First BP shoot

[captgary]

Finally made it to the range today, Ohio weather was great for January. Took the 54 cal GPR I put together last month. After reading of some first attempt's at BP shooting I was almost scared to go and make a fool of myself!!!!!! Any how off I went. Decided to use 80 grains 3f Goex, wonder lube wad and .015 patch with 530 ball, First shot was a thrill spent next 15 shots adjusting and fileing the front sight. Ran a cleaning patch every fifth shot and all was going fine till I pulled the trigger and nothing happened, Im thinking "oh no everything is now going to fall apart on me" Well it turns out some dummy forgot to put the cap on the nipple :youcrazy: Wound up taking 40 shots, the targets are my last shots at 25 and 50 yds. I think I got the BP bug bad now. Thanks for all the help, I think I read everything in the forum and learned enough that it made my first shoot a real enjoyable one!!!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[Rebel]

Good shooting. Those GPR's are all really accurate shooters. What's next, a flinter? Welcome the BPAA.
Black Powder Addicts of America :grin:

 

[Zonie]

Hay, Hay!! Lookin gooood!
We tol ye em .54's make one hel of a gopher gun at 25 yards an Ah sees now tha ye two are a beeleever!!

An how 'bout that kick? Ye war shootin sumthin thar with 'bout 1200 footie pounds o energy an ah'm a bettin it didn't kick much at all.

Welcome to tha wonnerful wurld of BlackPowder!

 

[Old40Rod]

Excellent groups! :applause: Now you can start fooling with loads, patch thickness and mess all that up :rotf:

 

[marwat06]

Look like you had a good day at the range. It always fun when you can get out during the winter and at some range time in.

 

[Big John]

Did well Pilgrim! Welcome to the urgent care ward.

 

[nit wit]

Capt Gary:
Wow, way to go, I've been at this over 30 years and doing something stupid once in a while keeps you humble, sometime it gets you a name.
Nit Wit :thumbsup:

 

[Throckmorton]

Very good for a 'first timer'.!!
Way better than our first attempt.

and better groups than our last attempt.We're still playing with the loads and patches thing.

Nice going!!! :thumbsup:

 

[John Taylor]

Nice shooting. A lot better than my first targets but then I started with a Juker.

 

[captgary]

Zonie.

Had a little bit of kick at 80 then I droped to

60 and the shots tightened up quite a bit and

it hardly had any kick at all, or so I thought

till this morning when I woke up and my shoulder

was sore as all get out!!! :haha: :haha:

guess I aint quite as young as I thought I was

This was realy my first actual shooting since 68

when I shooting moving targets in Nam, after I

got out of there I kind of lost intrest in any

thing that had to do with firearms. And now

after all these years I get bit by the black

powder bug. Go figure :rotf:

Nit Wit.

How exactley did you get that handle????

was it something you did on the range????

 

[paulvallandigham]

Fine shooting. I would suggest reducing the load to 60-65 grains for target work. The 80 grain load may work well for hunting out to 100 yds. You will get better 50 yd groups if you stop using precut patches, and cut your patching at the muzzle, according to Dutch Schoultz's Blackpowder rifle accuracy system. He has the targets to prove it.

You can buy the Wonder Lube in a container, and simply buy pillow ticking, and smear the stuff on it at home, then put it out in the sunlight on a cookie shoot, say on top of your car, to dry. You can melt the lube in a double boiler arrangement( Don't go buying anything at the gourmet shoppe! Just use a small can, like catfood and dogfood come in, and put it in a pan that is half filled with water. Boil the water, and put the lube in the dry can to melt. Run the strips of pillow ticking through the wet lube, hold it up to drip off the excess, and then lay them out on wax paper on that cookie sheet.( Dry them flat, and not hanging on the line or you will get an uneven distribution of the lube in the patching.) When they dry, simply roll them up, rubber band them, and store them in a plastic bag.

Try using .017, .18, and .020 thick patching with this ball, also. If they are too tight, stop. But, sometimes a thicker patch will give even better accuracy. Finally, use a micrometer on those balls to see what the actual size is. And then use a powder scale to weight them. If you find a ball that is more than 2 grains heavier or lighter than the average, put it aside for that 25 yd. shooting you are doing, or for plinking. Use the weighed balls for the longer range shooting.

 

[***Sean***]

Nice shootin.

 

[faw3]

How do you find this Dutch system? Thanks. Play with your loads and they will get better (most the time) your right on to start out. Fred :hatsoff: