Ok don’t kill me just looking for knowledge

[ImThere]

Why can't you shoot smokeless powder out of a regular optima? What's the difference in the barrel? Looking at it, reading about it, there isn't a difference? If you put a proper load in the muzzle loader what would happen?
Again just asking. I am telling a guy who wants to hunt with a muzzle loader why he cannot. I cannot answer the question to his satisfaction because I simply don't know. I follow directions and the directions say not to do it. Lol.
Again please educate me. Don't just call me a dumbass and move on!trying to keep a man from getting hurt.

 

[CHRIS WILSON]

Smokeless powders typically burn at a higher rate than black powder and BP substitutes. This causes a faster and higher spike in pressures in comparison to BP and BP subs. It's that high and fast pressure spike that can rupture barrels made strictly for BP and BP subs which usually have a lower PSI proof rating than smokeless barrels.

 

[Dennis]

It's the same reason you don't explore the Titanic in a cheaply made submarine or put an inexperienced leader in a stressful situation.

Not everything or everyone can handle the pressure.

 

[Flint]

With smokeless powder, the faster it burns, the higher the pressure, and the higher the pressure, the faster it burns. So even if you found a safe load for a barrel not designed for smokeless, a small (less than a grain by weight) error in loading could have catastrophic results.

 

[Omega]

Two trains of thought, I would stick to not doing it.

Don't do it


Don't do it but...

 

[Carlos]

It turns the MZ into a pipe bomb.

Don't ever try it, please.

 

[DaveTN]

What's the difference in the barrel? Looking at it, reading about it, there isn't a difference?

I don't know, but there are warnings everywhere that you will blow it up. So, I assume there is a difference. But like you, I have never seen a description of exactly what that difference is or why it would blow up.

 

[jlanecr500]

I left my waders at home so I'll not get too deep into this but will leave a little food for thought. 1) Do you think the Bergara barrel that CVA puts on an Accura is any different steel than the one on an Apex single shot rifle ?
2) Why would any modern muzzleloader or rifle manufacturer use a low grade of steel ? That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Apex .50 Cal Muzzleloader Stainless Steel/Black

Buy Apex .50 Cal Muzzleloader Stainless Steel/Black.

www.bergarausa.com

 

[ImThere]

I left my waders at home so I'll not get too deep into this but will leave a little food for thought. 1) Do you think the Bergara barrel that CVA puts on an Accura is any different steel than the one on an Apex single shot rifle ?
2) Why would any modern muzzleloader or rifle manufacturer use a low grade of steel ? That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Apex .50 Cal Muzzleloader Stainless Steel/Black

Buy Apex .50 Cal Muzzleloader Stainless Steel/Black.

www.bergarausa.com

And this is the exact reason for the question. They make all their barrels out of 416.

 

[fairchaser]

The pressure in a barrel on a regular center fire barrel is around 50-60 thousand psi. Because the brass case seals the chamber, that pressure goes out the muzzle and not back toward the breech. There's very little to stop the pressure in a muzzleloader from coming back to the breech except the breech plug which is much more substantial in a smokeless muzzleloader. The difference is more about breech than the barrel.

 

[Tnshooter15]

The pressure in a barrel on a regular center fire barrel is around 50-60 thousand psi. Because the brass case seals the chamber, that pressure goes out the muzzle and not back toward the breech. There's very little to stop the pressure in a muzzleloader from coming back to the breech except the breech plug which is much more substantial in a smokeless muzzleloader. The difference is more about breech than the barrel.

This is the answer. It isn't the barrel. It's the breach plug that will fail.

 

[jlanecr500]

In our quest to determine the strength of break action single shots, I personally witnessed someone proof test a Bergara barreled CVA Accura 50 cal ML with a large load of N110 and a saboted 250gr sst bullet. It pressure traced 68kpsi and did not fail or bulge the barrel and the breech plug survived too. I do agree though, that the breech plug isn't hard enough. That gun has killed several deer since then. This was in a controlled environment and only a test. Don't try this at home.

 

[ROVERBOY]

A friend of my uncle's told about a guy he hunted with, that dumped the powder from a low brass 12 gauge shell, down a .50 caliber Hawken.
He loaded it with a roundball and shot it. No problem at all, and then he did it again. Broke the stock right in half where the breech was. I had that "Oh sh--" look on my face the entire time he was telling it.