I've been shooting the Buffalo Bullets in .36 and .457(for Ruger Old Army) and have come to the conclusion that they are either as accurate as round ball or so close as to make no difference. they do hit several inches above the balls at reasonable ranges.
Today we ran some of the Ruger sized .457/ 190 gr bullets through a Uberti Dragoon. Load was 40 grains of Swiss fffg
The bullet is oversized for the .450 chambers but I don't believe this hurts a thing. Doesn't with .457 Balls either.
I can just stuff a cast 200 grain Lee Conical into the chambers over this same 40 grain load (unless the mould has closed poorly and then, big trouble. The lees shoot 62 foot groups in th 2.5-4" range which is not bad for conicals in a percussion but nowhere near what you get with RB or the Buffalos. Velocity of the Lee bullet is interesting as it averages out at 1043 fps with energy in the high 400 foot pounds range.
Interestingly, the Dragoon will get 1221 fps with a .454 ball over 50 grains of Swiss. This is a bit higher than the 1188 I read off with the same volume of Pyrodex P and WAY higher than the same load of Goex fffg.
A lot of the loads I have been shooting through this Dragoon are getting velocities as high or higher than I can get with 60 grains in a Uberti Walker. This might change with some projectile experimenting but I believe they would still be very close together.
Kill it before it multiplies!
http://www.gunpix.com/gallery/Muzzleloaders_and_Blackpowder/Dragoonaol.jpg
Today we ran some of the Ruger sized .457/ 190 gr bullets through a Uberti Dragoon. Load was 40 grains of Swiss fffg
The bullet is oversized for the .450 chambers but I don't believe this hurts a thing. Doesn't with .457 Balls either.
I can just stuff a cast 200 grain Lee Conical into the chambers over this same 40 grain load (unless the mould has closed poorly and then, big trouble. The lees shoot 62 foot groups in th 2.5-4" range which is not bad for conicals in a percussion but nowhere near what you get with RB or the Buffalos. Velocity of the Lee bullet is interesting as it averages out at 1043 fps with energy in the high 400 foot pounds range.
Interestingly, the Dragoon will get 1221 fps with a .454 ball over 50 grains of Swiss. This is a bit higher than the 1188 I read off with the same volume of Pyrodex P and WAY higher than the same load of Goex fffg.
A lot of the loads I have been shooting through this Dragoon are getting velocities as high or higher than I can get with 60 grains in a Uberti Walker. This might change with some projectile experimenting but I believe they would still be very close together.
Kill it before it multiplies!
http://www.gunpix.com/gallery/Muzzleloaders_and_Blackpowder/Dragoonaol.jpg