copperBB
New Member
what am I doing wrong. I invite you, the internet, and all of your criticism, to tell how I'm doing it wrong.
I have recently started muzzleloader hunting as a consequence of my failure to find a willing elk during any weapon season.
The rifle that fell within my budget was the .50 caliber CVA Accura2 Northwest. It is not, as the name implies, all that accurate. It was cheap asa result of a trade in coupon. I traded in a badly cared for inline rifle that was given to me as a gift. perhaps I've already spent the %20 savings on powder while working on load development and should have bought a hawkin from the beginning.
The best group I've shot was with 405 grain soft lead powerbelts over 120g of 777 (the green ones) which at the time was a great disappointment to me because the store bought powerbelts out-shot my cast boolits.
I cast the Lee 501-440RF (like Idahoron paper patches) for the 500 S&W magnum, from pure soft lead. I powder coat them with Ford Light blue, run them through a .501 Lee push through sizer. I've shot them over a 1/4" lubed felt wad, and not, I've tried with and without 1/8" wonder wads. I've tried with and without an over charge card. the best that I can manage is a 1.5 inch group at 25 yards. the store boughts shot inside 1 inch, most disheartening.
I bought a peep-rib so I could utilize magnifying optics during this load development stage and then pull the scope off while hunting. so, I am confident that the group size is load/charge dependent, not shooter error or a result of coarse sights.
I've slugged the bore and found that the Grooves are .512 and the lands are somewhere between 501 and 506... kinda tricky to get the measurometer squarely pinched on the center of each of the land's tiny indentations simultaneously. really im going to say .501 because a sized 501 projectile loads into a clean bore with out falling in by itself and encounters minimum resistance and engraves the rifleing slightly.
I started with 70g (the lowest volume my measure can be set to) of 777 2F. I worked my way up to 120g in the 10 grain increments, shooting 3 shot groups, one with a grease wad, one with out. finding my best group at 110g, no wad, no card. all with out swabbing.
suspecting that perhaps heavy fouling had contributed to better obturation, I brought it home, gave it a thorough cleaning, and re-shot the last few sets of 100g, 110g, 120g, groups, and ran out of powder just after disproving the heavy fouling worries. the 110g no wad, was still the shiner.
so I just bought some FFFG 777 and some pyrodex RS, as the real stuff isn't readily available in my little town. The 3F seems to be about the same as the 2F did 1.5 inch groups. the pyrodex choked me out and didn't improve the groups.
The next thing that I am gonna try to tighten the group is not sizing, just loading some as cast, and some double powder coated and I ordered some 50 caliber gas checks. the lee 501-440F is gas check mold, so... I'll give that a try also.
my latest theory is that the deep grooved barrel was cut for sabots, their flexible plastic skirts easily opening under explosive pressures and insuring tight obturation in the Grooves, that is why the green powerbelts worked. I hope that I can achieve some better accuracy with tightly fitted cast. It may be that I have been a victim of marketing and purchased a rifle that was advertised as "built for the northwest hunting rules" but was actually a sabot gun with an exposed nipple and no scope.
so my questions are
1) how deep are your muzzleloader Grooves?
2) what do you cast for your muzzleloader?
3) do you really need to swab between shots while
developing a load? and if so What is your method/material?
4)how can anyone take an ethical shot with a 6moa rifle with iron sighs ? get within 26 yards I suppose.
thanks for reading my post
I have recently started muzzleloader hunting as a consequence of my failure to find a willing elk during any weapon season.
The rifle that fell within my budget was the .50 caliber CVA Accura2 Northwest. It is not, as the name implies, all that accurate. It was cheap asa result of a trade in coupon. I traded in a badly cared for inline rifle that was given to me as a gift. perhaps I've already spent the %20 savings on powder while working on load development and should have bought a hawkin from the beginning.
The best group I've shot was with 405 grain soft lead powerbelts over 120g of 777 (the green ones) which at the time was a great disappointment to me because the store bought powerbelts out-shot my cast boolits.
I cast the Lee 501-440RF (like Idahoron paper patches) for the 500 S&W magnum, from pure soft lead. I powder coat them with Ford Light blue, run them through a .501 Lee push through sizer. I've shot them over a 1/4" lubed felt wad, and not, I've tried with and without 1/8" wonder wads. I've tried with and without an over charge card. the best that I can manage is a 1.5 inch group at 25 yards. the store boughts shot inside 1 inch, most disheartening.
I bought a peep-rib so I could utilize magnifying optics during this load development stage and then pull the scope off while hunting. so, I am confident that the group size is load/charge dependent, not shooter error or a result of coarse sights.
I've slugged the bore and found that the Grooves are .512 and the lands are somewhere between 501 and 506... kinda tricky to get the measurometer squarely pinched on the center of each of the land's tiny indentations simultaneously. really im going to say .501 because a sized 501 projectile loads into a clean bore with out falling in by itself and encounters minimum resistance and engraves the rifleing slightly.
I started with 70g (the lowest volume my measure can be set to) of 777 2F. I worked my way up to 120g in the 10 grain increments, shooting 3 shot groups, one with a grease wad, one with out. finding my best group at 110g, no wad, no card. all with out swabbing.
suspecting that perhaps heavy fouling had contributed to better obturation, I brought it home, gave it a thorough cleaning, and re-shot the last few sets of 100g, 110g, 120g, groups, and ran out of powder just after disproving the heavy fouling worries. the 110g no wad, was still the shiner.
so I just bought some FFFG 777 and some pyrodex RS, as the real stuff isn't readily available in my little town. The 3F seems to be about the same as the 2F did 1.5 inch groups. the pyrodex choked me out and didn't improve the groups.
The next thing that I am gonna try to tighten the group is not sizing, just loading some as cast, and some double powder coated and I ordered some 50 caliber gas checks. the lee 501-440F is gas check mold, so... I'll give that a try also.
my latest theory is that the deep grooved barrel was cut for sabots, their flexible plastic skirts easily opening under explosive pressures and insuring tight obturation in the Grooves, that is why the green powerbelts worked. I hope that I can achieve some better accuracy with tightly fitted cast. It may be that I have been a victim of marketing and purchased a rifle that was advertised as "built for the northwest hunting rules" but was actually a sabot gun with an exposed nipple and no scope.
so my questions are
1) how deep are your muzzleloader Grooves?
2) what do you cast for your muzzleloader?
3) do you really need to swab between shots while
developing a load? and if so What is your method/material?
4)how can anyone take an ethical shot with a 6moa rifle with iron sighs ? get within 26 yards I suppose.
thanks for reading my post