An interesting situation presented itself to me at the range over the weekend.

Being a goto guy at the range, a shooter asked if I could teach him how to use his new CVA inline muzzle loader. I had him put everything he had for the gun on the table so I could see what he had and what he needed. To my surprise he had a shiny new unopened box of round balls and a package of new unopened patches. For powder he had Pyrodex Powder Pellets.

Believe it or not I was nice and asked why do you have patch and ball for an inline?

This is were the story gets interesting.

He said he bought the rifle from a big box store and they sent him to a Mom & Pop gun shop for gun powder, bullets, and accessories. This old established shop I thought had a good reputation so I asked "did you tell them what rifle you needed bullets for?" He said he did.

The moral of this posting is this. If you need help in a new area to you, spend the extra money and buy everything from the local gun shop that can give you outstanding service.

Just my thoughts for the day
DF

There is a lesson in there if the guy you were trying to help out, was paying attention.

Everything here screams either a cheap azzed customer or someone with very limited funds. Starting with a CVA "from a big box store" where the cashier has no clue instead of a knowledgeable dealer who's probably a bit more expensive. I'm quite sure the "Mom & Pop gun shop" with a "good reputation" where he went for accessories laid out all the choices and he went the very cheapest route. Pyrodex pellets, cheaper than the competition and no need to buy a measure. PRBs at maybe 20 cents a shot vs the popular conicals and sabots at 1 to 2 bucks a shot. Is what he bought ideal? Not by most peoples opinions here. Will it work? Yup. It's easy to say "spend the extra money", but there's always some that either won't, or just can't. If you've ever worked retail, you've had to deal with some of each. The cheapos drive you nuts and deserve what they get, the others are more understandable.

I see where you're coming from, but did you at least try the patched round ball combo to see how it shoots? Might surprise you.

Yes, we tried the patch and ball so he could shoot his new gun that day. Grouping was measured in feet not inches at 100 yards. The young man asked for loose powder at the Mom & Pop gun shop but was told pellets is what he needed. And yes they had loose powder on the shelf. I had him come back the next day when I was able to bring in my box of inline muzzle loader stuff and within two moves of his scope I had him hitting the x ring. He left with a gift of about 50 sabot's with my hard cast 240g bullets.

Oh well, had to ask. Glad it worked out in the end!

Good on you for helping the guy out. There are a lot of barriers to entry for some, it pays to do what we can to promote out sport in a positive way.

I hunted with patch and round ball out of a night youth model wolverine until I was 28 (last year). I never had any problem killing deer with it and it shot very well at 100 yards. If the gun would shoot worth a crap it would have been fine, seeing as it didnt I guess it's a mute point though. I'm wondering if the pellets could be why they didn't shoot well? Or is it the barrel twist. I'm no MZ expert just curious is all

PRBs will shoot fine out of a fast twist barrel, but in my experience you can't push them very hard and the patch/ball combo is a bit more critical. Years ago I spent an afternoon helping my late father-in-law set up his new Lyman Cougar (1:24"). Quickly found out two 50 grain Pyro pellets and a 400 grain conical was too much for him to handle. Went through my supplies and came up with some .490 round balls and a package of Polly Patches (remember them?). With one 50 grain Pyro pellet they shot very well.

My fast twist barrels will shoot a PRB well, but as was noted you can't push them too hard. 60gr Pyro P works pretty well in the .45, 70gr in the 50 was about as high as I could go.

I can't really see using them with pellets, but it could work.