Blackpowder Bullet Choices

[Mr. Beanfield]

Gentlemen

I have spent the past couple of days with this thought running through my head... By any chance do any of you shoot a .36 caliber smoke pole. If so and for any of you who have some experiance with the bullet selection of a muzzel loader, I have been shooting round ball through this gun and to be honest they work but there has to be another choice. I have wanted to use it for preditor hunting but to be honest don't think the round ball is the best option. I have seen that there are a few cast lead pistol bullets that have the equivialent diameter and was wondering if it would be possible to shoot these in a muzzel loader. If so what lube and other thoughts might be a good choice. i cannot seem to find any other bullet options and was looking for a little change. I thank you for your time and any info you have... Have a great day..

Mr. Bean

[Myk]

Centerfire pistol bullets? Absolutely not. They most likely have antimony to make them harder, muzzleloaders should use only pure lead.

I don't have a .36 (wish I did). I don't see any conicals for anything lower than a .45 in Cabelas and my Lyman Black Powder Handbook doesn't list any loads or ballistic tables for anything but round balls in .36.

I like the sounds of shooting a conical in a .36. Maybe they figure it's a small game caliber so there's no need for conicals.
Remember muzzleloaders kill by creating large holes not shock.

[turtle]

If you want conicals try casting your own. Just get a pistol mould of the correct diameter & cast using pure lead. If you want to try it on the cheap all you need to buy is the mold. Lee are the cheapest I'm aware of, about 25 bucks. A camp stove, tin can & spoon work just fine for melting & pouring.

One thing to bear in mind. Your smokepole will likely have a twist rate suited to ball. Accuracy may suffer if you switch to conicals.

As no powder charge data exists you may want to do the initial test remotely with string tied to the trigger!

[Jerry]

Welcome to HuntSeek turtle.

[Tony]

Bfield..............
I have a 36 BP in a Green Mountain barrel sitting on a italian lock and stock,very accurate with ball out to 50 yds,just havnt tried it any farther.
A reminder on the slug relationship, if the slug is short and light like the ball,has large or many grease groves and the front larger ring than the rear for statring rifling,pure lead that will upset in the bore to engage rifling in the rear section, it should be a winner.
I think a decent machinist can make a cherry the size of your bore with a .001 enlarged forend like a spool and cut you a decent aluminum mold for a small fee. Note the deeper the grease groove/the longer the slug and keep near the original ball weight,say 20% heaver than ball should keep decent accuracy with the twist rate for he ball. May be some one else has an idea but the little ball/slug in 36 is geting pretty small to be handeling by hand.
At first I was going to go with the 32 but it looked like a BB. Have you looked at the 36 caliber minnie ball used in revolvers? They are made of pure lead and will upset in the bore I am sure.
Well think about it,good luck and let us know your thoughts and what you figger out on the 36 smokepole.
By the way is it a long Kentucky barrel or a short Hawken?
TTFN...................................Tony