shooting tune-up after a lot of years ...

[gkainz]

I drew a muzzleloader tag for elk this year after a lot of years of not shooting my muzzleloaders.

I have a TC Hawkin kit .50 that I built back in the 70s, and a Cabela's Investarms .50 that I bought for my son 20 years ago.

I used to shoot Hornady Great Plains 385 gr HB HP, as my 2 empty boxes remind me, over 100 gr Pyrodex RS. Somewhere over the years I picked up a big box of hand poured maxi ball (not HP or HB) that weigh out around 370 gr (+/- 5 gr).

Took both rifles out to the range to see if I remember how to operate them, and they both ended up about 24" high at 100 yards.
I switched to a 25 yd target, backed off to 90 grains of powder and adjusted the sights to a generally acceptable "close enough for now" results.

The T/C 3 shot group

and the Investarms 3 shot group

next range session, I pushed the targets out to 50 yards, after being fairly confident that I could at least stay on paper, and the T/C performed as expected (still need a little right windage)

The Investarms, however, really has me scratching my head! (Old eyes and open sights not withstanding ... 2 rifles at least take that variable out of the game ...

What do you think about this? At least the windage is consistant!
Looks like another range day is needed!

Thinking I might go grab another box of Hornady and see if I can get back to the old hunting load instead?

Greg

 

[Maven]

gk, It appears that your barrel is moving ever so slightly in the stock. A quick and dirty fix is to use the yellow marked teflon tape for LP tanks, etc) to wrap and tighten the wedge and tang. The amount of tape can easily be added to or removed entirely if it doesn't improve accuracy. Btw, that's nice shooting with Maxi-Balls.

 

[gkainz]

gk, It appears that your barrel is moving ever so slightly in the stock. A quick and dirty fix is to use the yellow marked teflon tape for LP tanks, etc) to wrap and tighten the wedge and tang. The amount of tape can easily be added to or removed entirely if it doesn't improve accuracy. Btw, that's nice shooting with Maxi-Balls.

Thanks for the tip, @Maven It didn't do the vertical stringing on the first outing, but I pulled the barrel and scrubbed it out between that and the range trip pictured above. Maybe I got sloppy on the reassembly. I'll check the barrel and wedge for fit and wiggle, and shim it up with the tape as suggested.
Appreciate it!

 

[dkasprzak]

@gkainz Were you swabbing between shots? If not, the fouling may possibly be the cause of the vertical stringing.

 

[gkainz]

@gkainz Were you swabbing between shots? If not, the fouling may possibly be the cause of the vertical stringing.

Yes, I was swabbing, which is new to my shooting. I used to load and shoot until it was difficult to load, then swab.

I haven't had time to shoot the Investarms again (the one that did the vertical stringing) as I just got back home from a hunting trip (didn't see any elk) that was too hot the first few days and then a lot of rain the last part of the season. The Investarms was a backup gun on that trip. The TC Hawkin did well ... I had a brass nipple cap I bought years ago, and a piece of electrical tape over the barrel, and on the last day of the hunt, it fired uneventfully for unloading.