some of the more accurate muzzle loaders

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
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if your smart and logical you realize that with a muzzle loader your forced to make the first shot' count, as you may not get a second shot
some of the more accurate muzzle loaders are the 58 caliber-69 caliber rifled muskets,

and heavier octagon rifled barrel hawken clones
keep in mind the rifle twist rate must match the projectiles used.
almost all muzzle loaders have twist rates that easily stabilize a patched round ball,
purely from a physics standpoint, larger bore diameters result in heavier mass in projectiles and this tends to help accuracy IF the correct projectile is matched to a compatible twist rate.
by the time of the mid 1800s many rifled muskets designed to use mini balls would with the correct ammo hit a man size target very regularly out past 600 yards in a skilled shooter's hands, army ordnance and the better civilian gunsmiths went to great lengths, to do the research and in many cases the rifles, if properly maintained and loaded, were potentially far more accurate than the people using them.
keep in mind the powder charge and bullet diameter and lube used, must match the application to get great accuracy
over charges flare the mini ball base excessively, resulting in poor accuracy .
the larger bore muskets seem to prefer 2f powder but 3f can be used.




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The US Ordnance Manual of 1862 lists 70 grains powder for the 1842 with Expanding Ball, and 110 grains with Round Ball.
typically a 58 hawken clone with a typical 1 in 48 twist prefers a 60 grain charge with a mini ball and about 90 grains under a patched round ball load.
 
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obviously some designs and the factors like the barrel's rifling twist rate, and depth of that rifling,
have a major effect on the rifle's accuracy now its the quality of the manufacturing,
of both the rifle and projectile and the consistency in the loading process, to some extent that affects the
the rifles accuracy potential.

The trope is named for John Sedgwick, a United States Army general in The American Civil War who, during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, said "I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way for single bullets. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!" seconds before being fatally shot in the head by a sniper.(at well over 500 yards)

and as tech advanced rifles like the SHARPS were well known for accuracy.
The effective range of a Sharps rifle is 1,000 yards (910 meters), with a maximum firing range of 3,000 yards (2,700 meters). Other characteristics of the Sharps rifle include :https://texashillcountry.com/the-long-shot/
 
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