- Joined
- Apr 10, 2008
- Messages
- 937
- Reaction score
- 655
Ok , so to start let me show off my newly assembled Encore.
The frame started as a blued Encore. The barrel is a .45 1-20 twist Brux built by Mark Woodman. I sent the frame to him and he nitrided it as well so the whole thing matches and gets the added nitride protection. The scope is a 4-20x50 Burris Veracity in Vortex Pro Series low rings. The scope base is a pic rail from Mark.
This one hits all the spots for me.
So here’s my conundrum. I’m not new to muzzleloaders nor smokeless muzzleloaders but this one has me stumped and maybe a little frustrated. I can not get it to go boom sabotless. The last barrel I had was a stainless Brux Encore barrel from Arrowhead. Both plugs were 209 plugs. The last one shot sabotless loads beautifully. This one is smoother to load after Mark hand lapped it. I tried the same load of .58 gr H4198 and a smooth sized 275 gr Fury with a veggie wad. The Woodman barrel is just a bit tighter so the bullets have to be sized a hair smaller. I tried sizing them down to a comfortable one hand load. Those didn’t work so I tried a new can of powder in case that was the problem. No bang. Tried a tighter fit on the bullet. No bang. Tried a new pack of primers. No bang. Finally in a last ditch effort I tried a 195 gr Barnes in a Harvester light blue sabot. It went bang.
It was a relief to finally get it to at least fire but was pretty much dark so I didn’t try a second shot.
But still, why am I struggling here? I’m not entirely opposed to shooting sabots if I have to but I don’t want that to be my only option. Not such a big deal in the fall and winter but I don’t have time in the summer to wait 7-10 minutes between shots for the barrel to cool so I don’t blow sabots. The only other thing I can think of is to try some wool wads in hopes that they’ll maybe seal better? Hate to buy a pack of those only to find out they still don’t work.
Help me out here fellas.
The frame started as a blued Encore. The barrel is a .45 1-20 twist Brux built by Mark Woodman. I sent the frame to him and he nitrided it as well so the whole thing matches and gets the added nitride protection. The scope is a 4-20x50 Burris Veracity in Vortex Pro Series low rings. The scope base is a pic rail from Mark.
This one hits all the spots for me.
So here’s my conundrum. I’m not new to muzzleloaders nor smokeless muzzleloaders but this one has me stumped and maybe a little frustrated. I can not get it to go boom sabotless. The last barrel I had was a stainless Brux Encore barrel from Arrowhead. Both plugs were 209 plugs. The last one shot sabotless loads beautifully. This one is smoother to load after Mark hand lapped it. I tried the same load of .58 gr H4198 and a smooth sized 275 gr Fury with a veggie wad. The Woodman barrel is just a bit tighter so the bullets have to be sized a hair smaller. I tried sizing them down to a comfortable one hand load. Those didn’t work so I tried a new can of powder in case that was the problem. No bang. Tried a tighter fit on the bullet. No bang. Tried a new pack of primers. No bang. Finally in a last ditch effort I tried a 195 gr Barnes in a Harvester light blue sabot. It went bang.
It was a relief to finally get it to at least fire but was pretty much dark so I didn’t try a second shot.
But still, why am I struggling here? I’m not entirely opposed to shooting sabots if I have to but I don’t want that to be my only option. Not such a big deal in the fall and winter but I don’t have time in the summer to wait 7-10 minutes between shots for the barrel to cool so I don’t blow sabots. The only other thing I can think of is to try some wool wads in hopes that they’ll maybe seal better? Hate to buy a pack of those only to find out they still don’t work.
Help me out here fellas.