re-dialing in Olde Half-Breed

[azmntman]

Thats why bears hibernate!!! -25 is brutal. We get that cold every two 3 years for a day or two but that's not habitibal temperatures. I suppose one could experiment with lubes to see if they remain soft or freeze (after all we cant get em that cold in the freezer).

 

[Shine]

Bear grease

 

[azmntman]

well i have yet to shoot a bear so i would have to get it elsewhere. Do they sell bear grease? I see a lot of guys mix with beeswax etc. I may try it if I can find some not still in the bear

 

[Shine]

Its like oil use it straight for temps that cold.

 

[azmntman]

Where can you get bear fat?

 

[Shine]

Mostly bears. :grin:

 

[Patocazador]

I'm pretty sure the government put a stop on selling most bear products after the bear-paw soup and gall bladder debacles. Maybe they just stopped exports - not sure.

 

[Shine]

I get mine the old fashioned way. I squeeze bears.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Where can you get bear fat?

First, ye kill a bear......... :shocked2: :wink:

 

[Rifleman1776]

OK, back to my situation.
Last night I made the decision to do my re-dialing in using Swiss 3Fg powder. I have a larger supply of that than I do the Schuetzen. Looking forward to Al Gore's "warming" to kick in so I can get more range time.
My variables will be: balls in .445" and .457" using beeswax/whale oil or beeswax/peanut oil lube. And patching of ticking and denim. I'll start at 50 yards with 50 gr. and work from there. All off bench.
Remembered, I got chided :slap: for going to a smaller ball size and expecting accuracy. Two years ago I won a bench match at a large event using .445" balls just because I forgot my .457s at home that day. This is the ml game, go figger. :hmm:

 

[azmntman]

I have also let a gun sit awhile and went back to it an its load to be surprised. I wonder if our bodies aging (weakening or strengthening) has anything to do with it, like the way we hold the gun?? Arthritis sucks. I am young still (kinda) but after a battle with got I respect arthritis alot more and can see where we could begin to differ our stance at the range> Just a thought??

 

[FishDFly]

Go back to your basics and start over...

I know a very accomplished pistol shooter who went into a slump and could not get out of it.

He went back to basics and worked his way out, it's all about consistency and basics.

In a crisis, you will not rise to the occasion, but merely default to your level of training.

 

[Rifleman1776]

There is more to this story about my rifle not shooting well.
I had been shooting this rifle for about ten years using .445" balls and denim. One day at a big shoot it began the all over the map thing. I was really upset. Between relays I saw an old friend, named Frankie Stanhart (RIP) watching me with a disgusted look on his face. He held out his hand and dumped a bunch of balls into it and said "Use these". I looked at them and they were about the worstest cast balls I had ever seen. Just awful wrinkled, pocked, terrible. :shocked2: Well, I had been shooting lousy and figgerd I couldn't do much worse and I didn't want to offend my old friend. So I used them next relay and my group shrunk from scattered all over the place to nines and possibles. I later learned they were .457" balls and until recently, almost 40 years, that was what I used. And, it did shoot well with .445" balls after my "lazy" switch from the .457s. So, again, go figger.

 

[Richard Brinkman]

So now I'm confused sometimes it shoots great with .445 balls and sometimes it doesn't? :idunno:

 

[mooman76]

Maybe you need to shoot 457s for awhile and then go back to 445s again! :stir:

 

[Richard Brinkman]

Now there's a good idea shoot the .457's in the morning and when you started getting tired switch over to the .445's they shoot the same don't they, well at least most of the time? :stir:

 

[Alden]

Where? Wherever they serve lots of hamburgers with mayo, fries, and milk shakes, but that's not the point right now*...

We were digressing from more appropriately named Less-Pale Powder to non-freezing lubes...

*I asked the same for cooking though.

 

[azmntman]

I'm sure I have no idea what your talking about Sir Alden?? But it's OK, I'm often confused.

 

[Rifleman1776]

So now I'm confused sometimes it shoots great with .445 balls and sometimes it doesn't? :idunno:

It's a muzzle loader. Waddaya expect? :rotf:

 

[meanmike8665]

Have you looked at the muzzle lately, could it be you might have to re-crown it? I have a couple of rifles that when south on me and re-crowning fixed them right up again. Seems, to me that shooting .457 and denim and then .445 and pillow ticking there a change you having something at the crown causing the problem. Good luck, I like beating big bench guns too, with my light bench guns!

Michael