Muzzle Loader Projectile Options

September 2025 -- Jamie R.

With my current free time I have been looking more into getting the best accuracy out of my inline muzzle loaders. In this write up I want to let others know about the options available and my experiences testing each 50 caliber cast projectile.

This came to mind after I recently purchased a Traditions Pursuit Inline Rifle to add to my collection and an older Ideal 505 mold to cast the TC Mini Ball which has great reviews and I have been after for a while.

To date, I have not done anything with sabots. That is simply because I am not a fan of an undersized pistol round in a plastic sabot being run through my barrel when I can use my own lead projectiles at the proper size for the barrel. The other ones I have not tried are the Power Belts which are a copper jacketed bullet with a plastic base on them to engage the rifling. Again I just don’t like the idea of any plastic in my barrel. This is my opinion, please feel free to try whatever projectile you are interested in.

Like with center fire rifles, the twist rate of the barrel is a consideration when choosing the projectile to be used. Slower twists like 1/48 seem to prefer the more traditional lighter, patched round ball. Faster twist, generally more modern, guns are better suited for the heavier mini bullets or mini balls because the faster spin stabilizes the heavier projectile.

The Patched Round Ball

This is the historical standard for muzzleloader shooting and is widely used in all firearms with more success in replica and slower twist rifles. There are a couple things that are important to be aware of if you want the best groups out of your gun.

The first is the patch size that you use around the ball. It takes a little messing around to find the correct combination. Generally for 50 caliber you buy or cast 0.490 inch balls with a 10 to 15 thousandths patch. You can purchase the pre-lubed patches at the desired thickness and seat the ball on top and stuff it down the barrel.

Many shooters go to a fabric store and buy pillow ticking which is almost perfect for round ball shooting. Just cut a small square slightly bigger than the muzzle, place the ball on top, and ram it down. As with all projectiles, make sure it is seated firmly on top of the powder charge.

Personally I have tried a variety of patch material cut from old t-shirts that are 100 percent cotton. Once you have the thickness that your gun likes you can cut a bunch of patches out of an old shirt. These must be lubed before use, but that is easily done at the range with your favorite black powder lube. The added benefit with home made patches is they can also be used as a quick cleaning patch when the fouling builds up.

The other important thing to remember concerns home cast round balls. When loading these make sure the sprue cut (little flat spot on the ball) is facing up when you load them. Not completely sure why but there is an accuracy difference. I suspect the small flat spot may slightly change the spin on the ball.

The Mini Bullet

This is my favorite projectile so far. It is a round nose, flat point, hollow base bullet. The base of the bullet expands to engage the rifling. My testing bullets are 360 grains and shoot best in my faster twist, more modern, inline rifles. These must be lubed before shooting. This is easily done at the range or by pan lubing a bunch at home before shooting. Pan lubing for those that don’t know is simply standing the bullets up in a pan and pouring melted bullet lube into the pan until it fills the lube grooves to the desired level. Let the lube re-harden and then poke the lubed bullets out with a dowel. When I do this, I am careful to make sure that any lube on the base (flat bottom) of the bullet is wiped away so there is nothing to contaminate the powder charge.

Two things I really like about Mini Bullets.
First: NO patch is required, just load your powder and stuff the bullet directly on top of it. I have had no leading issues at all shooting these even though they are cast from pure lead.
Second: Due to the base of the bullet expanding when fired, I am able to run the bullets through a .501 Lee push-through sizer prior to pan lubing. This makes the projectiles extremely easy to load and has had no negatives so far as accuracy is concerned.

The TC Maxi Bullet

This is a beast of a bullet. Flat base, domed point, with two huge lube grooves and a little bit heavier than the mini (about 370 grains as cast). In my testing, it shot almost as well as the mini but would be a much more devastating hunting round due to its mass and solid design. Testing these as cast from pure lead was a lot of fun. There was a little more felt recoil but you knew from the sound when they hit, that they hit like a ton of bricks.

I read online some complaints that there was too much lube when you filled both lube grooves but in my opinion, that is up to the shooter. I tried filling both grooves on some, and on others just filling the bottom groove as suggested, and found no performance difference. Let's face it, you have to clean the gun after shooting anyway and more lube isn’t going to hurt anything. In fact, it may help soften the powder fouling. As with the minis above, if you are pan lubing be sure to clean any lube off the flat base of the bullet before shooting. This was a grail of a bullet mold to find and just a blast to shoot.

To sum things up, Black Powder shooting can be fussy but you have plenty of options to try. I am just a target shooter so my powder charge was far from max. I was happy just ringing the gong or hitting a target on the berm. All types of projectiles required some scope adjustment but that’s part of the fun and the reason to have more than one muzzle loader. I now have a gun set up for each projectile.

Go out and make some smoke… Happy shooting.

back to Table Of Contents for Member Ramblings

Warning and Disclaimer. Only the most current printed Shooting Rules and Range Standing Orders and Match Standing Orders as issued by the N.O.S.A. Executive are official and they should be read, understood, and followed. If there is any question as to interpretation of a rule, or safety of a practice, immediately ask a member of the Executive or a Range Safety Officer before placing yourself or anyone or anything else at risk. Any activity involving firearms has inherent dangers. Some contents on this website may include personal opinions and experiences or practices that should not be emulated. Everyone viewing this website, or any other website or book or magazine or pamphlet or media source, is cautioned to seek professional advice first about anything written or implied or inferred. Your safety is your personal responsibility.

Copyright © 2025 New Ontario Shooters Association. This site is copyrighted and no content may be reproduced by any means, including electronic, without written permission except for strictly personal use. Other websites wishing to post a link to this site are welcome to do so.