nathan.davis
36 Cal.
I just returned from the range and my first outing with my new .62 caliber flintlock. I thoroughly love this "new to me" sport. It is a Jim Chambers gun with a Rice 42" barrel and 1:66 twist.
For patch lube, I used 1 part Murphy's oil to 3 parts windshield washing fluid. Between each shot, I swabbed out the barrel with the lube, turned the patch around and swabbed it out a second time. So the barrel was consistently fairly clean between each shot.
I started out by trying different patches that I brought with me. The store bought .015 wonderlube patches were blown to shreds. So I tried some .018 ticking patches. They suffered numerous holes, but they at least remained together. Then I tried some thicker pillow ticking from Walmart. The photos below show that the two samples outlasted the other two, but still suffered a couple of small holes in each patch. I think that the holes might be cut from the rifling, not a result of burn holes. At least, I don't see burn marks around the holes. However, the muzzle looks like it has been cut to slowly taper into the rifling, easing the ball into the riffling. So it shouldn't be cutting the patch, although the patches definitely show a couple small holes, exactly opposite each other. Since this is a brand new barrel, I'm hoping that the barrel wear will eventually enable the patches to survive without any holes. These patches are .024 thick pillow ticking. I washed the ticking with soap, one time on the gentle cycle. Now I wonder if I should be washed it a second or third time. But if the patches are not burning through, then the number of washings probably doesn't really affect anything.
All my shots were made with .61 round balls.
]Walmart pillow ticking patch #1[/url]
]Walmart pillow ticking patch #2[/url]
Once the patches seemed to marginally survive the shots, I started to try different loads. Some of the members of this forum with .62 rifles indicated that they found the sweet spots between 110 to 120 grains. So I started 5 shot groups at 100 grains, proceeding in 10 grain increments up to 140 grains. The photos below show the results.
]100 grains at 50 yards[/url]
]110 Grains at 50 yards[/url]
]120 Grains at 50 yards[/url]
]130 Grains at 50 yards[/url]
]140 Grains at 50 yards[/url]
On advice from a friend, I made all shots using a shoulder mounted recoil pad. That was very good advice. To see the difference, I tried one shot without it. I'll never do that again!!!! But with the recoil pad, I shot all day long without any discomfort.
On the 130 grain target, I flinched on the last shot of the group, resulting in a round that hit outside the outer ring. So I consider that round as an anomaly. If I reject that round, then the 130 grain target group and the 120 grain target groups seem to show approximately the same results. However the 110 and 140 grain groups also look almost as good as the 120 and 130 groups.
It's hard to know what load is the best. I even wonder if the differences might be in the noise. What advice do you guys have? This is all new to me, so I don't have experience on which to rely.
For hunting, I assume that I'll need a lube that will last longer than the windshield washing fluid with Murphy's soap. At least, it seems to dry out after about 10 minutes, so I assume that I should use something that lasts longer. Crisco sounds like a possibility for a hunting load.
For patch lube, I used 1 part Murphy's oil to 3 parts windshield washing fluid. Between each shot, I swabbed out the barrel with the lube, turned the patch around and swabbed it out a second time. So the barrel was consistently fairly clean between each shot.
I started out by trying different patches that I brought with me. The store bought .015 wonderlube patches were blown to shreds. So I tried some .018 ticking patches. They suffered numerous holes, but they at least remained together. Then I tried some thicker pillow ticking from Walmart. The photos below show that the two samples outlasted the other two, but still suffered a couple of small holes in each patch. I think that the holes might be cut from the rifling, not a result of burn holes. At least, I don't see burn marks around the holes. However, the muzzle looks like it has been cut to slowly taper into the rifling, easing the ball into the riffling. So it shouldn't be cutting the patch, although the patches definitely show a couple small holes, exactly opposite each other. Since this is a brand new barrel, I'm hoping that the barrel wear will eventually enable the patches to survive without any holes. These patches are .024 thick pillow ticking. I washed the ticking with soap, one time on the gentle cycle. Now I wonder if I should be washed it a second or third time. But if the patches are not burning through, then the number of washings probably doesn't really affect anything.
All my shots were made with .61 round balls.
]Walmart pillow ticking patch #1[/url] 
]Walmart pillow ticking patch #2[/url] Once the patches seemed to marginally survive the shots, I started to try different loads. Some of the members of this forum with .62 rifles indicated that they found the sweet spots between 110 to 120 grains. So I started 5 shot groups at 100 grains, proceeding in 10 grain increments up to 140 grains. The photos below show the results.
]100 grains at 50 yards[/url] 
]110 Grains at 50 yards[/url] 
]120 Grains at 50 yards[/url] 
]130 Grains at 50 yards[/url] 
]140 Grains at 50 yards[/url] On advice from a friend, I made all shots using a shoulder mounted recoil pad. That was very good advice. To see the difference, I tried one shot without it. I'll never do that again!!!! But with the recoil pad, I shot all day long without any discomfort.
On the 130 grain target, I flinched on the last shot of the group, resulting in a round that hit outside the outer ring. So I consider that round as an anomaly. If I reject that round, then the 130 grain target group and the 120 grain target groups seem to show approximately the same results. However the 110 and 140 grain groups also look almost as good as the 120 and 130 groups.
It's hard to know what load is the best. I even wonder if the differences might be in the noise. What advice do you guys have? This is all new to me, so I don't have experience on which to rely.
For hunting, I assume that I'll need a lube that will last longer than the windshield washing fluid with Murphy's soap. At least, it seems to dry out after about 10 minutes, so I assume that I should use something that lasts longer. Crisco sounds like a possibility for a hunting load.
