John Gross
08-04-2008, 04:54 PM
I asked this question at another forum, and the esteemed Tony Beck gave me his thoughts on it. With no disrespect to Tony, I told him that I was going to continue to gather as many opinions as I could. So, if anybody would like to offer their thoughts, here is my question.
For research purposes I need the downrange ballistics, out to 1,800 yards, for the .451 British Whitworth muzzle loading rifle. Such things as retained velocity, bullet drop, wind deflection, time of flight, etc. I'm even willing to purchase a ballistic program IF IT WILL WORK. Some of the programs (such as Sierra Bullets) says it is not compatable for black powder. I don't know why and I'm waiting to hear back from them about this. It would seem to me that a 45 caliber bullet of a certain shape, length, weight and traveling at 1,300 fps from the muzzle would have the same downrange performance no matter the propellent.
Anyway, here's my Plan B and my specific question. Since a 45-70 500/550 grain bullet is very close to the .445" diameter 530 grain Whitworth bullet, and they travel at very near the same muzzle velocity, does anyone see any reason why I could not use the 45-70 ballistics to get a close approximation on how the Whitworth would perform? The reason being that 45-70 ballistics should be easy to find or calculate with a ballistic program.
While I appreciate any advice, this is for a serious research project, so if you are just taking a "wild guess" please say so and I will weigh your information accordingly.
Thank you,
John Gross
For research purposes I need the downrange ballistics, out to 1,800 yards, for the .451 British Whitworth muzzle loading rifle. Such things as retained velocity, bullet drop, wind deflection, time of flight, etc. I'm even willing to purchase a ballistic program IF IT WILL WORK. Some of the programs (such as Sierra Bullets) says it is not compatable for black powder. I don't know why and I'm waiting to hear back from them about this. It would seem to me that a 45 caliber bullet of a certain shape, length, weight and traveling at 1,300 fps from the muzzle would have the same downrange performance no matter the propellent.
Anyway, here's my Plan B and my specific question. Since a 45-70 500/550 grain bullet is very close to the .445" diameter 530 grain Whitworth bullet, and they travel at very near the same muzzle velocity, does anyone see any reason why I could not use the 45-70 ballistics to get a close approximation on how the Whitworth would perform? The reason being that 45-70 ballistics should be easy to find or calculate with a ballistic program.
While I appreciate any advice, this is for a serious research project, so if you are just taking a "wild guess" please say so and I will weigh your information accordingly.
Thank you,
John Gross