years and next thing you know you're getting custom molds made in England (thank God for Jeff Tanner).

At some point it's just easier to capitulate and accept that you're going to have a bunch of sizes and get on with your life. Basically if I start running low on anything I'll cast maybe whatever three calibers seem lowest and I'll cast a couple of range trips worth for each. Seems to work out OK.

 

[rodwha]

It's certainly not a big deal, but I do like simplicity and will choose that route if it's worthwhile.

 

[AJumbo]

There used to be a rifle marketed as the Plainsman that was bored for .375 PRBs. It looked like a half-stock kentucky rifle, and I wish I could recall who marketed it. I figured Navy-caliber revolvers were worthless back then, so I passed. Duuummmmmmmmmmmbbbbbbbbb...............

 

[Ephraim Kibbey]

Pedersoli Plainsman in .38 or .45.

 

[EljaySL]

Interesting - apparently the .38 took a .375 ball and a very thin patch. The .45 was just a regular .45 - you couldn't run .45 cap and ball type balls in it.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Years back an acquaintance made an offhand rifle with a barrel blank intended to be a 38-55. He shot very light loads with a 375 PRB, very thin muslin patch. When Woody showed up for an offhand match, no body stood a chance.

At least one crapped up Gahendra barrel ended up as a muzzle loader. With a bore of .468, a 454 PRB worked. Again, it shot great with small loads.