.575 Balls - Forty Shots Over A Chronograph

[Semisane]

I had a nice long session last Saturday shooting my Green Mountain barreled .58 TC Hawken over the chronograph. I wanted to compare velocity and accuracy of various loads of both FFFg and FFg GOEX.

Here's the gun.

It has the GM factory TC style sight up front.

And a TC Hunter peep sight on the tang.

The GM barrel has a 1:70" twist. All shots were at 50 yards from the bench with .575 home cast balls from a Lee mold, with .018 pillow tick pre-cut square patches lubed with Liquid Wrench. The bore was wiped with both sides of one patch moistened with 91% Isoproply alcohol between shots. The chronograph was ten feet from the muzzle.

For ease of comparison, I compiled a chart of the average velocities of each load. It's pictured below, followed by all of the targets.

It seems to me the accuracy results are quite a testament to the quality of these Green Mountain replacement barrels for TC guns. All loads (from 85 grains to 115 grains) were quite accurate regardless of powder granulation. Any difference in group size can probably be attributed to the shooter's action when shooting that particular group rather than the load being shot.

I did notice that the group on my first target was not as tight as most of the succeeding groups. That doesn't seem to be unusual for me. I tend to settle down a bit in shooting technique after the first few shots.

Anyway, I thought you guys might be interested in the results. So here they are.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Lotta shooting and good shooting.
That will make 'em come.
Pretty much confirms what we already know but it never hurts to do such tests.

 

[aeatwood]

Nice shooting! I need to get off my backside and get my TC peep mounted on my .58. My GM barrel is on a Renegade stock. I don't really like the Hawken stock for calibers over .50.

I have a .50 Renegade that came already set up with a TC peep, and it is a good shooter even with the factory barrel. I have a couple of the peeps that I purchased right before Brownell's quit handling them. I should have bought 4 or 5. 8( The only reason I haven't installed them already is the Ren. I am using now has a lower front sight, and I was thinking I needed to get a couple more of those to work well with the GM front sights. I have 2 GM barrels, a 15/16" .54 on a Hawken, and a 1" .58 on a nother Renegade. My eyes aren't up to much good shooting with open style sights past 50-75 yards any more.

 

[longcruise]

Good post, thanks for putting it up! :thumbsup:

Tends to confirm what I've found with some of my own guns; Good barrels shoot well with a variety of loads.

 

[hanshi]

That shooting is not "good"; it's exceptional. Obviously a very fine barrel. :hatsoff:

 

[kemart]

great shooting!!! I thought there would be a bigger velocity spread between 3f and 2f. I have a crony think i need to check speed on my .58

Thanks for sharing the info

 

[onthefarm]

Nice shooting, semi! You do get good groups with peeps and practice.

 

[nkbj]

So, are you taking it squirrel hunting?

 

[roundball]

Excellent...I had that same barrel in Flint...extremely accurate barrels for sure
:thumbsup:

 

[damron]

thanks for taking the time to shoot and record data for many groups.Its nice to see a series of five shot groups(bad and good shots) rather than a picture of one small three shot group as a measure of a rifles accuracy.Thats a good barrel!

George

 

[dbutch]

Thanks for posting all your data :thumbsup:

have the same rifle-barrel sights...your numbers jive with mine!
I had issues with that large round brass front bead past 50 yards..
covered to much of the target..
slimmed and trimmed it down..
front bead is as wide as the skinniest part of the post.
brass rod soldered on back edge. slim and trim.
done 1/2 doz this way..Just like to see my target.

 

[Semisane]

I like what you did with that sight makeumsmoke. I don't much care for that bead sight either, even though I use a 6 o'clock hold on the bull. I think I will copy your work.

 

[dbutch]

Go for it!..Really helped while squirrel hunting. :thumbsup:
That sight was re-blued after the modification.

 

[Swede50]

".575 home cast balls from a Lee mold, with .018 pillow tick pre-cut square patches lubed with Liquid Wrench."

I have tried a lot of different lubes but never seen or heard of anyone using Liquid Wrench.

 

[Semisane]

I have tried a lot of different lubes but never seen or heard of anyone using Liquid Wrench.

Well Swede, I have it on good authority that that's what Davy used at the Alamo. :grin:

It sure works for me. Better than any other patch lube I've tried. And I've tried many.

 

[Semisane]

Check out these old threads with groups shot with Liquid Wrench Swede.

Deleted. Links did not work for some reason.

 

[RUSELLLEEDORAN]

Semi,
I noticed that you numbered the targets from 54 to 61. I presume you must keep lots of records. How do you record, compare and analyze results? I've kept some targets, but wondered about how detailed to get. Thanks, Fuzzy

 

[ihuntsnook]

I like the Liquid Wrench idea. Will try it.

 

[Semisane]

Fuzzy Sights, I keep all of my numbered targets in a file folder, with a different target for each gun. I like to play around with different loads and having those targets with all of the data recorded on them helps me avoid redoing something I've already tried. Also I know the best light and heavy load for each gun.

My memory's not all that good. So when I grab one of my guns that I haven't shot in a while and head to the range I take along the target file for reference.

Did you notice the "2S1AP" notation in the bottom right hand square of those targets. That tells me I wiped the bore with two sides of one alcohol patch between shots. It could just as well be 3TNW (Third Target No Wiping) or 1S1SP (One Side of One Spit Patch). Yeah, I'm anal. :wink: