Skirmishers…need your advice

[brazosland]

Picked up a reproduction Cook carbine.

Fired the Burton ball, Williams bullet and .550 Pritchett. All shot very, very accurately at 40 yards from a rest.

With 60 grains of 3F the Williams was about 6” low, pretty much the same for the Burton with 50 grains of 3F.

The Pritchett with 60 grns of 3F was about 3” low. All excellent and I have a front sight I can shorten…

Question: what should my 50 yard POI be to have a roughly 100 yard zero?

Or maybe just a 75 yard zero since this gun is just for fun and shooting hogs.

My round ball guns I zero about 2” high at 50 and that puts them on at 75 and a couple inches low at 100. What should I roughly be looking at here for trajectory at. 50/75/100?

Thanks!!

 

[dave951]

Since you're hog shooting and plinking, 75yd and practice.

 

[brazosland]

Thanks, that’s incredibly helpful! I intend to do just that.

Anyone with actual ballistic information would be welcome to comment as well!

 

[dave951]

Thanks, that’s incredibly helpful! I intend to do just that.

Anyone with actual ballistic information would be welcome to comment as well!

Giving actual drop information is impossible since it all depends on your gun BUT if you're dead on at 75yd, then 50yd should be about 1" high and 100yd should be about 2" low. You'll have to experiment a bit to confirm what your gun and load is doing.

Past that, I'm a huge proponent of leaving the sights set on a hunting gun and practicing. The skill sets that will help you most are range estimation and knowing your gun.

 

[brazosland]

This is not my first rodeo. I occasionally teach folks to shoot. Just looking for some general data to get me in the ballpark on what these large slugs are doing trajectory wise.

Brett at Paper Cartridges wrote me back that the Pritchett would be about 4” high at 50 with the other two a bit higher for 100 yard zero. So I am pulling back to 75…and I should have a decent MPBR to 100.

I am all about adjusting sight height for the most desirable trajectory after the optimal load has been determined. Guessing and throwing Kentucky windage on game is not, in my opinion, the best practice.

 

[dave951]

This is not my first rodeo. I occasionally teach folks to shoot. Just looking for some general data to get me in the ballpark on what these large slugs are doing trajectory wise.

Brett at Paper Cartridges wrote me back that the Pritchett would be about 4” high at 50 with the other two a bit higher for 100 yard zero. So I am pulling back to 75…and I should have a decent MPBR to 100.

I am all about adjusting sight height for the most desirable trajectory after the optimal load has been determined. Guessing and throwing Kentucky windage on game is not, in my opinion, the best practice.

Then we seem to be on the same page. Get a good load, adjust the sights for it. Practice. My comment was directed at those who seem to want to adjust the sights every time they change distance in the field. That's ok on a known distance range, but in a hunting situation, not so much.

Back to the trajectory thing, you'll only be able to accurately determine that after you get your load set. Modern ballistic calculators don't have any type of minie in their libraries nor are they optimized in any way for black powder. That said, you should have a good workable load that is entirely satisfactory for hunting purposes if the zero is set for 75yd.