# .69 caliber smoothbore



## cherokeeross

I own a .69 cal smoothbore that I am planning to take with me to the deer woods this season. However, I am a little unsure of the amount of powder I should use and whether or not I should go with blackpowder, or a substitute like Pyrodex. Any suggestions?

Also, if anybody has experience with this, will a minie ball type of bullet work with a smoothbore, or should I stick with the round ball and all it's shortcomings?

I realize with today's advancements in the world of muzzleloading, my century-and-a-half style musket is extremely obsolete, but then so is my mindset in a lot of ways. I am just looking for some pointers from any of you who are skilled in the art of muzzleloading, the old-fashioned way. Thanks!

~J.B.


----------



## Stella1

Is this a modern reproduction or an actual 150 year old gun? Also is a flintlock or percussion?

I use a repro. Pennsylvania .50 cal flintlock. The best powder to use in that is real black powder, 2f for main charge and 4f for flash pan, with virtually no delay. As for the bullet or ball it's kind of up to you. I use a .490 ball with .10 patch over 50-110 grains of 2f powder with no problems hitting a 10"x10" target at 100 yards. Actually harvested a doe 2 years ago with this setup. That round ball can do plenty of damage.

I also use a hawkens .50 cal repro. percussion rifle and substitute blackpowder in that with the percussion ignition. Using the substitute powder is nice cause you can fire about 10 shots before cleaning and reloading becomes difficult due to crud in the barrel.

Here is some info I gleaned from another site which may help as a starting point, 
The standard US Army Load for the M-1842 Musket was 110 grains of powder with a 412 grain ball, rated at 1500 fps with 2060 ft/lb of muzzle energy. This from the Reference Section of the Dixie Gun Works Catalog. They also say: "A lighter charge is required in present day blackpowders." On another page, they list an 80 grain FFg load as proper for the M-1842 Musket.


----------



## cherokeeross

Thanks for the info. It is a repro of the M1842 percussion model. Cabela's lists a .69 cal ball (.678") in 480 gr., so it might be beneficial to use around 90-100 gr of blackpowder, don't you think? When I re-enacted, we would use upwards of 70-80 gr. powder and it produced a pretty good bang, but of course, there were no projectiles in front of it.

I've hunted all my life, and dabbled in muzzleloading, but that was with the much-smaller .50 version and there's a lot of information on what to use in those. I've pretended to shoot Yanks with this musket, but I'd like to bag a deer or two with it this season.


----------



## Stella1

90-100 would seem like a good charge for it. Are you going to use real blackpowder or substitue?


----------



## cherokeeross

I'll be using blackpowder for the full effect. 8)


----------



## alleyyooper

90 to 100 grains is a good place to start. Only time at the range will tell you which will work better increase or decrease the charge up to the max allowable load for the rifle to find the perfect load.
For best results when working up a load swab the bore between shots, windex works well for this. 
Many times a rifle will shot it's best groups well below the max allowable load.

 Al


----------

