After talking to Roy, I preformed a little surgery on the front sight. It was
roughly 5/16 high originally and I brought it down to 3/16.
roughly 5/16 high originally and I brought it down to 3/16.
Next range session I plan on loading the flask with 3F Swiss and starting with
3 Drams, will work on accuracy and hopefully find a ball load with either 2F
or 3F that the gun really likes and will make any further adjustments that
are needed from there.
3 Drams, will work on accuracy and hopefully find a ball load with either 2F
or 3F that the gun really likes and will make any further adjustments that
are needed from there.
The heart of this gun is a Colerain 12ga barrel that has a .730 bore. I'll be
shooting a .690 ball that weighs in at 495 grains. For patches I'm using a
100% cotton canvas that measured at .025 thickness when bought but after
one wash cycle it measures .028. I warmed up a mixture of 60/40 bear grease
and soaked two inch strips of the canvas in it. I then let this dry and used a
butter knife to scrape off the excess. Cut the strips into patches. This
patch/ball combo loads just right in this gun, not to hard yet not to easy
either. I will try some over shot cards between the powder and patch too to
see if there is any differance in accuracy.
shooting a .690 ball that weighs in at 495 grains. For patches I'm using a
100% cotton canvas that measured at .025 thickness when bought but after
one wash cycle it measures .028. I warmed up a mixture of 60/40 bear grease
and soaked two inch strips of the canvas in it. I then let this dry and used a
butter knife to scrape off the excess. Cut the strips into patches. This
patch/ball combo loads just right in this gun, not to hard yet not to easy
either. I will try some over shot cards between the powder and patch too to
see if there is any differance in accuracy.
April 2, 2007 this morning was cool, in the 40's with a heavy damp drizzle. I
experianced no problems at all with the gun. Shot ten consecutive shots before
wiping the bore. I did have one clack but that was due to a dull flint and once
a new one was installed she continued to fire without a hitch.
I tried 3 drams, 3 1/4 and 3 1/2 charges of 3F Swiss. The above target was shot
at 25 yards with 3 drams and the gun is definately showing a preferance for
that load. This load is just under point of aim and at 50 yards I shot just about
the same kind of group only just off the target straight down at 6 o'clock into
the card board back stop. At this point it's shooting roughly 5" low of point of
aim at 50 yards. Higher charges did put the groups 1 to 2" higher than this
group but the groups are opening up and recoil is more noticable. The gun
likes 3 drams of 3F and if I can hold it steady enough, she'll put the ball where
I want it. It's also pleasent to shoot. I didn't try over shot cards between the
powder and patch this trip as I had to order some 12 ga cards, the 11 ga cards
I had are just a bit to big in diameter for this bore.
I'm almost there, just need to trim the front sight a little more before the next
range session.
experianced no problems at all with the gun. Shot ten consecutive shots before
wiping the bore. I did have one clack but that was due to a dull flint and once
a new one was installed she continued to fire without a hitch.
I tried 3 drams, 3 1/4 and 3 1/2 charges of 3F Swiss. The above target was shot
at 25 yards with 3 drams and the gun is definately showing a preferance for
that load. This load is just under point of aim and at 50 yards I shot just about
the same kind of group only just off the target straight down at 6 o'clock into
the card board back stop. At this point it's shooting roughly 5" low of point of
aim at 50 yards. Higher charges did put the groups 1 to 2" higher than this
group but the groups are opening up and recoil is more noticable. The gun
likes 3 drams of 3F and if I can hold it steady enough, she'll put the ball where
I want it. It's also pleasent to shoot. I didn't try over shot cards between the
powder and patch this trip as I had to order some 12 ga cards, the 11 ga cards
I had are just a bit to big in diameter for this bore.
I'm almost there, just need to trim the front sight a little more before the next
range session.
