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Round ball and patch / patch recovery

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dmbruce

Pilgrim
Joined
Nov 3, 2014
Messages
5
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Location
Butler, Pennsylvania
Shot .50 caliber early 1980s Investarms flintlock and .50 cal Trapper flintlock pistol from same spot at same target. Found patch roughly 12 feet away. Imagine that was the pistol patch. Like to find the rifle patch. Would imagine the rifle patch went further.
Loads: Pistol. 38 grains of 3F 50 cal roundball with patch
Rifle. 78 grains of 3F 50 cal roundball with patch. Target at 50 yards.
Any ideas please on the approximate distant patch from rifle might travel?
Wind 0 to 2 mph. Rifle barrel 32”
 
Like centershot said, I find mine about 12-18 feet slightly off to one side depending on wind. Try shooting over snow , would be easy to find them.
 
Simple solution...Put a tarp in front of your barrel, patches are easier to see....Sometimes I elevate the end farthest away with sticks to help stop them....
 
If you live in an area with snow on the ground it makes finding patches really easy.In fact if the snow is deep enough you can recover what you shoot as well. A few years back the son of the woman I am care taker for was looking for arrow points in the no till corn field and found a mini ball he asked me if there was any way to tell how old it was. I looked at it and told him :"it is a 45 caliber two band hollow point hollow based mini about six months old" I had sighted in a deer rifle the previous fall shooting into a paper target with a thick snow bank behind it. The mini was in good enough condition to be shot again!
 
While it's not the time of year for it (but its coming) as I post this on Sept 4th, during the winter months ifin ya live in snow country, heavy large snow drifts or a large pile of snow make a great backstop for any caliber, any firearm be it black or smokeless powder. In the spring when the snow melts just go out with a pail or large tin can and all that wonderful lead is there to be recast (if ya cast). Have been doing it for alot of years. Distance of recovered patches already posted I'll agree with.
 
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