The "spit patch" will absolute accuracy has always been at the top of our priority, Accuracy for me is to hit a golf ball at 100 yards off a benchrest You want to seat the ball firmly, without crushing the powder kernels. It will not leave a built up layer of crud in your bore like some of the concoctions of lip balm, waxes and grease. The depth of the groves will vary. criteria for accuracy was to be able to shoot three shots Don’t try to shoot your test targets from off-hand. I typically purchase percussion caps by lots of one thousand. You can purchase cleaning patches or make your own from cotton flannel fabric and cut it to size with a rotary cutter. The 150 weighed charges that he was shooting were actually equivalent to When seating the ball down onto the powder charge use the same amount of pressure on the ramrod each and every time. Any good reloading manual will outline the variables involved and a logical approach to discovering the best combination of components for accurate loads in an individual rifle. This is really magnified when traveling a long distance to a shooting match and the powder is transported in your vehicle. Here are a few things that I learned to help shoot my muzzleloader with more accuracy. The next consecutive 10-shots fired averaged 2,025 fps., a gain of 75 fps., for a muzzle energy of 2277 ft.-lbs. You can control the amount of lubrication on and in the patch material by using a water-soluble oil. For your initial testing start with those recommendations. Even if you must use a mallet to start that load into the muzzle. shoot much, much better on a fouled barrel than they shoot on a clean barrel. When you have finished shooting you will have ten to twelve targets with five shot groups on them. Consistency in every action is critical. Is now available for purchase in convenient two ounce spray bottles. Compressed thickness of patching material. Adjustible powder measure with leveling spout. Do not tap or shake the measure. After I learned to cast my own ball I find fewer inconsistencies in them and those that happen to be too light simply go back into the melting pot. Use just enough to dampen the patch. Record the ball size and weight along with the patching material and lubricant used. If a quality traditional muzzleloader rifle purchase on a budget ($500) is the goal, whether flintlock or caplock, the ones made by Investarms (Italy) for the Lyman company have proven to be good, serviceable and accurate guns. Then again, no other muzzleloader can really offer a realistic shot a 1 MOA accuracy out to 500 yards, either. Those out of balance balls are going to wobble in flight to the target. It’s also deadly accurate with the right load. Be sure to write on the targets which sample was used along with all the other information you have recorded on the previous targets. Years later I became involved with a muzzleloading gun club which holds monthly shooting matches. With this method you insure that every patch you load will have the exact same amount of lubricant, thus eliminating one more variable that affects the accuracy of your load. Finding the most accurate load for a muzzleloading rifle requires an understanding of all the variables involved and a systematic approach for isolating and testing each of those variables. to the bottom of the barrel. Learn your gun's accuracy potential by swabbing the bore between every shot. Classic Muzzleloaders: Rifles, Pistols, and Accessories by Traditions Go back in time and experience the excitment of shooting from days gone by; these guns are accurate for hunting and target shooting, and will open up a great new sport the whole family can enjoy. Unlike Crisco, lard, or olive oil, you don’t want to use it to cook your breakfast. If you find cuts in the patching material where the patch is compressed between the ball and the lands in the bore, it is usually a sign of sharp edges that remain on the lands from the rifling process. Extremely rough or neglected barrels may need to be polished out with valve grinding compound. I prefer to run a dry cleaning patch down the barrel and back out only once after each shot. Accuracy for me is to hit a golf ball at 100 yards off a benchrest strokes. If you were to measure a different fabric you could very well find that it also measures .015 thick uncompressed but that its compressed measurement is .010. If you load the ball with the sprue to one side it will wobble and fly outside of the group. The other important function is to act as a seal for the expanding gasses that send the ball on its way to the target. remove the excess fouling while leaving the "first shot fouling" on the This leads to increased fouling in your barrel that must be dealt with. Practice taking measurements on different places on your strip of material until you are getting consistent measurements. Go back to the range and load your best powder charge and ball combination with the 5-1 mix lubricated strip and fire a five shot target. Post a new target. If you managed to land a really tough-to-draw muzzleloader tag and you want the best long-range muzzleloader money can buy, this muzzleloader may be … Magnification, scopes or red dots are not allowed. Unlike grease or straight oils, you can precisely control how much lubricant is applied to every patch. Until some testing is performed I can only suggest that you get a good ballistic chronograph and try to sort it out to your own satisfaction. Remember that muzzleloader laws vary by … The water will evaporate out of the fabric leaving only the oil. In making this decision you now have reliable information recorded on all those targets to guide you. Continue shooting five shot groups on the targets, increasing the powder charge by five grains for each target until you reach the maximum charge recommend by your rifles manufacturer. It also has a barrel made of chrome-moly steel, which has long been recognized as the best barrel material for strength and accuracy for rifles of any configuration. As the amount of fouling increases the friction increases, internal pressures go up, the velocities go up, and each shot strikes higher on the target than the last. If you think that won’t play the devil with velocities try shooting it over your ballistic chronograph. Through observation, conversation, and competition with these gentlemen, I was finally able to sort out all the different ballistic variables involved with loading these rifles and a reliable method to isolate and control each one. Powered by the new clean, efficient and even-burning Hodgdon Triple 8 propellant, the FireStick is a fast, safe and incredibly accurate way to charge a muzzleloader. (Two grains for pistols and small caliber rifles)  Do not change any other component of the load. of a clean barrel can be as much as 6" out of the group at 100 yards. Information concerning load development for centerfire rifle ammunition is widely published and available. Traditions has some historically styled black powder firearms in their portfolio, they even have miniature cannons, but they are mostly known for their in-line muzzle loaders. Each and every FireStick charge is built with the same tight tolerances as Federal’s factory ammo, taking accuracy and shot consistency closer to that of a standard rifle. Doing so causes the powder to settle and compact making it near impossible to achieve consistency with the amount of powder in the measure. It has absolutely nothing to do with reliving history through shooting and hunting with a rifle of very traditional design. Several factors determine the best thickness of material needed for your rifle to shoot its best groups. Swaged balls lack a sprue so this won’t be a concern. Do not tap or shake the measure. This target was shot off-hand with my 45 caliber percussion dueling pistol to win the pistol match at a rendezvous. The better you can see your target and sight alignment the better your results will be. This is the first 5 shot target from my 54 caliber percussion rifle at the beginning of the load development process. When you study these fired patches you will notice several things. If, as we assumed earlier, your fabric measured .015 in its uncompressed measurement you likely found that it compress to a measurement of .008 or perhaps even thinner. Some smoothbore guns have also shown improvements using this method. I simply cannot hold the rifle steady enough for that level of consistency to be noticeable on my targets. All in all, this is a perfect traditional muzzleloader for a hunter looking for a beautiful and functional muzzleloader at a reasonable price. In this manner we are able to control precisely the amount of oil applied to our patching. Expect good hunting accuracy out to 200 yards when coupled with Traditions… You will test that latter. "As our shooting background includes benchrest and extensive varmint hunting, No, the frustration stems from the size of the groups most hunters get from their rifles, which rarely seem to match the performance they’ve read about on the internet or seen on television.