Lyman; 60.0.gr FFFG Dupont black powder w/ .433 ball. .017 denim patch.How many grains of black powder is recommended for a .44 cal Kentucky flintlock rifle?
CIH gave you a very good detailed answer. In fact I work up and care for my black powder guns just the way he described.
I only wish to add that you need to clean the bore after a shot as the residue from the spent powder will make it hard to ram another ball home and will after a couple of shots, make that impossible. A lubricated patch ran down the smoke pole will do the trick. Never use a dry patch for this or you could get the ramrod stuck.
Here is more info for ya;
http://www.blackpowderjournal.com/archiv鈥?/a>
It really depends on who made the rifle and what specs they made it to. If I could find a name and address on the barrel for a company to write to, I'd ask for a manual and the answer to your question.
i never seen a 44 Kentucky rifle i have seen 45,36,and 50 cal i might be wrong but you better look again at your rifle
Each rifle will require a slightly different charge to achieve maximum accuracy. You will also have to experiment with the ball diameter and patch thickness as well. To start with I would choose a ball that is about 10 thousadths smaller than the caliber. I think your rifle may possibly be a .45 caliber rather than a .44 caliber. Most rifles that are in the .45 caliber range are actually .45 caliber rather than a .44 caliber. Buy some 0.440 diameter balls and some 0.010 thick patch material. This will geiv you a bullet/patch combination that is more easily loaded and yet be tight enough to grip the rifling in the barrel. Use whatever patch lube you have. You can even use spit, many shooters use spit as a ptatch lube. For the powder, I'd start with 50 grains of fffG. Shoot several rounds at a target from a bench rest position. Wipe the bore between each shot with a patch that is very slightly dampened with a bore cleaner. Follow the damp patch with a dry one. After five rounds, remove your target and replace it with a fresh one. Now, increase your powder charge by 5 grains to 55 grains of fffG powder and repeat wihjt five more rounds just as you did wiht the first five rounds. Keep this up until you have worked your way up to about 80 grains. Now examine your target and see which charge gave you the smallest group. This is the charge you want to use for your rifle. it doesn't matter what anyone else uses, you have just discovered what your rifle likes. Now, you will need to determine which patch lube gives you the best group. There are many store bought patch lubes and even more home made lubes. You will just have to repeat the test you did to determine which powder charge your gun likes by shooting your gun's favorite charge wiht various patch lubes. Do not change the charge at any time. rom now on, the only charge you will use in that gun is the one that you found to give the best accuracy. After determining the lube that your gun likes, start trying different patch materials until yoiu find the best patch material for your gun. Finally, get some .445 and some .450 diameter balls and repeat the test to determine the ball that it likes. When you have done all of this, you will have worked up a load for your particualr gun. Other guns just like it may not shoot well with the load that you have found best for your gun but just realize that your gun is unique and that you have spent the time and money to determine exactly what your gun likes. Sure it is a lot of work and may take you weeks to do it all but what the heck, you are having fun shooting your rifle. All of us who are really into muzzleloading can tell you that we have done this with EVERY gun that we own. I have 5 muzzleloading rifles, one shotgun and one pistol that I have gone through all of this with just to be able to shoot as accurately as I can. Each rifle, my pistol and my shotgun has it's own powderhorn with its own powder measure, it own bag of balls, its own patch material and its own patch lube. Whenever I go to the range or to the woods to hunt, I just grab the things that go to the gun that I am using that day and I know I have the exactly right load to give me the best accuracy.
Be sure to thoroughly clean your gun when you return home. Do not put it off until the next day. Black powder is corrosive and will corrode up your gun in no time. I ust hot water and soap to wash out my bore, rinse it with boiling water, spray it wiht WD-40, run a few dry patches through it and then run a patch with GUN oil on it. Don't forget to clean the hammer and the pan.
Oh, by the way, don't bother with black powder substitutes such as Pyrodex, Triple 7, etc. They do not work worth a dang in a flintlock. You will have an aggrivatingly high number of misfires wiht them. They are good for capl;ocks and in-line guns but just not a flintlock. Use fffG powder for the charge. I use ffffG for the pan but the fffG will work fine and you won't have to buy a separate can of powder just for the pan. When you put powder in the pan, do not cover up the touch hole. If you cover the touch hole, you will cause the gun to delay a fraction of a second and that is enough to mess up your sight picture. Just put enough powder in the pan to come up to near the bottom of the touch hole but not over it. When the pan is properly charged, you will not notice any delay between the pan flash and the charge going off. If you can detect a slight delay, you need to clean out the touch hole or use less powder in the pan.
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