Need Help Jäger Rifle Load nothing works😩😩

[German Jäger]

Not bad i shoot a lot of flinters all good but the jäger not

 

[jdw276]

Not bad i shoot a lot of flinters all good but the jäger not

Lots of good advice is being provided. Make a plan, simple one. Start shooting but keep it all simple till a pattern develops. 15-25cm way to big a pattern i believe. Start over, eliminate variables, be consistent, go slow and review your shooting technique each shot, shoot 10 shots the best you can and review each shot of all the same components. I presume you are an experienced shooter so make it happen. You are frustrated so go slow and start fresh with a simple plan. Personally i would start fresh with the .595 ball, 75gr 3f and thick patch with consistent lube application. Save your targets to study and show us pics.....

 

[Sam squanch]

The duct tape to hold the barrel in is just an experiment to see if the barrel lugs are affecting the accuracy. If it helps, you need to slot the pin holes in the lugs so the stock wood can move.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Eyes are ok 50 Meters outdoor Range. Sizing of group 15-25cm

As @jdw276 observes, a group of 15 - 25 cm is quite large (6 inch to 10 inch). Swiss #3 powder is approximately equivalent to 2Fg US grade powder. The Colerain barrel will likely have deep radius grooves. It will probably have a slow twist of 1 in 66 inches. You didn't tell us what powder charge you used. That slow twist usually wants to have a stout load to get the spin needed to stabilize that load and that is often in the 90 grain plus. With the deep grooves of the Colerain barrel (according to manufacturer's specification a "D" weight Jaeger) a thick patch is needed to seal the grooves. A grease lube such as Wonderlube or spit works, even straight Ballistol would work. Please measure the land-to-land diameter of your barrel. Use a ball 0.010 inches less than the land-to-land diameter. The patch thickness should be equal to the groove depth plus 0.010 inches. A grease is better than spit for hunting purposes. The ball of 0.595 inch diameter wrapped in a 100% cotton patch of 0.022 inch thick patch will compress to fill the grooves. It will need a short starter to load. The load will be stout. Use a solid rest to stabilize recoil. I hope you can get your rifle to shoot accurately.

 

[German Jäger]

I want all of you say thank you! You make a lot of good advice and new try ideas so i would do it next week under perfekt condition with new will! I try it again so i hope to get it fine

 

[olskool]

are you shooting from a bench? i do a lot of offhand, and if you are flinching any at all, it will show! i had the same gun as you and it was a big tack driver! if you are getting awful groups, it is not the patch or lube.

 

[waksupi]

Do you know proper bench rest technique? Many don't. If you don't, have someone teach you, or shoot the rifle for you.
My .62 is 1-66, and I shoot 95 gr. 3FFF, .595 round ball, moose milk lube on pillow ticking. Group size is around 1 1/2" at 50 yards, which is about the best my old eyes can do.

 

[stank]

Is your ignition fast? It should be nearly instant. Have you looked at your patches? If they are all torn up you have a rough barrel. Can you feel rough spots when you are loading? I never have but you might need to lap the barrel or recrown the muzzle. Call colerain and talk to them. I’ve never had trouble with one of their barrels but sometimes it happens. Where are you located?

 

[Siringo]

I had a 62 caliber colarine barrel. Because of the deep round bottom grooves and even using a
0.020 thick patch, a backer patch was necessary to prevent patch burnout. Swiss powder is very hot and will burn patches in these barrels.

 

[Rifleman1776]

From Colerain sight.
"By far, one of the most common problems for rifles not to shoot to their full potential is to have the barrels too tight in the stock and not having the underlugs (tennons) slotted. Whether you build the firearm yourself or have someone build it for you, please check these two factors. Barrels should be allowed to move somewhat in the stock. Tennons should be opened up to form a slot to allow the stock to move back and forth during the changing seasons and also with the heating up of the barrel during firing."

It appears from their inventory twist is 1x66" with roundbottom rifling although did not see a 31" barrel length. .610 ball and thick patch .018 or more. 70gr of 3f should be almost the sweet spot. Others I am sure will chime in as I am also thinking no ignition issues to create shooter problems with hold. Did not see your powder charge weight you were shooting?

Wat JDW said is spot on. Re-read and heed. Follow instructions for loosening up stock/tennons from what others have posted. Forget the slug thing, stick with prb and real bp. A 70 gr. charge is a good suggested starting point. I believe you will get closer to about 80-85 before hitting your sweet spot. Also, ditch the commercial lube, go with bear oil, moose milk or one of the many-many others suggested on this forum. Only shooting will tell.

 

[Salty Cracker]

What powder and charge are you using? I saw no mention of that. Definitely follow the previous advice and inspect the barrel to stock fit.

 

[German Jäger]

Today I disassemble the rifle and the barrelugs wasnt good once was loose one was underside open (wrong hole, second drill opens the lug) the timbles are to long and scratches at the barrelunderside so i cut the to the right measure and reasemble without pins. Next week i put tape around and test! The the Barrelugs were fitted with dovetail like in good old days at the barrel. I hope so that it would be good than

 

[Grenadier1758]

@German Jäger, I would still like to know what powder charge you are using and what thickness patch. The thin patches will often burn out because of the deep grooves.

 

[Relic shooter]

From Colerain sight.
"By far, one of the most common problems for rifles not to shoot to their full potential is to have the barrels too tight in the stock and not having the underlugs (tennons) slotted. Whether you build the firearm yourself or have someone build it for you, please check these two factors. Barrels should be allowed to move somewhat in the stock. Tennons should be opened up to form a slot to allow the stock to move back and forth during the changing seasons and also with the heating up of the barrel during firing."

It appears from their inventory twist is 1x66" with roundbottom rifling although did not see a 31" barrel length. .610 ball and thick patch .018 or more. 70gr of 3f should be almost the sweet spot. Others I am sure will chime in as I am also thinking no ignition issues to create shooter problems with hold. Did not see your powder charge weight you were shooting?

Good advice from jdw276
Excellent idea to slot the barrel tenons a few extra thousands to the front & rear with a flat needle file to eliminate barrel torque due to heat from firing..
If your barrel does have a slow 1-66 twist I don't thick you will never be happy with the accuracy shooting slugs in a barrel that is best suited to shoot patched round balls.
Having been an avid accuracy buff I spent 65 years collecting & shooting mostly original flint & percussion era English & European military rifles & pistols because barrel makers of that era set the world standard for getting optimum accuracy with rifled barrels.
Many years ago I chose original Jaeger rifles as my favorite competition & hunting rifle because of their light weight, superb accuracy &
extra rear flip-up blades for long range shooting.
Point;
Almost without exception, every original Jaeger I've owned has had deeper rifling in the .012-.016 depth range & rifling twist of approximately one-turn in length of the barrel & were designed for shooting PRB. This includes smaller bore 'hunting rifles in .54 cal & military calibers of .70 & above.
I've placed accurate PRB big game kills at 175 yards with my Danish Jaeger & beyond at longer range ML shoots but think someone with better eyesight could probably do better ?

As others have mentioned, pick a shooting buddy with a good background in muzzleloading to go to the range with you.
Always good to have a second opinion on your shooting stance & if your using the correct PRB combo & load for your barrel.
Back when I was instructing with muzzleloaders, many were grossly overloading their rifles.
Can only burn so much powder in a given length of a barrel, I would demonstrate by laying a 20-30 ft length of white butcher wrap paper forward of the muzzle to catch the unburned powder & often frayed patches due to not being poor quality or not thick enough.
Take a friend to the range & try loading advise of experienced shooters like jdw276.
Relic shooter

 

[German Jäger]

Ok so i normaly use 60-90grain Schweizer 3 (2fg) .595 Ball with 0.015“or 0.018 Patch. Under Prb i load a card or fur wad. At the moment i pull out the Pins flatend the loading Rod Thimbles ( the get in touch with the Barrel Underside) ich fasten the Barrel with the Screw of the Lock and Barrelend Screw, then i make 3 Layers of Tape on the Point of the Pins so the Barrel cant flip out the Stock. Tomorow i will test it again

 

[Jaegermeister]

I have the exact same kit. I built it back in 2009 and my barrel was actually a .61 cal! Go figure. A .62 coning tool would not fit. Anyhoos. I shoot a home cast .600 ball with square patch about .015 thick. Ignition is fast as hell. Pretty accurate offhand load for me.

 

[German Jäger]

Ok so i think it could be that my barrel is .61 to so the 610 ball with 0.015“ patch is not possible to load

 

[N5JIF]

Glad you’re getting it sorted out. Excellent catch on the tight tennons. I think making sure you’re not flenching plus experimenting with patches and lube‘s will get you where you need to be. It took me a tremendous amount of different types of lubes before I zeroed in on beeswax mixed with olive oil. Every rifle is different so you have to keep trying. One size absolutely will not fit all.

 

[German Jäger]

Hello my friends today I tested at shooting range with no positive moment I have delete all the pins and fixing the barrel only with tape are badly no consistency. Could it be that the barrel are junk I think about a new Bar or re-barreling the old one ? It is really frustrating and I have really no idea to fix this problem again.

 

[olskool]

are you shooting off the bench? if not then most likely that is the reason for the groups you are getting.