I am a first time poster on this site (or any other site for that matter) so please be easy on me. I have been around muzzleloading for about 28 years now and have been spending time on your site recently and have found it extremely interesting. I just recently purchased a 1842 .69 cal rifled musket and have spent considerable amount of time trying to work up an acceptable load. The only source for a bullet that I have found is through Dixie gun works. I am somewhat of a "traditionalist" and was hoping to stick with what I consider an original style bullet. I arrived at a 70grain powder charge so far. The only issue that remains is that I have to set the rear sight to the 200yd setting to hit at proper height at 50yds!!! I read some of the other posts around bullet sizing, barrel bending (sounds scary), and other things that caught my attention. Does anyone have any thoughts? I measured the barrel ID and came up with approximately .695". I measured a sampling of the bullets and found them to measure around .685" on average (also notable is that the quality of the grooves around the base is terrible. In some spots they are non existent. Not sure if this is pertinent). I saw a post where someone made a fixture to expand the bullet base to get a better fit but what is considered a "good fit"? I know I am limiting myself by buying the bullets instead of making my own but I want to take this a step at a time. My current goal is to obtain a level of accuracy for deer hunting within 100 yds.
As an aside, I used to reinact with the 3rd Va but only did so for a couple of years. I recieved a gread deal of grief when I explained that I used my rifles to fire live rounds at home so I just kind of phased out of the reinacting thing. The NSSA looks more in line of what I have been looking for. I live in Smithfield Va and would be interested to know where the nearest group is. Thanks in advance for all the help! Hopefully I dont regret the post.
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