ohio ramrod
75 Cal.
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:surrender: :surrender: WARNING WARNING black powder is addictive! :surrender:
Bought My 1st Smoker Today
- Thread starter ChrisHarris
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congrats on your new rifle, and welcome to the dark side! you got a really good deal, by the way. Rich Pierce's flints are the way to go (IMHO) and he's a really great guy as well. you'll find the 'sweet spot' a narrower zone with the faster rate of twist, but i've had good luck with my 1:48 T/C and i don't see why your result would be that much different (even though your rate is faster).
this will require many many many hours of range time, during which you will make a bunch of good smoke and have a wonderful time doing so...
Enjoy!!
this will require many many many hours of range time, during which you will make a bunch of good smoke and have a wonderful time doing so...
Enjoy!!
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loooks great, I bet you will enjoy it
I've been reading the Black Powder Handbook (revised and expanded edition)by Sam Fadala. Copyright 1990
Chapter 13 - Page 109 - 'Understanding rate of twist'
My gun has a 1:24 twist. Thanks to Zonie, we established that fact earlier in this thread. The rifling is VERY shallow. VERY VERY shallow.
From what I'm reading, thats not really a roundball barrel. According to the book, 1:24 twist with shallow rifling is about the WORST thing you could do with a round ball.
The guy who sold me the gun said, "It's deadly accurate at 25yds with a .530 ball and 55gr of powder." Darn right it is. He wasn't lying.
But after the way it shot at 50yds yesterday and from what I'm reading in this book - I think I'm hosed. I think it's probably not going to shoot round balls worth a snot out past 25-35yds. I'm not sure if this barrel is EVER going to shoot a round ball accurately out to 75yds. From a technical standpoint - it's just not the right barrel for that.
Now I understand there is a difference between theory and reality. I might be able to work up a load that will be accurate enough to do the job at 75-100yds.
Kinda disheartened now. I don't know what to do.
I see 4 options:
Don't give up yet. Work with it and see if I can get it to group with round balls out at 75-100yrds.
Give in and use it for how it was designed - conicals and 110gr of powder. Site it in and take it out once a year to hunt. Go kill a deer. Clean it and put it back in the safe until next season.
Buy a custom barrel with slower twist.
Buy another gun. (my wife likes this option the LEAST)
Chapter 13 - Page 109 - 'Understanding rate of twist'
My gun has a 1:24 twist. Thanks to Zonie, we established that fact earlier in this thread. The rifling is VERY shallow. VERY VERY shallow.
From what I'm reading, thats not really a roundball barrel. According to the book, 1:24 twist with shallow rifling is about the WORST thing you could do with a round ball.
The guy who sold me the gun said, "It's deadly accurate at 25yds with a .530 ball and 55gr of powder." Darn right it is. He wasn't lying.
But after the way it shot at 50yds yesterday and from what I'm reading in this book - I think I'm hosed. I think it's probably not going to shoot round balls worth a snot out past 25-35yds. I'm not sure if this barrel is EVER going to shoot a round ball accurately out to 75yds. From a technical standpoint - it's just not the right barrel for that.
Now I understand there is a difference between theory and reality. I might be able to work up a load that will be accurate enough to do the job at 75-100yds.
Kinda disheartened now. I don't know what to do.
I see 4 options:
Don't give up yet. Work with it and see if I can get it to group with round balls out at 75-100yrds.
Give in and use it for how it was designed - conicals and 110gr of powder. Site it in and take it out once a year to hunt. Go kill a deer. Clean it and put it back in the safe until next season.
Buy a custom barrel with slower twist.
Buy another gun. (my wife likes this option the LEAST)
Renegade Dan
50 Cal.
Keep working with it Chris. My Jaeger shoots fine out to 75 yards. Took me a while to find the load that works best, but she shoots fine now. where I hunt my shots are usually under 50 yards anyway. My range load - 60 gr.3F Goex bp .015 patch .530 rb
Hunting load - 80 gr. 3F Goex bp .015 patch .530 rb
Don't Give Up. :thumbsup:
Hunting load - 80 gr. 3F Goex bp .015 patch .530 rb
Don't Give Up. :thumbsup:
Don't give up on it before you've tried a bunch of different powder/ball/patch/lube loads.
Fadala is pretty much right saying that twist isn't what we consider to be a roundball twist but the original Jaegers had twists of 1:24 and 1:28 and those guns were always shot with a roundball.
Their rifling depth was considerably deeper and that helped them grab the patch but what I'm saying is a roundball can't be spinning too fast unless it flies apart from centripetal force.
The catch here is that a tight patch and ball combination needs to be used with the more powerful powder loads.
Using a .018 or .020 thick patch may be the ticket. Another option is to try some .535 diameter roundballs with either a .015, .018 or thicker patch.
The guide to all of this is to collect the fired patches and examine them.
They will tell you if they are burning thru, tearing, ripping etc, none of which is good.
When you pick up the fired patches, ignore the outer edges. They are always tattered.
Look at the place the ball met the rifling. It should not be torn, burned or ripped.
Now, go out and have fun with your new gun.
With a little work you will have it shooting better than you ever thought a open sighted gun could ever shoot. :thumbsup:
Fadala is pretty much right saying that twist isn't what we consider to be a roundball twist but the original Jaegers had twists of 1:24 and 1:28 and those guns were always shot with a roundball.
Their rifling depth was considerably deeper and that helped them grab the patch but what I'm saying is a roundball can't be spinning too fast unless it flies apart from centripetal force.
The catch here is that a tight patch and ball combination needs to be used with the more powerful powder loads.
Using a .018 or .020 thick patch may be the ticket. Another option is to try some .535 diameter roundballs with either a .015, .018 or thicker patch.
The guide to all of this is to collect the fired patches and examine them.
They will tell you if they are burning thru, tearing, ripping etc, none of which is good.
When you pick up the fired patches, ignore the outer edges. They are always tattered.
Look at the place the ball met the rifling. It should not be torn, burned or ripped.
Now, go out and have fun with your new gun.
With a little work you will have it shooting better than you ever thought a open sighted gun could ever shoot. :thumbsup:
Hi Chris,
That gun has a version of a Patent Breech on it which means it has a smaller "pre-ignition" chamber behind the main normal location of the breech of the barrel and the vent from the lock goes into that. Idea behind it is that the spark ignites that small chamber which more effectively ignites the main charge. Works well in some guns and not so good in others.
I have one rifle with that type of breech and one without. Be careful after cleaning and lubing the barrel not to use so much oil that it collects in that chamber or it will soak the first load you put in it and it won't fire. I only had that happen one time, but that was a real pain. Had to pull the out the ball, blow in the vent and re-charge it. ONe of those Co2 discharge tools is sweet for getting a ball and load out without pulling.
A couple of simple things to do if to make sure you don't have that problem is it to either simply blow through the vent before the first load, or charge the pan and flash it once.
Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
That gun has a version of a Patent Breech on it which means it has a smaller "pre-ignition" chamber behind the main normal location of the breech of the barrel and the vent from the lock goes into that. Idea behind it is that the spark ignites that small chamber which more effectively ignites the main charge. Works well in some guns and not so good in others.
I have one rifle with that type of breech and one without. Be careful after cleaning and lubing the barrel not to use so much oil that it collects in that chamber or it will soak the first load you put in it and it won't fire. I only had that happen one time, but that was a real pain. Had to pull the out the ball, blow in the vent and re-charge it. ONe of those Co2 discharge tools is sweet for getting a ball and load out without pulling.
A couple of simple things to do if to make sure you don't have that problem is it to either simply blow through the vent before the first load, or charge the pan and flash it once.
Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
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I don't have anything to add to the great advice you are getting. Just want to say I know how you feel with your first flinter in your hands. Kinda like a twelve year old at Christmas time. That feeling never goes away completely. Enjoy the ride!
twisted_1in66 said:
Loyalist Dave said:
Thanks guys!! :thumbsup:
I did go out and buy a .17 caliber brush and rod tonight. I ran it down the bore with some cleaning fluid. It went down easy and then got stiff. I could feel there was a hole that it was pushing through. I ran it in and out of the hole a few times and retracted the rod and brush. Filthy!! :shake:
Took the lock out and removed the vent screw. Found a 'pre-ignition' chamber the size of a pea and small hole ( .17cal) leading forward into the back of the barrel.
It was full of crud and gunk. I gave it all a good cleaning using some tiny hand held wire brushes and dental picks that I've collected for my gun cleaning kits over the years. Sprayed it out and flushed with an aerosol can of cleaning fluid. It ain't shiny in the pre-ignition chamber, but it's a lot cleaner than it was. Cleaned the threads on the vent insert and reassembled.
:hatsoff:
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