Custom Smokeless Muzzleloader

What type of projectile are you using, i saw you werent using a sabot with them, are they lead with a gas check, or a copper jacketed bullet?
 
I made a collapsible ramrod that is carried in a sheath on my belt. I didn't want anything attached to the barrel that might have affected accuracy. I made this one out of an aluminum arrow shaft with a carbon shaft glued inside it, I left a 2 in. over lap to allow the pieces to interlock together. I used a shock cord to hold all three pieces together and allow folding for storage. The jag is made from a brass .40 cal bullet casing.
This rifle was made to be used with sized sabotless bullets, right now I'm using modified 300 gr. .45 cal. XTP's but it will also be capable of using .40 cal bullets inside .45 cal sabots. I modified some 200 gr. .40 cal XTP's for this application, it cuts down on the recoil and the spritzer nose improves the B.C. of both bullets.
Badgerridge sells the same conversions, I purchased mine from the guy who supplies them.







 
Aries- said:
How do you get a gas seal between the bullet and barrel with the sized 45's?
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There are several ways to achieve a seal , and it has to be understood that there has to be an adequate seal of the bullet to bore or the smokeless powder will not ignite.
After the bullet is sized to the barrel a slight knurl is put on the bearing surface of the bullet this gets slightly engraved with the barrels rifleing a greased veggie or fiber wad is then placed between the bullet and powder to provide a seal, sometimes the combination will work without the wad but I err on the side of caution and use the wad. The most optimum way to obtain a seal is to have a full form die made from a section of the barrel drop, this die can be adjusted to size a specific bullet perfectly to the barrel.

double gun said:
So they sell both the bolt face conversion, and the improved sealing breech plug?
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He sells a bolt nose kit ( bolt nose, firing pin, roll pin and a drill bit to drill the new firing pin to accept the roll pin to secure the firing pin to the bolt head). This kit is intended for an application where a new thread is used with a new barrel to accept a savage style breech plug.
He has another kit with all of the above ( nose is about .085 " shorter) to be used with the stock Remington set up and fits existing internal thread of the 700ML and the breech plug is included. He calls these the Smoker Kit and they are available for .50 cal and .45 cal.
Both of these kits have to be fitted to the rifle.
 
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I took this one out on it's maiden voyage, I resized the spitzerized 300 gr. xtp's to .4493 dia. used a greased veggie wad and 60 grs. of Imr 4198 and a federal 209A primer , speeds were around 2530 fps with a low ES. The first shot out of the clean barrel is a little high but the other 2 settled in nicely. I only had 3 vials of powder measured at this load. Nothing fantastic but shows promise.
 
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These are really neat. I'm not a muzzleloader guy, and they don't give me any increased hunting opportunities - yet your thread has me wanting one. Thanks for sharing.
 
I started fooling around with bullets again to try to find a suitable bullet for my latest build. The rifle has a slender contour compared to both the Douglas and Krieger barrels so I wanted to shoot a more moderate load.
I always have preferred to shoot 300 gr. bullets for hunting and I did settle on modifying the standard .45 cal. XTP 300 gr. because of their ease in availability and ease in obturation. I reworked my die to give a better ogive.
While I was at it I redid the dies for the .40 cal. 200 gr. XTP's I had as well these can be used with sabots.
Is this spitzerize bullet any better, probably not until you try shooting beyond 200 yrds. but they do look a little better and do give a little more confidence, which should improve shooting.
here are a couple of pics of the earlier mod. beside the new improved version.

.45 cal. XTP


.40 cal XTP
 
Impressive. I really am enjoying your posts. Earlier you mentioned knurling the bullet after sizing it, any chance you would talk more about the process you use?
 
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