Ball-ET Performance

[Walkabout]

Anyone have experience with Buffalo Ball-ET bullets in slow twist rifles? Are they sufficiently accurate? Thanks

 

[longcruise]

How slow?

 

[Grimord]

They worked great in my T/C with a 1:48" twist.

 

[Walkabout]

How slow?

1:60"

 

[64Springer]

1:60"

Stick with PRB.

 

[longcruise]

They worked great in my T/C with a 1:48" twist.

Yes, I also found them to be good at 1:48. Not much accuracy testing done, just shot about 6 to get a fell for compatibility with a tc 50.

1:60"

Here are calcs for the twist required to stabiluze a PA conical. (identical to the buff ball et)

Showing you need at least a 67.1 twist rate so the 1:60 should work. This is based on the Greenhill formula which I have found to be accurate for ML conicals but of course you need to prove it out for yourself.

Bullet Length​	0.559​
Bullet Diameter​	.500​
Alloy​	PL​
Sectional Density​	.137​
Max bullet length​	.78​
Twist Needed​	67.1

 

[RMH]

They shot fine in my 54 Lyman Great Plains rifle. I believe it is a 1:60 twist. I played with them but settled on a patched RB in the end.

 

[longcruise]

They shot fine in my 54 Lyman Great Plains rifle. I believe it is a 1:60 twist. I played with them but settled on a patched RB in the end.

It's my own direction as well. In Colorado the requirement for elk and moose hunting is a minimum 50 caliber and a minimum 210 grain projectile. I acquired a hundred of the PA conicals to make the 50 caliber guns of family members legal since elk and deer are often hunted at the same time.

For myself, I have two 54s and a 58 in the arsenal.

 

[Goex/777]

Anyone have experience with Buffalo Ball-ET bullets in slow twist rifles? Are they sufficiently accurate? Thanks

Why not name the ML make / model?

At the very least, tell us how long your barrel is.

Maybe even offer-up how far you expect to shoot these Ballets

Lastly, what powder and how much powder volume are we talking about here.
For example: A powder like 777 FFF will send that bullet flying out of your bore differently than (lets say) Pyrodex FF. So trajectory and distance will be affected.

Judging by your twist of 60, I'm guesing your ML is a Lyman Great Plains Rifle. That means long barrel and shorter-than-normal conical. Personally, having never owned a Lyman, I wouldn't expect improved accuracy & distance, over-that of a roundball with pillow-ticker patch.

I once ran out of roundballs at the range with my 1:66 twist Shenandoah. So I switched MLs - then after about 10 shots with it, I put down my inline T/C Omega with 1:28 twist and grabbed some of it's leftover 200gr XTPs with Harvester ribbed sabots to shoot in that 1:66 twist Shenandoah. I was shocked at how well the paper target looked at 50 yards, using 75gr Goex FFF.

I didn't have the guts that day to venture over to the 100 yard range there.There would be no friggin' way anyone on a messageboard like this one would believe me, had I told them the next day that my 100 yard paper targets looked good enough to hunt with that deer hunting season, using a sabot bullet with a 1:66 twist barrel roundball gun.

So I chickened-out (never moved to that 100 yard range) and went home instead. I do believe I made the right call and not waste my precious time experimenting with a crazy idea like that.

 

[Thingamajiggy]

Only have experience with the PA conical which is a ball-et. Shoots well out of my 1:48 barrels and really well in my TC Pa Hunter in 1:66.