My 45Cal. cap lock rifle will be here soon

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My Custom 45 Cal. cap lock rifle I will be using the first two weeks of Dec. and from Jan 17th - Feb 15th on deer and hopefully a hog.

It is a 45 Cal cap lock (musket caps) with 1-18" twist, 31" barrel, .458" grooves and .450" lands with grooves being 50% wider than lands. I have as of this date using Triple 7 - 3FFF driven a 350gr paper patch bullet 1830fps, and a sabot 305gr 1920fps and a 410gr paper patch at 1775fps. The 410gr paper patch is dead on a 150yds and 7" low at 200yds.


Here are a few pictures.

 

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Here are the bullets I have tested and fired with this rifle. The next to the last bullet on the right is the 410gr Paper Patch that is my favorite bullet. The last bullet is a 500gr Paper Patch that I have clocked at 1565fps.

 

[HunterJim]

Mike,

That is a nice-looking rifle, and a shooter too. How hard is it to load the paper-patched bullets?

thanks...jim

 

[bullet]

Mike,

That is a nice-looking rifle, and a shooter too. How hard is it to load the paper-patched bullets?

thanks...jim

If you can not push it into the barrel easily with your thumb then one of three things is wrong.

1. you have wrong diameter bullet
2. you have to thick of a paper patch
3. you have improper depth and hight of grooves and lands

My barrel is an exact representation of how a hunting rifle's lands and grooves were cut during the mid to late 1800's for a hunting rifle. This was during the period where they had by that time figured out how to tweak the cap-lock rilfe, making it a very fine and accurate as well as deadly hunting rifle. This rifle will shoot. I have from a standing position (because the rifle is very well balanced) hit inside 6" target at 200yds.

The 410gr paper patch moving at 1775fps is my favorite and most accurate bullet. This rifle has driven a 305gr saboted bullet at 2000fps but it's best accuracy is between 1930-1960fps.

Also, the sabot LBT designed bullets can be pushed in with only using my thumb also.

 

[HunterJim]

Mike,

You posted:

"It is a 45 Cal cap lock (musket caps) with 1-18" twist, 31" barrel, .458" grooves and .450" lands with grooves being 50% wider than lands. I have as of this date using Triple 7 - 3FFF driven a 350gr paper patch bullet 1830fps, and a sabot 305gr 1920fps and a 410gr paper patch at 1775fps. The 410gr paper patch is dead on a 150yds and 7" low at 200yds."

I have talked to your bullet friend Jim a couple of times now, and I figured I would get some from him to try in my .451.

jim

 

[bullet]

Mike,

You posted:

"It is a 45 Cal cap lock (musket caps) with 1-18" twist, 31" barrel, .458" grooves and .450" lands with grooves being 50% wider than lands. I have as of this date using Triple 7 - 3FFF driven a 350gr paper patch bullet 1830fps, and a sabot 305gr 1920fps and a 410gr paper patch at 1775fps. The 410gr paper patch is dead on a 150yds and 7" low at 200yds."

I have talked to your bullet friend Jim a couple of times now, and I figured I would get some from him to try in my .451.

jim

Jim knows what he is doing when it comes to making paper patch bullets and also the LBT designed bullets using sabots. He has made all of mine because he is better at it than I am. We are talking for example the 410gr bullet at 1775fps has serious killing power that those high dollar jacketed bullets sold for muzzle loaders can not duplicate and I get them for a lot less money.

 

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Also, the breach plug I had him put in my 45 Cal rifle is the same thread as a patent breach but mine is 1/4" longer having more holding strength.

Jim has tested his breach plug now for 20yrs. He does not make the barrels but does all the final machine work including installing the breach plug and I love my .45 cap-lock, it really fits me well. It is such a shooter that I fight wanting to take it instead of my center fire rifles but when I have over 200yrd shots to make I take a center fire.

It will be the back up rifle in Missouri because of some fields I will have to shoot across but there will be one day of the hunt in the woods and this 45 will be with me.