BIG 50 ammo out of St. Loius

[BIG50]

I was at a gun show here in Bloomington IL. and one of the venders had some premade 50-90 ammo that ran $73 per box of 20. The Manufacturer was out of St. Louis but I cannot remember the name exactly. It was something like 'RSG Industries' or thereabouts. I thought about purchasing a box just for experimentation, thought better of it, and now wish I had. Anyone out there know the Man. Im refuring to??? Anyone try this ammo out???? How did it work??? They also had 50-70, 45-90 & 45-100.

Thanks in advance!!!

BIG 50

[Lee Stone]

At $3.65 per round I am not interested in purchasing any, but I am very glad that the interest in blackpowder shooting has progressed sufficiently to inspire those folks to try putting them on the market. I hope this interest continues to grow.

[Lead Pot]

I can remember a time I payed that much for empty cases before Bell and Star cam arround

Kurt

[Lee Stone]

Thank goodness for Bell and Star!

[crazeyiven]

Not sure about your contact but Buffalo Arms (frequently mentioned on this site) offers pre-loaded ammo. This link should take you to the page where the ammo is listed.

[url] http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm?v ... =24&step=2[/url]

Below is their item # and price:
Item #: AMO5090515B
Your Price: $74.95 / Box of 20

They also list other "sharps" cals and some metric too.

The cost is steep. But, if you consider that $2.00 of that is brass, reusalbe brass then it is not quite so bad.

In a pinch, it might be something to try.

Thanks,

David[/url]

[crazeyiven]

This question about "factory" loaded 50-90 got me to thinking about the 50 calibers in general.

I've been reading posting on this site for several months. Finally got around to registering not long ago.

One thing that sort of surprised me was how relative little there is about 50 Caliber (50-90 in my case - no pun intended). I've made numerous searches and have found information but it seems to be sparse. A lot of the references to the 50's are just in passing.

It might be interesting to hear from those who have, shoot or like any of the 50's and their experiences with them as well as those who don't!

David

[BIG50]

Im with you David!!!
At $2 a pop for brass an extra $33 doesnt sound so bad to experiment with a new brand of ammo, especially since it was BELL which is what I use.
My sister lives in Lake St. Louis so Dad and I are are down around St. Loius on a regular basis. We belong to the St. Louis Benchrest Club, a real nice privately owned range around Wright City. We bring our guns and see the family all in one weekend. Cant beat that. You can get a 600 yrd shot at regulation targets and they also hold silhouette every month.
Been there???? What load are you using for your 50-90? Any long distant shooting???

Thanks!
BIG 50

[Ken Hartlein]

My friend Croft Barker has a book titled "shooting the 50-70". I have several of his books and they are all good. He is from Flatonia, TX and shoots a 50-70 in silhouette. He advertises in "the news".

[BIG50]

Excellent book by Mr. Barker!!! A must read for the true big bore lover. I have an autographed copy and it made me want a 50-70 for silhouette. In time with the $$$$!!! Im still having too much fun with my 50-90 if that is possible!

Thank!
BIG 50

[Lee Stone]

When the .50/90 I have on order with Shiloh is done and I have it, y'all can rest assured I will burden y'all with my thoughts on it. I already bought a case of 1000 brass from Bell and a mould from Paul Jones to be ready to load for it. And I followed Rdnks suggestion and bought a case of Goex Fg for it, so I'm ready for it.

And I know it is going to be even more beautiful than my .45/90 that Shiloh just sent to me, if that is possible.

[James Hunt]

Lee; I noticed that your intent is to use 1f goex in your .50-90. Have you or anyone else had any experience in using it in .50-70?

I confess to dumping 2f Goex in everything from flintlocks, to .38 LC, to .38-55, to my .45-110. It is just easier to buy one for everything and it seems to work. However, I am not in the same class as you guy's, I have a 200 yd range and that is it. I shoot a .50-70 conversion carbine with 2f - don't even use a wad - and it shoots about a six inch group at 100 yds. probably better if my eyes could see the Lawrence sights. However, I have a hartford on order in .50-70 and with three candidates for 1f Goex, and with others claiming great things for it in the .45-110,

while I guess that was a long explanation of why I'm interested if you or any one else has experience with it in the .50-70. Thanks in advance for any comments. James Hunt

[Lee Stone]

James,

Right now I am going on the posts and advice of the experts, like Kenny W. and Rdnck. It was on Rdnck's advice I bought the Fg for loading the .50/90. All I have loaded for so far is .32/40, .45/70 and .45/90. That's worked out pretty well so far but is still in the development stages (And probably always will. Heck that's half the fun of this game, isn't it?)

Anyway, I figure that if folk like Kenny and Rdnck make a shooting suggestion it pays someone as ignorant as I am to listen and follow their advice.

[Rich Siegel]

James,

I shoot a Shiloh saddle rifle with a 26" barrel in 50/70. I've tried 1FG GOEX in it and had good results but as I shoot my other rifles with mostly 2FG GOEX, I've worked up loads with the 2FG for the short 50. I find the 2FG works as well in the 50/70 as the 1FG. When I had a C Sharps in 45-100, the only powder I had any luck with getting good accuracy was 1FG.

1FG powder will give you lower velocities. To ease shooting, and as I haven't competed with the rifle, I've worked up duplex loads with both 1FG and 2FG powder but again, for ease of supply, I stick to 2FG. I buy my GOEX in 5 pound bags so it's nice just to use one grade of powder.

I've also found the 50/70 easy to load for with smokeless powders. That's one reason I went with the 50 1.75" rather then the 50 2.5". I felt the shorter case would do better with smokeless loads.

Rich

[crazeyiven]

BIG 50

I agree about the extra cost. It's not that much above the cost of the brass. It might be especially nice for someone who has just ordered or received a rifle and just wants to get out and shoot! Reload later!

Have been through Wright City numerous times. My wife's family live in the St. Louis area, just over the line in Ill.

I have a C Sharps on order. Supposed to arrive sometime between now and the 15th of this month. It's a Hartford, without a collar, 50-90, 32" # 1 heavy barrel. Looked at both. Hard choice. Have never seen a Shiloh, have seen several C Sharps. Delivery time finally made the difference. Too old (or impatient) to wait for nearly a year! Maybe the next one.

Have been shooting 45-70's for years. Started out with a cut down trapdoor rifle my dad found on the reservation in Oklahoma when he was a kid. I now have that rifle and since then added an original rifle and carbine and an H&R Officer's model.

Started out with blackpowder. Then tried smokeless when I got the H&R. Been using smokeless since then.

However, all the data on shooting blackpowder has got me back. Did a lot of things wrong with my original BP loads. Going to try BP again.

In fact, my brother lives near me (we're in the Kansas City area). He traded for an original Allin Conversion 50-70. The condition and the bore are fantastic. He has been looking for smokeless loads. Was not having much luck and was talking about trading it off. Talked him into trying BP again. He loaded up some and went out the our range. Talked him into going on to the long range (they have extended it to 200 yrds) he usually shoots on the 50 and 100yrd range.

Did not see where the first shot went. Had him drop his sight ladder down. Told him to shoot, and walk them in. The next shot hit about 25 yrd short of the rails and silhouettes. Adjusted the sight and tried again. This one through dirt all over the rails and the targets. He looked over at me with a grin on his face. A very minor adjustment on the ladder this time. The next shot was a "KLUNK....RING!" The silhouette went over. The look on his face was priceless. By the end of the box he decided this was fun. Decided he would keep the rifle and work on the loads more.
I took my officer's model that day. It took me 5 to hit the target. We're going to look around and see if we can find some longer ranges.

So far, for my 50-90, I have 100 rounds of the Bell Brass from Midway. Bought a case of Federal 215 primers and a Hoch nose pour semi-spitzer 650 gr mould. My brother has a 450 gr lyman mould. Will try some of those too. Also purchased several pounds of 20-1 lead. I have been thinking of trying the swiss 1 1/2 first. Not sure yet. I have cut a bunch of tablet-back wads but have been thinking about trying some of the precut wads. Have been reading "Shooting Buffalo Rifles of the Old West," By Mike Venturino and the book he co-authored for/with SPG. Also an old article from Rifle magazine from 2000 about the C Sharps in 50-90 and loads...smokless and BP.

Long range shooting with a single shot big bore rifle has always appealed to me. This is going to be great. Just need to find longer ranges.

Thanks for the reply.

David

[crazeyiven]

This may have been referrenced elsewhere, but, in case not has some interesting data on ctgs and some relative data comparing american bison and african buffalo.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/buffalo_cartridges.htm

Title is "Buffalo Cartridges of the American Frontier"

David