Coning

[Jeff Davis]

Ease of loading is a big plus. Did you see any change in accuracy after coning?

Not a bit. I highly recommend it for any person who shoots Muzzleloaders because I now can load more and shoot more in a day

 

[DrLaw]

I coned my recent acquisition, a .54 Woodsrunner, a couple weeks ago. I loaded it up for the deer season here and was really surprised that I could load the .530, and a .15 patch, which for my bore is a tight fit, and was able to do it with just a thumb press and then using the ramrod to shove it down. Easy as could be. Prior to coning, I used a ball starter and really had to whomp it to get that combination started. Since I have not had accuracy problems with the other three guns I coned, I don't think I will have any with this.

Joe Woods tools, by the way. Two .54 and two .45 done. Another .54 is a conical bullet only, so no coning done on it.

The Doc is out now.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

I coned my recent acquisition, a .54 Woodsrunner, a couple weeks ago. I loaded it up for the deer season here and was really surprised that I could load the .530, and a .15 patch, which for my bore is a tight fit, and was able to do it with just a thumb press and then using the ramrod to shove it down. Easy as could be. Prior to coning, I used a ball starter and really had to whomp it to get that combination started. Since I have not had accuracy problems with the other three guns I coned, I don't think I will have any with this.

Joe Woods tools, by the way. Two .54 and two .45 done. Another .54 is a conical bullet only, so no coning done on it.

The Doc is out now.

Let me know if you want to rent out the 54 coning tool.

 

[Psycho Mike]

I have several of Mr. Woods tools but haven't had the chance to use them yet due to health issues we have hod over the last year or so. I went through this whole thread just to see what kind of results others have had with them. The first several pages had a lot of different people who have used the tool and overwhelmingly have said it worked. In my experience a person who is dissatisfied with the product is more likely to write a negative review than one who is satisfied. Then the thread got hijacked by an individual who doesn't appear to have ever coned a barrel but seems to have a preconceived notion that coning cannot possibly work and the only way to get accuracy is with an expensive target barrel. Well 99% of my shooting was in competition or practicing for competition for many years. The majority of that was for Cross sticks or light bench. I have never had one of your match grade barrels with the false muzzle or the sealed ignition or a target stock or expensive sights. All I ever used were production barrels' with a stock I built to fit me, for several years when I first started I had an old set of Lyman sights because that's all I could afford and then later did get an old set of Redfield sights. Well it seems they forgot to tell me I couldn't win matches with that set up because I sure won a lot of matches shooting against guys who had all that fancy stuff in matches which were most likely going to be decided by a string measure.

Ronald, from my archery days I can say I love to stand tradition on its head sometimes too.

As a junior, I was shooting a 70# Darton Lightning compound bow...the fastest "hatchet cam" bow you could buy at the time. When I was shooting "amateur unlimited" I'd show up, throw an Olympic 36" stabilizer and 6x scope with a 12" extension bar on this big, camo bow and get snickers. Most of the comments were akin to "that bow is so focused on speed, it can shoot accurately worth a dang."

Well, with a little bit of tuning, patience and lots of practice, the eraser of a standard school HB pencil was cleanly removed 9 times out of ten from a distance of 20 yards on the first shot (I managed both of my "Robin Hoods" with that bow, though in a "bowhunter" trim without the long stabilizer and scope). In competition, that meant the snickers vanished after the first loud "thwap" of that bow burying an arrow to the fletching on the "+" in the middle of the 10 ring.

I'm sure there are folks on this forum who would regale us with the benefits of X, Y or Z feature when it comes to accuracy....but for most of us, it's overkill. Like me with the Darton, it's more a matter of shooting, shooting and shooting some more so that you get to know your rifle well. To quote the popular adage "Beware the man who uses only one gun."

 

[Eric Krewson]

Right on Mike! The thread counters lot in life is to try to dismantle solid, proven experience with untested logic of their own creation.

 

[Psycho Mike]

Right on Mike! The thread counters lot in life is to try to dismantle solid, proven experience with untested logic of their own creation.

Realistically, it comes down to the shooting you re doing as to whether absolutes or empirical evidence from the field will be more important.

If you are an ultra high performance shooter with a BP rifle that lives on a bench rest, well, the impacts of coning may be an issue. After all, if it is 1/32" at 50 yards deciding the winner of the shoot, you want all the marinal gains you can get.

For the average shooter using a "standard" production barrel, you don't care about which hair you split on a deer, or which side gets the bigger chunk of lead on a field walk "split your ball" shot. If coning makes your life and the way you shoot easier, you may choose to do it knowing that, if properly done, it likely won't have any noticeable impact on your accuracy.