Good Powder Charge For Rabbit?

Hello,

I don't yet have a .32 or .36, so I'm using my .45 KY replica for small game.

I am wondering what charge you folks use?

I'm thinking in the neighborhood of 25 to 40grns. Max range will be 50 yards, and I will be using a hardcast, non-expanding ball.

Thanks,

Josh

Shoot what ever mild charge your rifle likes best. It doesn't take much to bust a bunny.

In my experience you're right on target. But if your replica has a standard breech rather than a patent breech you might want to go even lower than 25. I'm currently using 30-35 grains of 3f (whether Goex or Pyrodex P) in 50, 54, 58 and 62 caliber for head shooting snowshoe hare.

There are two reasons I stick with that load- My powder measure drops somewhere in that range, and when I made it I was using a couple of Lyman GPRs, with patent breeches that hold that much. I knew it was important not to have an air space between ball and powder, and that's what it takes to fill a Lyman patent breech. I've just gone on using the same measure in guns from other makers rather than explore smaller charges with standard breeches. But I bet they would work!

I've found such light charges to be extremely accurate. I'm talking TC Hawkens, Renegades and Big Bores, Lyman GPRs and Deerstalkers, Pedersoli Frontiers, and half a dozen other makes of flinters and cappers with standard breeches.

That sure seems to me like a majority vote for light charges! :grin:

Thanks gents.

I want to still be able to hit at 50 yards, but a .45 leaves a pretty big hole, so I wanted to reduce velocity as much as possible.

I think I'll look up a .44 rimfire and go with whatever powder charge was used in them, 30gns IIRC...

Thanks again,

Josh

Josh Smith said:

I think I'll look up a .44 rimfire and go with whatever powder charge was used in them, 30gns IIRC...

Click to expand...

Now that's an interesting approach! For 50 years in CF shooting I used ballistics of old rounds for developing my own reduced loads in various rounds, but with the switch to muzzleloaders I never made the connection to look at BP charges as an indicator. Excellent, and I thank you!

Now let the theorists tell us why it won't work! :rotf:

Josh Smith said:

Thanks gents.

I want to still be able to hit at 50 yards, but a .45 leaves a pretty big hole, so I wanted to reduce velocity as much as possible.

I think I'll look up a .44 rimfire and go with whatever powder charge was used in them, 30gns IIRC...

Thanks again,

Josh

Click to expand...

If you shoot rabbits at 50 yards you need sufficient accuracy to hit the rabbit. So you will need the ACCURACY load.
You need use headshots on rabbits.

An accurate load with a 32 will likely be as damaging. I used to shoot rabbits at close range with 15 grains with a 32. But this load was not suitable for shots past 15-20 yards for trajectory reasons if nothing else.

Dan

Looks like there was a .44WCF load which used a 122grn round ball backed with 28gns black powder.

It was called the "Game Getter."

Interesting.

Josh

Yeah, that load and one similar for the 45-70 inspired me to develop and load a whole lot of RB loads in 44 Special and 38 Special, atop tiny charges of powder. You could actually see the ball in flight on a sunny day. They were superbly accurate and really did a number on hares.

Taking it back to muzzleloaders, I based my 32 cal load for hares on performance of 22LR and 25-20, both very capable 50 yard guns in terms of accuracy and trajectory, as well as killing power. I kept pulling down the charge on my 32, starting at 30, then 25, then 20, and now at 15 grains of 3f. I still can't see the ball in flight (most likely due to the white smoke), but I'm not hearing the crack of the sound barrier either. Sighted in an inch low at 50 yards, that load is right on at around 40 yards, a tiny bit high at 30, right on at 25 and progressively lower as the range shortens. Inside 10 yards I have to allow a little bit for sight height above the bore. It reminds me of having a single sight on a bow while shooting "flu-flu" arrows for rabbits, though the arrows' range is lots shorter.

I'm finishing a 30 cal flinter right now, and purely by guess and by golly I anticipate a hunting load down around 10 grains. If the trajectory of its .290 ball is comparable to the .311 of my 32, I'll be a happy camper.

One thing I've noted with all the reduced loads in my guns. Their POI is the same as my heavy loads to at least 25 yards, even if they drop off more as you approach 50. That's fine with me, cuzz these old eyes are only dreaming at the prospect of 50 yard head shots these days. In any case, to 25 yards and a little beyond I can use the light loads without touching the sights, thus leaving my sight-in with heavy loads unaffected.

Go with the most accurate for your rifle. A 45 is going to kill a rabbit with as little as 15 grains at fifty yards.For a comparison my 22 caliber RWS air rifle is considered deadly at 50 yards on jackrabbits! Although we don't have any jack rabbits in Ohio it does a number on coon and opposum at close range.And leaves a lot of undamaged meat on a cottontail taking head shots at 35 to fourty yards. :hmm: