Recent Posts11
Caplock Long Guns / Re: Percussion Shooting Punching Thru Steel - Is that possible?
« Last post by Bigsmoke on March 14, 2026, 11:51:23 AM »Sure it's possible, but it takes big balls to do it. Pardon the silly pun, there.
Back in my big bore rifle days I was invited to attend a Boy Scout gathering at Farragut Park in North Idaho. That would have been around 2000 or 2001. The reason for my presence there was to do a muzzleloading demonstration to various groups of kids at the rifle range located in the park. They had classes for .22 rifle shooting, archery and I think they might also have had shotgun.
So, I took a Ruger revolver, my .54 rifle, my .69 caliber English Sporting Rifle and my 8 bore double rifle. Also along for the ride was a piece of diamond plate that was maybe 18" x 30" or so. I hung the diamond plate up at the 50 yard line.
The pistol slightly dented the plate, the .54 left a little better dent with 85 grains of Ffg. Then I got out the interesting guns. I loaded the .69 cal with 200 grains of Ffg and let fly. During the course of the day, that really put some deep indentations in the steel. But with the 8 bore with 300 grains of Fg, every ball punched a hole through the steel.
So, yep, a muzzleloader can indeed punch holes in steel. I think if I had cast some hard .678 balls, the .69 would have also done it, but not with soft lead. The 8 bore is just a beast. Too bad I didn't have a 4 bore in the works yet, that would have really been a blast.
John (Bigsmoke)
Back in my big bore rifle days I was invited to attend a Boy Scout gathering at Farragut Park in North Idaho. That would have been around 2000 or 2001. The reason for my presence there was to do a muzzleloading demonstration to various groups of kids at the rifle range located in the park. They had classes for .22 rifle shooting, archery and I think they might also have had shotgun.
So, I took a Ruger revolver, my .54 rifle, my .69 caliber English Sporting Rifle and my 8 bore double rifle. Also along for the ride was a piece of diamond plate that was maybe 18" x 30" or so. I hung the diamond plate up at the 50 yard line.
The pistol slightly dented the plate, the .54 left a little better dent with 85 grains of Ffg. Then I got out the interesting guns. I loaded the .69 cal with 200 grains of Ffg and let fly. During the course of the day, that really put some deep indentations in the steel. But with the 8 bore with 300 grains of Fg, every ball punched a hole through the steel.
So, yep, a muzzleloader can indeed punch holes in steel. I think if I had cast some hard .678 balls, the .69 would have also done it, but not with soft lead. The 8 bore is just a beast. Too bad I didn't have a 4 bore in the works yet, that would have really been a blast.
John (Bigsmoke)
