Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders New to muzzle loading & have some questions

I have a CVA Traditions Hawken style. It is a .50 cal with a 1 in 48" twist.

1. Should I start off with round ball or maxi ball?
2. Is Triple Sevens powder good to start with? I won't use regular BP.

Joe, the 1-in 48 twist is designed to shoot both RB's and conical bullets. My TC Hawken shoots both well. What are you going to hunt? For deer-sized game, either will work well. For bigger stuff, I'd go with a conical. Try both, and see what works best in your rifle.

Thanks smokepole. I plan on using it for game here in Wyoming up to elk. If the conicals shoot well in my twist I might start there.

What do you think of the Triple Seven powder? Sportsman's Warehouse has a good supply of it in stock.

Joe , as was said the 1in 48 is good for either PRB or conical . But often times it takes some time to find the right conical that will perform well in your gun .

As to not using BP . Myself I think you will find you will get better performance and consistency over the long run

I'd start off with patched round balls, mainly to get some less expensive trigger time and gain confidence in your ignition system.

My 1-48 sidelock performs good with prb's, sabotted 240gr. pistol bullets, and the heavier conicals like the Hornady Great Plains(if you can stand the beating). It is way less finicky than either of my 28 or 32 twist rifles, particularly with the sabots.
I don't shoot the heavy conicals (385 gr. ++) simply because of the fact that in my side lock rifle (Lyman) they kill on both ends.

I will be trying Hornady 240 gr. conicals (cat# 6617) in a 48 twist sidelock this year. Bought from Graf's for about $11/50. Twice as expensive as round balls, less than 1/2 as expensive as some sabot or some-such. Should give good performance on deer sized game.

I've shot a few deer with Triple Seven recently and have had good ignition with it, but all substitutes are just that, substitutes.

Nothing ignites as good as black powder, and I missed THE deer of a lifetime due to a hang fire with a substitute, I also shot a deer in the foot due to a hang fire with a substitute. Substitutes now are much better, but they're still substitutes.

As good as they are, sidelocks with #11's aren't an in-line with 209's when it comes to flawless ignition with about anything you stuff in them.

Not trying to be Chicken Little and imply that percussion rifles aren't reliable, I'm just stating that it is something to be aware of. I still want to drive my head in to the wall when I think of that monster that walked some 18 years, 9 months, 2 weeks, 1 day, 6 hours, and 47 seconds ago.... but who's counting, and I ain't much of a trophy hunter!

Buy a can of Triple Seven and shoot it a bunch. The only real knock I have against BP around here is just the availability. I have to drive 104 miles to buy it.

Keep in mind the maxi ball was made for the 1-48 twist.

Nothing wrong with a PRB. It will depend on how much smack you want to hit the animal with whether you use a PRB, or maxi.

I'd use real black for that gun.

I love the Lee REAL bullets. They are accurate and much easier to load than Maxis. I wish I could find the stash of 50 cal Lees that I stashed several years ago.