[Texan Scott]

a few questions, actually, from a guy who understands black powder muzzle loading only in theory...

1) is .50 round ball effective for hunting? (what's the normal weight of the ball in grains/ velocity in fps? is 50-75 yards a reasonable range?)

2) does anyone have experiences, positive or negative, to share about the lyman great plains or similar 'traditional' muzzleloader? if i take up muzzleloading/ black powder, it has to be actual muzzle-loading, not bolt or break action (texas hunting law as explained to me).

my thanks to any with input!

[Pete D.]

I have owned a GPR flintlock for some years now. It is a great shooter with patched round balls in its 1/66" twist barrel. Benched, it gave me this three shot group at 100 yards:
http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/PeteDoyle/GPR3shotat100.jpg

That was with a pure lead round ball of .490" diameter weighing 177 grains, patched with a 0.010" thick lubed patch over 90 grains of Goex FFg.
I have never chrono'd the load but the books tell us that the velocity of that load is 1930 fps at the muzzle, retaining 1092 fps at 100 yards. To put more perspective on that....top .30-30 Win. loadings using a 170 gr. bullet are at about 2100 fps; many are in the 1950 to 2000 fps range, though the .30 cal jacketed bullet will retain velocity better. Many shooters find that the PRB is perfectly adequate for deer. (I have no personal experience with the GPR and deer as all of my ML hunting is for birds and with another gun.)
The GPR is arguably the best buy available in factory ready MLers. You can find extra barrels for it from a number of sources. I have a second .50 cal barrel for mine and a .54 cal (28 gauge) smoothbore barrel from Green Mt.
Pete

[Texan Scott]

hot diggity, that wraps that up, thanks Pete!

Next question... anyone have experience with the .54 and hollow-based bullets? Do they work best from a Ballard-cut barrel with a slow twist, or a standard barrel/ faster twist?

[BCRider]

Just another GPR success story for accuracy. Mine is the flinter as well and it shot one of the nicest and tighest "plain irons" groups at 100 that I've ever gotten. It was only about a 4 inch group but that's my old guy eyes at fault far more than the gun. With most other rifles I'm happy with 6 to 7 inches. And it wasn't a fluke as I shot about the same size on a second target a little later on.

A buddy with a percussion round ball rifle in .50 or .54 has taken some of the west coast deer with his gun. The round ball went in one side and came out the other. Do you need more than that? Our west coast deer are likely moderate size as they stand roughly eye to eye with someone that is about 5'8" to 5'10".