Cheapest way to plink with an inline

[Ranger Roberts]

I know inline's aren't incredibly popular amongst this crowd but I figured I'd ask anyway. A friend of mine gave me a CVA .50 inline. I was just curious what the cheapest way to shoot just for fun. Accuracy isn't super important, I'm just messing around in the backyard range.

I should add that I have a handful of cap and ball so this isn't my first time dabbling in BP. I also have another inline that I use strictly during muzzleloader season but the saboted rounds are a bit too expensive for backyard plinking.

Also I don't cast either.

Thanks all!

 

[frontiergander]

Buy yourself a mold and cast some .451 pistol bullets and buy the sabots.

Do a google search on Harvester Scorpion PT Gold bullets, they are something like $20 for 50 of them + shipping.

 

[birdshot8's]

I was told you could not shoot patched roundball from an inline so naturally I had to give it a try. I found for plinking my CVA optima did good with one pellet of 777 and patched .490. It hits pretty hard and would be even less expensive with loose powder. It seems like the load was actually pretty accurate. I think the secret is to keep the load mild to hold the spin down.

 

[DD4lifeusmc]

inline cheap

Cast some 50 cal REAL from Lee.
or maxi's from Lyman or T/C
Or go ahead and used Patched round ball since you
stated you aren't concerned about accuracy.
Load from the muzzle is load from the muzzle
inline or traditional.
Your main factor most likely will be rate of twist.

 

[D. Buck Stopshere]

Cast or buy pre-cast .490 RB and buy 100% cotton pillow ticking/mattress cover material (.015" - .018" thick, measured with micrometer) at fabric store, and use 35 to 50 grains of black powder or BP substitute and have at it.

It will be the cheapest way to shoot if accuracy is secondary instead of primary. Inline barrels have barrel twist from 1:21" to 1:32". You'll probably be all right at 50 to 60 grains maximum on powder charge. Heavier charges will strip the patched ball off the rifling and cause "flyers". Your paper target will tell you when you have reached the breaking point.

Round ball twists are usually 1:48 to 1:72, more so 1:66 to 1:72.

 

[BCRider]

The light loads and patched round ball is potentially the cheapest and easiest. Cheaper because you're using less powder and less lead and easy because it's pretty simple to buy or cast your own round ball. It's certainly a good option to test out before you move on to some other option.

I'd start with really light loads. Like 20gns of loose powder. Then work up in 5 grain steps to see where the sweet spot is. Heck, since it's just backyard plinking maybe even start with 10 or 15gns?

Patch tightness and even patch lube plays a big part in ball accuracy. So also try some different materials and even patch lubes.

Just this past weekend I shot my Lyman GPR in a local meet. Performance the fist day using a "Moose Milk" mix of ballistol and water was lukewarm. The next day I'd left the MM in the car so instead of the walk back I went with good ol' spit. Well the gun LOVED it. The barrel stayed easy to ram and noticeably free of bore friction the whole way through the day of 25 shots. And it was like the balls were radar guided. I shot one of my best scores using SPIT!

 

[Ranger Roberts]

Excellent, thanks everyone! I will be stopping by my LGS today during my shift. If I don't get nailed by snow (again), I'll hopefully be doing some shootin this weekend!

 

[Tallbald]

I would like to echo DD4LIFEUSMC's response. I had the same question when I bought my handsome CVA Optima V2 pistol. Sabots are too pricey for me even in bulk. I tried patched round ball and they were just OK, I'm told because of the fast 1-28 inch twist (I don't know enough to say yes or no to that though). I bought a LEE 250 grain .50 caliber R.E.A.L. mold and using pure lead from roofing materials, cast a can full of slugs. They have been accurate for me and do well with light to heavier charges. When they hit the cardboard backing of the target they sound like a 2X4 slapping a side of beef. They are to me, a wadcutter design. I'm in the process of rolling paper cartridges for my CVA using them and a waxed felt wad I make. I do not use a sabot, and with a 2X scope at 40 yards have gotten some 1 1/2 inch groups on a day so cold most of my time was spent with my hands in my armpits.
#209 shotshell primers here in Southern KY are cheaper than percussion caps, and with lead at 65 cents a pound from the recycler and virtually no wastefrom the roofing material, my biggest expense is for the Triple Seven propellant (which here is cheaper than black powder and available at Walmart in season).
As to the popularity of inlines here, I can say that inlines are an evolutionary thing not to be shunned. If they were, then a group could also shun revolvers and percussion caps as not being in keeping with the traditional spirit of flint guns, which are not in keeping with the traditional spirit of matchlocks, etc etc. I love my stainless CVA AND my Ruger Old Army's. I'm sure my great great great Grandfather who received a2000 acre land grant in KY for his service to the new USA during the Revolutionary War would have snatched my CVA and 209 primers from my hands had he the chance, and thanked me for the thing.
It's all powder and lead. Don.

 

[Rattus58]

I know inline's aren't incredibly popular amongst this crowd but I figured I'd ask anyway. A friend of mine gave me a CVA .50 inline. I was just curious what the cheapest way to shoot just for fun. Accuracy isn't super important, I'm just messing around in the backyard range.

I should add that I have a handful of cap and ball so this isn't my first time dabbling in BP. I also have another inline that I use strictly during muzzleloader season but the saboted rounds are a bit too expensive for backyard plinking.

Also I don't cast either.

Thanks all!

If you're just plinking, round balls are just the ticket. In my .451 with 1-20 twist, round balls over a wad work just fine and they are accurate. If your ball is smaller than your bore, I'm supposing a patch is going to work ok and I'd put a wad over the powder, but light loads... shouldn't be a problem.

Aloha....

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

Has anyone tried just shooting paper targets or plinking with cast "gluellets" (plastic glue gun projectiles), with just percussion caps and low or no powder charges? Sounds like that would be pretty cheap fun.

 

[Tallbald]

Ranger Roberts and everyone else I need to apologize for my typo in my post here (#8) where I said "slow" twist instead of "fast" twist. I've corrected that.
Anyway, I am making paper cartridges for my inline pistol and also am working to find the least expensive Triple Seven and home cast Lee 250 REAL load. At 7000 grains per pound of T7 there's 140 rounds per pound if my gun likes 50 grain loads. The 80 grain loads are fun a little at a time for me but again, kinda pricey.
I hope you enjoy experimenting with your gun as much as I will be enjoying with mine. Don.

 

[TimSr]

My son shoots round all in his CVA Optima all the time. You'll want to run a reduced charge to keep the lighter ball velocity down to what you are sighted in for. If you use a BP equiv., while the pellets are handy for hunting, the cost about twice as much as loose powder.

 

[Ranger Roberts]

So I gave it a shot this weekend using patched round balls and Triple 7. At 40-50 yards my groups were probably around 2 inches (that might be a little conservative actually but I was too cold to really care). In my defense it was -12 degrees with some really wicked wind. I spent most of my time questioning my own sanity for wanting to shoot in such crappy conditions. I was going to try to vary the amount of powder to see if I could get better accuracy but the wind picked up and I got sick of chasing my cardboard target through a foot of snow in my backyard.

It was still fun to get out and shoot a little bit. While not the most accurate loads I have ever shot, it would still make for a good day on the range!