Question about flintlock rifle velocity

M

MLeake

New member
Shot a friend's flintlock last week, my first time shooting a muzzle loader. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to shoot. Tennessee long rifle variant, I'm told; seemed about the length of a Hawken, but with full forend and flintlock setup.

We were shooting .50 ball, in front of a load of 95grains of BP.

What kind of velocity and M/E should that get?

Thanks,

M
 
B

bighead46

New member
Depends on a lot of factors but when you are dealing with muzzle loaders it seems that the ft lbs of energy used on modern cartridges isn't always applicable. Why patched round balls kill as well as they do is something of a mystery. One explanation I've sort of considered is the pure lead flattens out like a pancake on impact to about the size of a quarter coin and then- still spinning, cuts through the lungs like a buzz saw. The round balls drop velocity very quickly but at 50 yards or less, distances a fair amount of hunting takes place- they are still moving pretty fast.
 
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