440 Grain Parker HYDRACON 100-yard Ballistic Gel Test

[@curly__3]

A wad is key with all lead conicals, especially the lee REAL projectiles. I use felt 50 cal wads, but you can use a round ball patch pushed into the bore with the rod and packed on the powder before the conical or anything that will form a complete seal behind the conical. In multiple rifles of mine, the lee REAL goes from 3 foot groups (100 yards) with no wad to 2.5 inch groups with a wad. I found the best is to use a dry wad on the powder and a greased wad on top of that against the conical. I've never seen such a dramatic difference in anything that fires projectiles with the change of one variable.

[@jdoerr779]

Have you seen the same results in cartridges? I run a 40gr 3F/255gr SWC 45 Colt load and I know a lot of guys will run a card wad under the bullet but I’ve never bothered to since I got into BP almost a year ago. I guess I really don’t understand the intended purpose. Thanks in advance.

[@curly__3]

@@jdoerr779 i don't do BP cartridges, but i have been reloading for about 20 years and muzzloading for about 12 years, and do thoroughly understand BP cartridge reloading as i have studied it extensively and will probably do some in the future... that said, two things come to mind. Number one is that i think the reason the wad works is that BP (or pyrodex, etc..)in a muzzleloader is not creating enough pressure fast enough to obturate the projectile properly and the hot gases are getting between the lead and barrel causing severe leading in many cases as well as basically stripping the projectile through the rifling rather than allowing it to catch the rifling and spin properly (because it is melting the sides of the projectile). Second is, if that is not the case in your experience with BP cartridges, that could be simply because the cartridge press fit of the projectile and the crimp are allowing that pressure to build before the projectile enters the bore which is giving you sufficient obturation... If it is accurate most of the time but you have wild fliers, it's probably because the pressure is not as great on every catridge because the crimp is not the same (maybe because the case is a different length than the others) or the projectile is slightly smaller in diameter, etc... basically, if you're having accuracy issues with lead projectiles, i would start by putting a card wad or something behind the projectile to seal the bore... Next i would add a greased fabric/felt wad or create a 'grease cookie' with some kind of meat tallow between two card wads... especially if you're getting accuracy for 2 or 3 rounds and then it falls off...that is indicitive of leading and you need more lube and maybe a wad. Hope that helps.

[@jdoerr779]

@@curly__3 Thanks for the advice. I am using a hell of a roll crimp. That may be what’s helping me. Thanks again.

[@joearledge1]

Yeah, Idaho Lewis did a pretty good job of demonstrating that on his channel.... over powder wads, help all projectiles, but especially conicals.

[@gerald5344]

Upvoted for the creative use of Uline catalogs!

[@OhmSteader]

Couldn't find my uline catalog so grabbed the Mac bible since it was way out of date. I used to use large city phone books as my ballistic gel. You simply looked at the page numbers to calculate energy.

[@charlesmoffitt4811]

Enjoying your videos. I've been shooting muzzle loaders for almost 60 years. 45, 50, 62 and 75 caliber flintlocks.

[@jasonstcin659]

Thanks for the great video Ethan.

[@BCPD03]

Man I love these videos and know these ballistic gels aren't cheap especially the heads or bodys great stuff man🔥🔥

[@alwaysscouting]

ive learned so much from your videos. it is interesting how Blistick Gell is a good test for energy transfer on target. I see a lot of people think Bilstick Gell is for penetration. also with a heavy lead bullet, it drops more. If you up the powder, I wonder if that drop would change. PS I'm new to Muzzloders. thank you for inspiring me to try it.

[@RandallFoster-lx8ng]

Have you seen a lot of sidelock muzzleloader hunters are using sabots in their guns. I have used cheap shot TC sabots in my renegade with a felt patch over the powder to help keep fire away from the sabot. They shoot about like the maxi ball.

[@marktaylor8659]

Wow. That rifle really packs a kick.

[@raytribble8075]

They look like a great bullet. I am stuck on the Hornady ELD-X bore driver over 84 grains by weight of (affordable) 2F Triple 7 powder. My plinking loads are a 405 grain (398 actual) cast bullet I cast at .458 and size to .452 for Harvester sabots with the same powder charge. I just won’t spend that much for BH209 as I feel they are price gouging us.

[@jacobwilbert1018]

Thank you, i dont use subs at all but i am against blackhorn and can not rap my mind around why people do it. I wish my son was recording the day we realized they were 8oz cans instead of a pound 😅 I really really dont get it. Id take 3 pounds of the regular stuff over a half pound of blackhorn every time

[@raytribble8075]

@@jacobwilbert1018 I bought a stainless steel TC Encore 209-50 in 1999 and it was still unfired in the box when I pulled it out and scoped it a few months ago. I shoot both 3F and 2F T7 in my .32, .36 side hammers percussion rifles, along with all 7 of my .44 BP revolvers. I am a gunsmith so I build my own flintlocks from scratch and I mainly shoot 2F Swiss in my .54 and .62 caliber rifled flintlocks with round balls I cast from pure lead. I have pre Estes Goex and a bunch of 3F Skirmish as back up. But, I can imagine your son’s face. I just won’t buy it… Merica!

[@scudrunneradv3269]

Seems like pretty soft lead. Would love to see that bullet on ultra high speed video to see if any deformation occurred during its acceleration down the barrel

[@joearledge1]

1oz if lead is a hell of a pill, not sure what you're trying to hunt, but unless it's something massive at long range(moose at 800yrds) then you can back that charge down a lot for most practical applications. If you're popping deer or similar at 200yrds or less, you could easily keep it subsonic and still have a solid 1 hitter quitter that will shatter any and all bones that it touches. It's your load, do what you want, but you definitely don't need to make it a shoulder breaker to make 1oz of lead effective.

[@ILoveMuzzleloading]

Absolutely. The high charge in this test was only for consistency with the other tests I’ve done with this platform.

[@joearledge1]

@@ILoveMuzzleloading that's fair

[@jerrodladner3019]

Do u think this bullet would work in a 1 and 48 muzzeloader

[@joearledge1]

@@jerrodladner3019 possibly, only 1 way to find out... Idaho Lewis YT channel used to put some long conicals through a 1:48 and get bug hole groups. Stability of longer(heavier) bullets is dependent on twist and velocity to get the minimum revolutions per minute(RPM) to stabilize it. Can't change your twist rate unless you buy a new barrel or rifle, but you can give it more go juice. So bullets like these may or may not be on that line where, in a 1:48, it would be unstable at 1,150 fps, but stabile at 1,450 fps. You can do some research an ask the manufacturer/ mold maker, or just get some and try working up a load and see what happens.

[@ILoveMuzzleloading]

@@jerrodladner3019 Worth a shot.

[@IWatchedWhat]

Please try 777 powder, Blackhorn 209 is now over $90 for 8oz of powder, no way most of us can afford it.

[@flyingfalcon8999]

Bingo, might as well buy black powder.

[@harrypeterson9287]

@@flyingfalcon8999 With a little ingenuity and willingness to learn, you could buy everything needed to make your own high quality BP for about that much.

[@curly__3]

Awesome vid! Thanks.

[@beaubateman3912]

No excuses bullets? Thanks!

[@user-wz4fw9hj4k]

According to the graphic they ended up with 240+-grains recovered weight! Where did the other 200 grains go?

[@ILoveMuzzleloading]

That’s from the first test where the lead exited the gel, that 240 is all I could recover

[@JRS2791]

Whats the grouping like 50 to 100 yards?

[@robertmalmgren4640]

Are these a pure lead bullet or an alloy ? Are they a flat base or hollow base like a civil war mini ball?

[@joearledge1]

The video clearly answers all of these questions...

[@jacobwilbert1018]

N if it was an alloy it would not be doing what its doing

[@curly__3]

Why are you wearing the glove?

[@ILoveMuzzleloading]

I greased the bullets

[@jdb5965]

Heavy projectiles don't need so much velocity to work right, higher momentum is awesome at penetration. Optimum penetration is less than what you are shooting those at, you could use less powder, have less recoil and actually get better penetration (for big animals like Elk and Moose). Great big bullets aren't fancy, but are great terminal performers.

[@jacobwilbert1018]

​@@jdb5965 You must be new here

[@jdb5965]

@@jacobwilbert1018 Well "new" is relative to a time frame, and no punctuation; I'm not sure if you are asking a question, or making a statement. I hunt Elk with a 54 sidelock, 460 grain conical projectile and have done so since the mid 1990's, so yes, I'm new here compared to some. 👍

[@jacobwilbert1018]

@jdb5965 Oh kool Well this is not load development nor does he hunt with inlines. Its just a series where he tests different bullets for inline type rifles. He always uses the same rifle with the same charge of blackhorn no matter what type of projectile just as a constant/baseline for comparison. Thats it, Doesnt mean anything