Rib Removal Results

[MikeFromON]

Hello all. I noticed that the under-barrel ribs on my flinters were only held on with little screws so I took them off just for fun. Both rifles felt noticeably lighter and more swingable and felt much more balanced in my hands, particularly my Mortimer which is ordinarily very muzzle-heavy. After a few dozen shots through each gun it seemed to me that my groups were opening up bigtime in the horizontal plane (side to side). Generally, both guns would shoot groups about 3 inches wide and 10 inches tall but without the ribs the groups were up to 20 inches wide, although the same 10 inches tall. I shoot offhand from 50 yards, using several different projectiles including PRBs, REALs, Hornady PA and Remington conicals, and even some sabots. Has anybody else tried the same experiment and had similar results?

 

[xxgrampa]

greetings mike,

no disrespect ment here. if you were getting 3x10" groups at 50yrds, your problems started before you took the under ribs off.

if you have a 'hooked' breach. the fitting may be loose. or the bbl may be sloppy in the channel. sounds like you have some opportunities to resolve before the rib problems are addressed.

start by making sure everything is tightly fitted together. sights, bbl, tennons, pins, wedges, stock, lock, trigger and etc...

good luck, keep us posted and ..ttfn..grampa..

 

[MikeFromON]

The guns' components are well-fitted I think. I had ascribed the large size of my original groups to poor aim or technique on my part. I have only been shooting rifles for about a year now. It was the huge change I noticed after taking the ribs off that got me asking questions.

 

[flintlockmdj]

Mike put the rib back on and put this rifle on a bench and see what kind of groups you get. Even inexperienced if you have been shooting for a year you should have tighter groups than that.

If you still have poor results try working on your load to see if that improves accuracy. Since you didn't give any details other than it being a halfstock rifle we will go on the presumption that it is a .50 caliber. A starting load for this would be 50 grains of FFg or FFFg. Adjust your powder charge up or down 5 grains and shoot a five shot group if there is not a sugnificent difference in the group size adjust another 5 grains, continue untill your groups start to tighten up. When you have gotten the best group possible try changing your patch thickness and see if that improves anything then you may want to try a different ball size or lubricant. But remember to change ONLY ONE THING AT A TIME and give it a thorough test before moving on to something else.
Do all the shooting off the bench with sandbags.

This will take a lot of shooting but that's the fun of it. Beginners are lucky now with swaged balls and bullets and pre measured lubricated patches reddily avalable. When I started shooting in the early '70's you ether bought another size mold or found someone with another size ball to try and you had to carry your micrometer to the fabric shop to measure the thickness of the cloth for patching. :yakyak: :yakyak:

I hope this helps if I can be of any further servive to you let me know.

 

[Doc Arroyo]

The group opening up does make since. A lighter rifle is easier to bounce around, that is why target rifles have such heavy barrels, and should feel muzzle heavy. The 10" vertical could also be a breathing/hold problem. I agree that you should tighten up the group with a bit of dilligent benchwork, then work on the offhand shooting. :v

 

[Bill Hall]

Mike, I'll betcha the change in your grouping is simply a matter of "muscle memory". Put another way, you're body is accustomed to holding your rifles a certain way to control the weight. If the weight has changed, your arms, shoulders, etc. lose steadiness until you get accutomed to the new feel. I've experienced this many times when I shoot a front heavy ML constantly and then try to shoot a 4 pound .22, and the little rifle is bobbing all over.
Other than that, the advice already given about doing benchwork will help you gain more accuracy. Bill

 

[MikeFromON]

Thanks for the replies. I have been wanting to do some bench shooting for some time now, but I have yet to build a suitable bench and whenever I get out to my workshop to do the it I start thinking about shooting and then one thing leads to another and before I know it I am standing in my neighbour's lumber yard with a gun in my hands and a smoke-veiled target in my sights :grin:.

P.S. Thank for the link to your article, Paul. I will read it when I get some spare time.