The 1st day of ml season is tomorrow, I go out to check the zero of my virginia rifle and I'm shooting a 5" group at 50yards. The whole summer and fall I had been shooting a 6" group at 150 yards and hole through hole at 50, I haven't changed a darn thing, the only difference is it's below freezing now. It's a good thing I have a shooting range in my back yard. I sort of wonder if I sprung a barrel tenion, I hate to take it all apart. I'm going to try oiled patches vs. larded patches to see if that makes a difference.
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What the heck!
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smokehouseman
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Make sure to keep us posted, I'm curious to see what you come up with. Here in south central Alaska we've had comfortable 30 degree temperatures but will no be heading into some teen's and 20's but not quite yet the stuff you're getting.
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What's your lube? Some aren't worth a hoot in cold, though they're fine when it's warm. That's where I'm putting my chips.
If you're using factory prelube patches, I've seen them deteriorate with age and spread groups, but it's a gradual process rather than sudden.
If you're using factory prelube patches, I've seen them deteriorate with age and spread groups, but it's a gradual process rather than sudden.
I use lard as a hunting lube, and it's pretty fresh,I also only use KIK black powder. I dialed her in today and I'm back to ragged holes at 60 yards. I used larded patches and murphy's oil/ water patch lube, both shot fine. I think the problem was the powder beleive it or not, I had this powder in a horn (that is not air tight) for the last 4 months, it was just about empty so I filled her up with fresh powder from a sealed can today and the first 3 shots were touching at 60, it is the only thing I really changed. The powder horn had been in the wash room where it gets pretty humid and the powder horn had also gone from freezing outdoor weather to this closet at least 10 times, so I think I degraded it, it all I can think of.
paulvallandigham
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If you shoot below freezing, the wax/lard based lubes are not going to shoot the same as they do in warmer weather. Thin them at the least using oil, but I recommend switching to oils or just alcohol when it gets to zero or below in temperatures. Even oils become " stiff" in the fabric when it gets that cold. Alcohol will allow the fabric to stretch enough to give a good SEAl, then evaporate, leaving you a dry patch between the ball and barrel. Its not the same as when you use a dry patch when you SEAT the ball, and run it down the barrel. Its next to impossible to get a DRY fabric down in the grooves.
Dutch Schoultz recommend his " dry lube" ---- where you mix oil with water in a 5:1, or 6:1 or 7:1 combination of water to oil, soak, or dip the fabric in the mix, and then let it dry in the sun to remove the water. This leaves the fabric impregnated with a very thin layer of oil- just enough to let the fibers stretch, when the Ball and patch are seated on the powder charge, and enough oil to keep the patch from burning. If you want more protection in the cold dry air from moisture( ie. rising temperatures, and moisture coming in with a weather front), use a lubed Patch to grease the barrel after the PRB is seated. :thumbsup:
Dutch Schoultz recommend his " dry lube" ---- where you mix oil with water in a 5:1, or 6:1 or 7:1 combination of water to oil, soak, or dip the fabric in the mix, and then let it dry in the sun to remove the water. This leaves the fabric impregnated with a very thin layer of oil- just enough to let the fibers stretch, when the Ball and patch are seated on the powder charge, and enough oil to keep the patch from burning. If you want more protection in the cold dry air from moisture( ie. rising temperatures, and moisture coming in with a weather front), use a lubed Patch to grease the barrel after the PRB is seated. :thumbsup:
Thank you Paul,
I was trying to create a method to lubricate patching strips so that each shot had exactly the same amount of lubrication. While my groups were nicely centered as far as left and right was concerned I was still getting vertical strings of hits because the degree of slickness varied from shot to shot.
Well, my method worked and the vertical strings were gone.
The surprise I had was that the less oil the patching strips had the tighter the group.
I had previously believed that the slicker the lube the better things would be.
Later thought brought me to the conclusion that with a slick patch lube the ball would start moving as soon as the powder began to burn and that a less slick lube would offer a touch of resistance allowing the pressure to build a bit more before the patched ball began moving. We're talking nanoseconds here but the effect was fairly dramatic.
Dutch
I was trying to create a method to lubricate patching strips so that each shot had exactly the same amount of lubrication. While my groups were nicely centered as far as left and right was concerned I was still getting vertical strings of hits because the degree of slickness varied from shot to shot.
Well, my method worked and the vertical strings were gone.
The surprise I had was that the less oil the patching strips had the tighter the group.
I had previously believed that the slicker the lube the better things would be.
Later thought brought me to the conclusion that with a slick patch lube the ball would start moving as soon as the powder began to burn and that a less slick lube would offer a touch of resistance allowing the pressure to build a bit more before the patched ball began moving. We're talking nanoseconds here but the effect was fairly dramatic.
Dutch
Your shooting should change when you switch from summer and fall shooting to near zero temperatures because your barrel will contract in the cold giving your ball/patch combination a tighter fit.
Shooting in hot weather will cause your barrel to expand which gives you a looser fit of ball to bore.
The barrel will not cool off as much between shots and gradually get larger and larger.
Some years ago shooters at Friendship, Indiana, would occasionally squirt Freon down their barrels in hopes of cooling the barrel back to a reasonable temperature and size.
At Stalingrad the gun oil of the Germans froze so much that the rifles were unworkable. The Russians using a very similar oil solved that problem by mixing gasoline with oil with the result that it didn't solidify into a glue like wax like the Germans were experiencing.
Dutch
Shooting in hot weather will cause your barrel to expand which gives you a looser fit of ball to bore.
The barrel will not cool off as much between shots and gradually get larger and larger.
Some years ago shooters at Friendship, Indiana, would occasionally squirt Freon down their barrels in hopes of cooling the barrel back to a reasonable temperature and size.
At Stalingrad the gun oil of the Germans froze so much that the rifles were unworkable. The Russians using a very similar oil solved that problem by mixing gasoline with oil with the result that it didn't solidify into a glue like wax like the Germans were experiencing.
Dutch
