Morning at the range with .54 GPR

[BrownBear]

I've had this rifle for 4-5 yrs now, hunted with it sparingly the first couple, always going back to my .54 Renegade to kill deer with.
The Lyman has fixed primitive sights, silver blade and buckhorn, I did alright up 50 yards with a 80 gr. load but after that I really didn't know where the gun shot.
Last 2 yrs I was determined to take a deer with it, keeping shots under 50 yards. So with deer pass the magic 50, misfires and misses under the magic 50 no deer the last 2 yrs.
A couple months ago I went to the range and worked with it, loads of 80 grns at 50 yds.
After a few good groups there went to the 100 yrd mark. Tried uping the load with the same hold on sights, tried holding high, no good. Some hi-power guys showed up, so packed it in.
This morning I needed some stress relief, I grabbed the GPR, rb's, assorted patches, lube and a bottle of Pyrodex, clearanced from Walmart, no targets just fiqured I would burn powder and throw lead down range. Also fiqured that the day before turkey opener there would be guys patterning shotguns.
I get to the range, there is NO-ONE there,the 100 yrd. birm had a 3 x 4 pc of OSB with orange sticky bulls that was left by someone.
That is what I needed to find where this gun was hitting, loaded a preload of 80 gr and rb, shot a group of 3 of these aiming at the top of the board with the top of the level with the top of the notch on the rear, found I was shooting 6" low.
Next round of 3 was 100 grs with a slight hold high, these were close to what I wanted, but not consistant because I did not hold the same each time.
Next was 120 grs, rb and back to the original sight picture, other that flinches to the right, this load was on the money at 100 yrs.
What did I learn today?
At 120 grns, I did not have to swab after a few shots like lessers load, which tend to crud up near the muzzle.
The same load is 4"'s high at 50 yds.
I used different patches and lubes, but did not any real difference in accuracy from my shooting abilities.
I used CCI and RWS musket caps, still don't like CCI to many misfires, but did learn, and should have know that if you leave caps in your capper for 2-3 yrs or more, the will not be reliable even if they are RWS, this is most likely what caused my misfires in hunting season
Next time to the range will be with BP and see starting back at 100 grns. and see how it groups.
The Pyrodex ignited consistantly, but defintely is different in sound that Bp
Long winded but I had to tell someone, no-one here care about my BP adventures, Bernie

Interesting results, Bernie. What patch thickness/ball diameter are you using?

If you don't have a lot of shots through the GPR yet (I'd say more than 200 or so) you may want to test loads once again once you pass that hallmark.

Mine started out pretty "tight," doing best with .010/.535 or .015/.530, but with fairly stout seating effort. Tighter combos would only seat with great difficulty.

After a couple of hundred shots seating effort was greatly reduced, so I went back and did another test. It did better with .015/.535 or .018/.530, and perhaps not coincidentally seating effort was back up to what it had been initially. Both shot better than my original "best" loads.

As a side note, when I first started with the rifle neither the .015/.535 or .018/.530 combos would seat without the help of a mallet, but after the breakin period I can now seat them without the mallet.

My optimum charge settled in at around 90 grains of 3f or Pyro P. I went as high as 120 with no improvement in accuracy, but I didn't compare trajectories. Immaterial for me cuzz I'm not a 100 yard shooter.

Based on personal experience, I'll guess that 4" high at 50 will sooner or later raise cob when really precise shot placement is needed at close range.

Like others here, I've got mine 1" high at 50, dead on at 75, and 3-4" low at 100. You might need 4" high at 50 if most of your shots are at or past 100, but I can't get my mind (or my range estimator gland) around what's happening to trajectory inside 100 yards with such a high trajectory. Maybe my issue, but I frequently use my 54 GPR for headshots on snowshoe hare inside 50 yards, and a lower trajectory works best for me.

 

[Swampman]

"Ballistol is the best stuff I have ever used."

Have you used Windex? Have you used olive oil?

Ballistol is just mineral oil. They sell it at the drug store. I'm still trying to figure out how oil is good for cleaning? I don't smear oil on my dishes or my car when I clean them.

If you went to a .530 ball, you wouldn't need the felt wad. Your patch is too thin.

 

[HardBall]

Ballistol is water soluble, thus, when mixed with water and used as a patch lube or cleaning solvent is becomes the basic "moose milk" recipe that has been used in black powder arms for hundreds of years.

 

[Swampman]

"the basic "moose milk" recipe that has been used in black powder arms for hundreds of years."

:hmm:

Oil isn't water soluable.

"moose milk" is a very modern thang.

 

[Zonie]

Mark:
Quoting you, if I may: "...
Ballistol is just mineral oil. They sell it at the drug store...."

and,

"... Oil isn't water soluable...."
______________
Ballistol is water soluble. If you pour a little of it in a cup and add water it turns into a milky liquid. You don't have to even do a good job of stirring it.

I just poured some Squibb Mineral Oil that was purchased at the local drug store into a container and added water.
Stir as I might, it would not mix with water at all, let alone turn into a milky liquid.

I suggest that you try this little experiment. I am sure after you do it will be obvious to you that Ballistol is NOT just mineral oil.

That said, I am not a fan of Ballistol.
I had read wonderful things about it so I bought some to use in cleaning and protecting my guns.

It, mixed with water didn't clean the black powder fouling in my guns any better than plain old soap and water.

As for protection, after my barrels were totally dried (over a gas range), I applied pure Ballistol to the bores. After about 1 1/2 months had passed, I ran a clean dry patch down the bores of the treated rifles and much to my chagrin I found a light coating of rust in each one and I live in Phoenix where the humidity is never above 30%. In fact, during the 1 1/2 month period, my houses refrigeration unit was running so the relative humidity was closer to 10%.
To say I was unhappy is an understatement.

On reflection, I realized that an oil which has things in it to make it dissolve in water would probably offer very little resistance to moisture in the air. I have never used my Ballistol for anything since that time except for that fouling test.

I use Birchwood Casey Sheath or Barracade in all of my guns now and I have never seen the slightest trace of rust in my guns.
Additionally, because these products dry to a very thin, non oily coating they do not produce any hard fouling when black powder is shot.

 

[Swampman]

I reviewed the MSDS pretty carefully. The fact that they say it's alkaline based leads me to believe they probably put some dish washing liquid in it. That would explaine how they get the mineral oil to mix with water. I suppose you could do the same thing with any oil.

 

[renovato]

Ballistol is not "just" mineral oil. It's mineral oil based. I believe they use cetyl alcohol to make it form emulsions with water. I know there is anise oil and several other food grade oils in it. I don't know what else. The MDSS doesn't show all ingredients in a formula. It only shows the bases plus any ingredients that might require a warning. I remember seeing the patent for Ballistol some years back. It had a few different things in it but I don't remember what they were. Obviously, the food grade ingredients weren't important enough to be included in the MDSS. Seems I recall a solvent in there too.

 

[Swampman]

It's a tiny bottle of magic stuff for nearly $10.00.