loads

[Daniel]

What would be a good load for a .60 and .66 cal rifle?   Now I shoot 90-100 of 2f in my
.75 cal.  Doglock smoothie.  70-100 in a .62 rifle.

[WadePatton]

What would be a good load for a .60 and .66 cal rifle?   Now I shoot 90-100 of 2f in my
.75 cal.  Doglock smoothie.  70-100 in a .62 rifle.

I'd give that 70-100 a try.  Every gun is like a fingerprint. 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

My .60 cal Jaeger likes 86 gr. FFg and a .595" pure lead ball with .022" patch.  Bbl. by Getz.  My .62 Hawken (percussion) with a Rice bbl likes 127 gr. FFg and a .609" pure lead ball with .022" patch.  The .609" ball is cast from a Lyman .600 mould.  the .595" ball is also from a Lyman mould but casts true to the label on the mould....595".

[Bob Roller]

What would be a good load for a .60 and .66 cal rifle?   Now I shoot 90-100 of 2f in my
.75 cal.  Doglock smoothie.  70-100 in a .62 rifle.

 I had a 16 bore Greener double rifle that regulated with 90 grains of 3fg Goex
 and patch round balls.I had the "Greener Patent"bullet mould that was part of
 the accessories that came with the gun. It was a cased gun with three sets
 of barrels.

 Bob Roller

[bigsmoke]

Well, it depends.
In my .62, it likes about 135 grains of Ffg.  My .72 seemed to like 150 grains of Ffg.  Both of those were slow twist rifling.
Of course, the best advice is to let the rifle tell you what it wants, rather than you telling the rifle what it is going to like.
Start out at about 1 grain per caliber and work up in 5 grain increments.  Tightest group wins.
Have fun with it.
John

[Hungry Horse]

 Finally, Bigsmoke gets the lollipop. WHAT IS THE RATE OF TWIST? Caliber doesn't have as much to do with the powder charge as the twist rate does. Slower twist=bigger charge.

                  Hungry Horse

[bigsmoke]

 

I'm gonna save that lollipop until tonight when I will enjoy it watching TV.

Yep, that rate of twist has everything to do with it, and like you say, a slow rate likes bigger powder charges.

And once again, just because someone has good luck with whatever powder charge, it doesn't mean that another similar rifle would have that charge.  Every rifle is its own critter.  And building a load is just a part of getting to know each other.

[WadePatton]

HH, I left twist and other bbl/component details out because the shooting sorts that issue. 

Shooting sorts out most every issue. 




some lollipops taste like tang!   

[Daniel]

What I am ending up to get is a .60 cal. with a 1 in 72 twist. We are going to try to build the Valley Forge Rifle.
Mike Davis and I are teaming up on it. Going to tweek the stock profile a little.
Adjust the drop and bring the front of the comb down as we get it done in the white and shooting.
Been told it's a mule kicker.

[Daryl]

You may find you need 120 to 135gr. to make it shoot well at longer ranges, 100 to 200yards.

At close range, say 25 to 50yards plinking, 3 drams (80 to 85gr.) usually shoots reasonably well when using snug combinations.

I currently use 85gr. 2F in my Musketoon in .58.

I most certainly would not use 3f in that .60.