JKVirginia
32 Cal.
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2004
- Messages
- 44
- Reaction score
- 0
Well, took Susie down to the range today, and the results were, some good, some bad.
First thing I noticed is apparently this rifle has a TIGHT bore. I about blew out my wrists trying to load .440 balls with a pillow-tick patch. Further, if I didn't swab after every shot, I'd have balls sticking halfway down and nearly herniate myself ramming them down the rest of the way. My shooting session came to an early end when I ended up with a spit-patch stuck on the jag in the bore. Fortunately my local gun shop was kind enough to pop it in the vise and pull the rod out free of charge. :redface:
On the good news front, when I could get a ball loaded, the results looked promising-- Using .440 hornady balls and .015 cotton patches, either spit-lubed or with bore butter, I consistently was printing successive shots within 1" of each other from the bench, hand-held (No rest other than a carpeted 4x4" block) at 25 yards. In short, I think the rifle can shoot better than me. Now if I can just find a load I can get down the barrel without rupturing something I consider important... I'll be ready to go. Unfortunately I have nothing to report on 50 yard shooting, cuz the jag got stuck in shot #2 of my last 25 yard group :curse:
So, that's my report for now--Is it usual for a bore to shoot that tight(it had some rust in it when I got it, looks fairly clean now, but I dunno if it's clear all the way down--my bore light doesn't see much past the first 4")?Or should I be worried?
First thing I noticed is apparently this rifle has a TIGHT bore. I about blew out my wrists trying to load .440 balls with a pillow-tick patch. Further, if I didn't swab after every shot, I'd have balls sticking halfway down and nearly herniate myself ramming them down the rest of the way. My shooting session came to an early end when I ended up with a spit-patch stuck on the jag in the bore. Fortunately my local gun shop was kind enough to pop it in the vise and pull the rod out free of charge. :redface:
On the good news front, when I could get a ball loaded, the results looked promising-- Using .440 hornady balls and .015 cotton patches, either spit-lubed or with bore butter, I consistently was printing successive shots within 1" of each other from the bench, hand-held (No rest other than a carpeted 4x4" block) at 25 yards. In short, I think the rifle can shoot better than me. Now if I can just find a load I can get down the barrel without rupturing something I consider important... I'll be ready to go. Unfortunately I have nothing to report on 50 yard shooting, cuz the jag got stuck in shot #2 of my last 25 yard group :curse:
So, that's my report for now--Is it usual for a bore to shoot that tight(it had some rust in it when I got it, looks fairly clean now, but I dunno if it's clear all the way down--my bore light doesn't see much past the first 4")?Or should I be worried?