Terrible accuracy ?!

[hanshi]

Normally hard loading when you're starting a prb is helped by polishing the muzzle crown where it has a sharp edge at the muzzle and the end of the lands tear patches when short started. A thumb and sandpaper is all you need and it can be done in around 30 minutes. It will make starting the prb easier and prevent the patch from tearing. OP wads work pretty well but with a smooth crown and thicker patches they won't be needed.

 

[morehops52]

I was initially loading 80 grains of Pyrodex, then tried reducing the load down to 70 which didn't seem to help.
Have to admit I have not shot ball and patch much at all, mainly conicals.

Not sure what to try next , any suggestions?

Dave Eddie

Dave, pardon me if I do a little redirect here. You're shooting conicals with acceptable accuracy, but not great. I'm a conical guy because they work well for me. I would recommend giving your barrel a good scrubbing as mentioned before & check your crown closely for any flaws that make problems. Then I would try real black with a few different conicals. My Hawken likes T/C Maxis best as do most of my rifles. Maxis shoot best with a stout load and I use 90g 3f in my 54. Yep it's a thumpin' so I use a lead sled at the range and don't worry about it hunting. Another consideration if you haven't tried it is filing down both sides of the front sight a bit. It helped me.
All barrels shoot a little different from their brothers. It can be frustrating at times to find what works best for your barrel but once you put your time in and get it right you've got many years of fun from there. good luck.

 

[roundballman]

My 50 cal T/C Hawken shoots round balls very well. With the shallow rifling in these guns it is very important to keep the barrel clean. Your maxi shooting has probably left some lead in the barrel and my recommendation would be to first give it a good scrubbing with a 3M green patch on an undersized jag ( 50 cal in a 54). Follow that with a cotton patch soaked with Kroil. A tight patch with Kroil will pull out any lead left in the barrel. Once you have a clean bore you should see great improvement using prbs.

 

[gun_painter]

Try out some over powder wads as well. My CVA hawken shot PRB's alright with .015 patches, but I didn't like how hard they were to seat. So I went to a .010 patch and they were easier to seat, but the patches were getting blown apart, and the accuracy wasn't great. I started putting over powder wads down with the same .010 patch, and it's shooting great. Patches aren't getting blown apart, just a little fraying on the edges. Worth trying out.

Branden

 

[renegadehunter]

I have a Thompson Centre 54 caliber Hawken that I use for moose hunting.
For that purpose I use conical bullets, which it shoots quite well. I can maintain a group of about 3-1/2" at 65 yards.

Lately I thought I would try shooting round balls for this seasons deer hunt.
First I cleaned the bore etc.
A trip to the range the other day was disappointing to say the least.
After zeroing at 25 yards, I tried a few shots at 50 yards, which were barley on the paper, between shots were 12" apart.

I am using Hornady round balls .530" with a .015" patch lubed with wonderlube. One observation is that the balls seem to be quite hard to start in the bore, I have to really force them with the ball starter? they are much tighter than the conicals I shoot.
The other thing is these are really old lead balls that are grey looking in colour like they are oxidized?, not sure if this will affect performance?

I was initially loading 80 grains of Pyrodex, then tried reducing the load down to 70 which didn't seem to help.
Have to admit I have not shot ball and patch much at all, mainly conicals.

Not sure what to try next , any suggestions?

Dave Eddie

Most TC's seem to have a pretty loose bore and prefer a tighter patch than even .015", but perhaps you have one with a tighter bore? Maybe you are tearing the patch during the loading process? My .54 Renegade likes a .530 RB and an .018" pillow ticking patch. I can also use a .535 RB with a .015" patch with fine accuracy, but they definitely load pretty firm. A .530" RB with a .010" patch was way too loose for mine and accuracy was horrible.

My PRB combo definitely goes down the bore quite a bit firmer than a conical. A conical starts a bit hard, but then goes down the bore easy once the rifling grooves them. I've had them walk up off the powder while hunting and am not a real fan of them because of this, even though the accuracy was good.

Make sure you don't have a leaded up barrel from shooting conicals so much, especially if no overpowder wad was being used. Some 0000 steel wool wrapped around the jag should strip it out.

I think your powder charge should be pretty close. You didn't say if it is rifle or pistol Pyrodex. My .54 Renegade likes 85 grains of 2f (rifle) and 80 grains of 3f (pistol).

Patches. It is common for pre-lubed store bought patches to have sat around for so long that the patch fibers start breaking down, causing weak patches that don't hold up. You didn't say if they came pre-lubed, so perhaps that isn't an issue, but if they were buy some patches and lube them yourself. I'd try the .015" patches again and perhaps some .010" as well since you said the .015" load really hard.

Cleaning between shots. My TC groups really open up if I don't swab about every other shot. Even though my patch is pretty tight and should maintain the same fouling consistency, it simply likes to be swabbed. Drastic difference from a bench at 50 yards.

 

[Nuthatch]

When I got my first hawken with a 1:48 twist, I couldn't get roundball to work well at all. Conicals worked great so I went with those for a couple of years. But then I went back to it, fiddled with it some and now it doesn't seem to matter much what I'm shooting out of those guns, they all work. Finding the right patch is a big deal, for sure. It helps to have a set of calipers at the fabric store. I built up a little collection of different patches of varying thicknesses -- everything from 0.010 pre-cut to 0.022 denim. After a while, I learned to mix & match to find the right fit for each gun. Now I have 2 with 1:48 twist and 2 smoothbores. They all shoot well with the right combo. Too tight is usually more forgiving. However, as that powder residue builds, it becomes harder to have a consistent pressure of the ball against the powder. And that can affect accuracy. But that has to be pretty snug -- just shy of needing a mallet to load the first shot. Having a fully-lubed patch also seems to help with the loading. It hasn't mattered to me what kind of lube it is as long as the patch is well lubed. Bore butter, homemade beeswax/bear grease, spit, a water-based cleaning solution or just plain water.

 

[tgfrench]

This is mine with 60gr Schuetzen 2ff

So I switched out powders today to 45 and 40 grains of Swiss 3fff. At 50 yds here is the difference.

 

[Harmonica Bob]

I have a Thompson Centre 54 caliber Hawken that I use for moose hunting.
For that purpose I use conical bullets, which it shoots quite well. I can maintain a group of about 3-1/2" at 65 yards.

Lately I thought I would try shooting round balls for this seasons deer hunt.
First I cleaned the bore etc.
A trip to the range the other day was disappointing to say the least.
After zeroing at 25 yards, I tried a few shots at 50 yards, which were barley on the paper, between shots were 12" apart.

I am using Hornady round balls .530" with a .015" patch lubed with wonderlube. One observation is that the balls seem to be quite hard to start in the bore, I have to really force them with the ball starter? they are much tighter than the conicals I shoot.
The other thing is these are really old lead balls that are grey looking in colour like they are oxidized?, not sure if this will affect performance?

I was initially loading 80 grains of Pyrodex, then tried reducing the load down to 70 which didn't seem to help.
Have to admit I have not shot ball and patch much at all, mainly conicals.

Not sure what to try next , any suggestions?

Dave Eddie

There are at least a half dozen things that I would do differently. Please stick with the good load you already have! You have opened up a big can of worms! lol If you want me to explain all of this to you, please call me on the phone at 843 670 3154 anytime

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

I am no fan of Pyrodex.

I don't like projectiles that require the use of a hammer to get started. My PRB loads are generally shot with patches made from an old linen dress shirt and are quite thin. My fifty yard groups are about three inches... which for me is pretty good.