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- Feb 21, 2008
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Was shooting a Hornady .530 ball, .018 Ox Yoke patches lubed with Lehigh Valley Lube and 70 grains of 3f Swiss. Percussion, btw.
Poor thing was blowing patches UP. Ones that weren't in shreds showed uniform cuts on every land. I figured sharp crown. Polished up the crown, but no luck. I used some old .015 pre lubed patches as over powder wads. It helped with the blown ones, but not the cutting.
Today I tried the .018s with Bore Butter and the over powder patch along with 70 grains of 2f Swiss.
VIOLA! Patch survival 100%. Some minor cutting on a couple, but most looked like they could be reused.
Accuracy is still not where it should be. With the LVL patches, 50 yard groups were around 3 inches and not very consistent. The Bore Butter loads are right around 2 1/2 inches. Better. But not good enough. Haven't slugged this one yet, But she loads tight and rams smoothly. This is a spade marked TC barrel with a 1-48 twist.
I would like to see groups no larger than 1 1/2 inches at 50. An inch would be peachy!
Patched ball will not be her primary load, but I would like to have better accuracy when I do use them. I'm thinking of a wool wad over powder. I hear tell going up a caliber is better than actual caliber. I have some Ox Yoke .54-56 wads and the .015 pre lubed gave better results. I use my short starter to push it into the bore and follow it with the patched ball. I swab between shots with LVL.
So. Ideas for 3 shot inch 50 yard groups from a .54 with ball?
Thanks!
Poor thing was blowing patches UP. Ones that weren't in shreds showed uniform cuts on every land. I figured sharp crown. Polished up the crown, but no luck. I used some old .015 pre lubed patches as over powder wads. It helped with the blown ones, but not the cutting.
Today I tried the .018s with Bore Butter and the over powder patch along with 70 grains of 2f Swiss.
VIOLA! Patch survival 100%. Some minor cutting on a couple, but most looked like they could be reused.
Accuracy is still not where it should be. With the LVL patches, 50 yard groups were around 3 inches and not very consistent. The Bore Butter loads are right around 2 1/2 inches. Better. But not good enough. Haven't slugged this one yet, But she loads tight and rams smoothly. This is a spade marked TC barrel with a 1-48 twist.
I would like to see groups no larger than 1 1/2 inches at 50. An inch would be peachy!
Patched ball will not be her primary load, but I would like to have better accuracy when I do use them. I'm thinking of a wool wad over powder. I hear tell going up a caliber is better than actual caliber. I have some Ox Yoke .54-56 wads and the .015 pre lubed gave better results. I use my short starter to push it into the bore and follow it with the patched ball. I swab between shots with LVL.
So. Ideas for 3 shot inch 50 yard groups from a .54 with ball?
Thanks!