Patch and ball combinations...

[sooter76]

So over the last couples weeks I've been trying out different patch and ball combinations to try and find the most accurate and consistent combo for my .54 GPR. I've used different cloth types in combination with .530 and .535 ball. Thru most of my testing my first combo of pillow tickling and .535 ball remained my most consistent and accurate combo with 80 grains, resulting in a 1" 3 shot group at 25 yards, and until my final group today I assumed it would come out on top. My final group today resulted in a group right around .75" and was made with .530 ball and an off white cloth. I can't remember what the cloth is called but I sought it out after I'd see in recommended by a few shooters here. I guess I'll have to figure it out again... Anyway, this caught me off guard as in every other combination I tried the .530 ball resulted in worse consistency than the .535 ball.

So my question is, is this normal? Or should I assume it's a fluke and try again?

Regardless I'll go out again next week and shoot with my two best combinations again to verify.

 

[wayne terry]

Try again that's just part of all the fun, and this time try holding your toung different.

 

[mooman76]

It might be drill cloth or sometimes called pocket drill. A tight woven cloth used to make pockets.

 

[jamesthomas]

Try again that's just part of all the fun, and this time try holding your toung different.

Also cross your legs under the shooin' bench and have a chaw of tabaccy in your cheek :grin: .

 

[sooter76]

It might be drill cloth or sometimes called pocket drill. A tight woven cloth used to make pockets.

That's what it was... Thanks.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

When you get that tight group at 25 yards, then extend the range...see what you get at 50, and if you're curious, go even farther to 75 or 100.

LD

 

[MSW]

pocket drill... yes!!

try it again, and let us know about the results!

make good smoke

 

[Rifleman1776]

25 yard groups tell you almost nothing about your rifle, load, patch, lube, ball size or how you are holding your mouth.
Move to 50 yards and start over from a bench rest.

 

[Bob J]

My .54 GPR shot excellent groups at 50 yards with 100 grains 2f Goex, .018 wonder-lubed pillow ticking, and .530 balls. After about 300 shots or so, I noticed it seemed a "tad" easier to load so I switched to .535 balls which were also accurate. It was every bit as accurate with 100 grains 3f goex.

 

[tenngun]

One time I got a 5 shot 1 ragged hole at 100 yards off cross sticks shooting a .526 in a .1500 patch with lard patch lube in a .54 green mountain 36 inch 1 66 barrel.....never happened again. We have heard of the angel with a bad sense of humor playing tricks on our touch hole, sometimes he gives you that one outstanding target, just so he can laugh at you as you try to repeat it and fail.

 

[SAJones]

Used to shoot .535 in my Green River barrel years ago, but it loaded hard for hunting, so tried .530 w/ .015 ticking; just as accurate & a lot easier to load, especially for a quick second shot. My Getz 54 will not group well with .535s, yet .530s do well. Following a statement on this site, I got some .523 balls, & they were even more accurate. Some barrels just defy all logic.

 

[Snow on the Roof]

If the white mystery cloth was silk you will get an extra 40 yards with it... :haha:

 

[FishDFly]

.1500 patch

Kinda thick???????????????????

 

[Don Steele]

Like the Rifleman said....
Pretty much all you learn about a new rifle or load from 25 yds is whether or not you're going to be "on paper" when you move your target out to 50 and 100.
VERY few of the vagaries of a shot show up at 25 yds. In other words...it's too forgiving.
That said....I will tell you,I have a new rifle coming. My first shots will be at 25 yds to make sure that when I move to 50...I'll AT LEAST be able to see my holes someplace on the target sheet. I don't really care where. Once I get a combination that appears to give me the optimal group...I'll make changes to the sights to bring the group to the center of the bull.
Full report coming... :wink:

 

[Rifleman1776]

We have heard of the angel with a bad sense of humor playing tricks on our touch hole,

Or yer wife standing behind ye tying a knot in her apron every time you are taking a shot. Ruin yer day. Fact. I read it in a book so it has to be true. :wink:

 

[Dewey]

Just do it like Boone:

"My companion, a stout, hale, and athletic man, dressed in a homespun hunting-shirt, bare-legged and moccasined, carried a long and heavy rifle, which, as he was loading it, he said had proved efficient in all his former undertakings, and which he hoped would not fail on this occasion, as he felt proud to show me his skill. The gun was wiped, the powder measured, the ball patched with six-hundred-thread linen, and the charge sent home with a hickory rod." :bow:

Audubon, Maria R. (2012-12-18). Audubon and his Journals, Vol. 2 (Kindle Locations 6139-6142). . Kindle Edition.

 

[Dewey]

PS

"600 thread" :shocked2:

If that thread count is per inch, it would seem be be a very fine linen - from a used (I assume) dress shirt or dress? - not some common rag !!!

 

[Zonie]

Sometimes I wonder if old Audubon was actually telling it as it was or if he was just kinda making things up because they sounded good.

I have several 600 thread linen bed sheets and can vouch for the fact that threads to make that material is VERY THIN.

Knowing the rifles in Boone's time had rifling grooves that were fairly deep for shooting patched roundballs, IMO, a 600 thread linen wouldn't seal off the rifling.

As we all know, that makes for very inaccurate shooting.

OH! :shocked2:
Now I've done it. Questioning the great Mr. Audubon. !

 

[Dewey]

Well, like Miller, he WAS there and the closest we have to a first hand account. And he was also a good hunter (by both his and other's accounts), so he should have known what he was talking about.

Of course it could also have been a "typo" - a misreading of his journal by his children (who published the book), or a mistake in the printing.

Or maybe they had a different thread count system (threads per a different size than today's inch) ???

The thread count statement did strike me as strange, but the accounts of the way Boone barked squirrels and of Kentucky shooting contests is priceless, IMHO.

 

[tenngun]

.1500 patch

Kinda thick???????????????????

no just poor typing skills