Have you
ever wondered why the relatively small-caliber so-called "Kentucky"
and "Pennsylvania" rifles of the 1700's were built with barrels that
were commonly more than 40-inches in length?
It all kind
of boils down to the availability of black powder and lead in those days. In the wilds of what later became "New England",
gun powder and lead for casting into round balls were both in very short
supply. Yet, wilderness settlers had to
keep meat on the table, and to protect a family from ever present dangers, such
as bears, wolves...and earlier native settlers.
Common bore sizes of that time were .40 to .45 caliber, and a typical
powder charge of FFg or FFFg black powder was 50 to 70 grains.
The longer
barrels better tapped every bit of velocity and energy these rifles could
produce. So, what kind of muzzle velocity
did these old rifles produce...and was a 40+ inch barrel really necessary?
Back in the
1960's, Dixie Gun Works took a .40 caliber percussion test rifle (mostly just a
barrel, lock and trigger), and conducted a series of chronograph
tests...beginning with a 40 inch barrel - and slowly shortening it down to 20
inches. Shooting 47-grains of FFFg
(DuPont) black powder behind a cloth patched 93-grain .395" round ball,
the 40-inch barrel gave them 1,770 f.p.s. (646 f.p.e.). With the barrel at 30 inches in length,
velocity was down to 1,642 f.p.s. (556 f.p.e.), and with the barrel shortened
to 20 inches velocity was down to 1,509 f.p.s. (470 f.p.e.).
Even with
today's hotter burning black powder substitutes, barrel length still plays a
critical role in the ballistics produced.
When shooting a 100-grain charge of some
earlier blackpowder substitutes out of the 22- to 24-inch barreled .50
caliber in-line big game rifles of the early 1990's, muzzleloading hunters did
good to get a saboted 240- or 250-grain .44 or .45 handgun bullet out of the
muzzle in the neighborhood of 1,650 f.p.s.
Muzzle energy levels produced by those loads were generally in the 1,450
to 1,500 f.p.e. range, and 100 to 125 yards was considered the maximum
effective range.
Blackhorn
209 is currently the black powder substitute, or as the label proclaims
"High Performance Muzzleloading Propellant", that tends to produce
the fastest velocities - when loaded in the same volume amount as any other
modern black powder substitute. To fully
tap the performance of this and other black powder substitutes, today's modern
in-line No. 209 primer ignition rifle makers are once again beginning to
stretch barrel lengths.
One of the
rifles I first loaded and shot with Blackhorn 209 was a .50 caliber Knight DISC
Extreme - with a 26-inch barrel. Relying
on a 100-grain volume measured charge, I was able to get a saboted 260-grain
Scorpion PT Gold (Harvester Muzzleloading) bullet out of the muzzle at 1,947
f.p.s. (2,189 f.p.e.). Out of an inch
longer Knight .50 Long Range Hunter model, velocity moved up to just 1,971
f.p.s. (2,238 f.p.e.). However, loading
this same load in the 30-inch barreled Traditions .50 VORTEK Ultra Light LDR,
the added three inches of bore allowed a more complete burn of the powder charge
- and velocity jumped to 2,018 f.p.s. (2,350 f.p.e.).
My favorite
hunting load for the 30-inch barreled VORTEK Ultra Light LDR is a 110-grain
volume measured charge of Blackhorn 209 and the 300-grain version of the
Scorpion PT Gold bullet. I like both the
added weight for greater knockdown and higher b.c. of the bullet for better
retained down range velocity and energy.
The load gets out of the longer barrel at 2,009 f.p.s. (2,686
f.p.e.). It is a super accurate
combination for this rifle, and has been deadly on longer range whitetails.
The
shortest .50 caliber No. 209 primer ignition muzzleloading rifle I've shot with
Blackhorn 209 has been the LHR Sporting Arms break-open Redemption
Carbine. This rifle has been designed
for going into heavy brush, to make game move, and hopefully offer a shot. It's my opinion that the 20-inch barrel of
the carbine is simply not long enough to fully utilize a 110-grain charge of
Blackhorn 209 - but just to check, I chronographed the load at 1,823 f.p.s.
(2,211 f.p.e.). That's a far cry from
the velocity, with the same load, out of the 10-inch longer VORTEK Ultra Light
LDR barrel.
I normally
load, shoot and hunt with the 24-inch barreled Redemption Rifle with a
110-grain charge of Blackhorn 209 behind the 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold. The four-inch longer rifle barrel gives a
more complete burn of the powder than
the 20-inch carbine barrel. Velocity is
1,946 f.p.s. (2,520 f.p.e.). When
hunting with the Redemption Carbine, my load is 100-grains of Blackhorn 209 and
the 300-grain Scorpion PT Gold. Keep in
mind, this carbine length rifle was not intended for 200+ yard shots. At the muzzle of the short barrel, velocity
is 1,795 f.p.s. (2,144 f.p.e.). A buck that would give me a shot at 50 yards
in heavy cover would be hammered to the ground by close to 1,900 foot-pounds of
knockdown.
