Widows Son
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- Jul 18, 2019
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Hello all,
I'm looking for some advice getting my rifle to group at 100 metres. It's a Pedersoli Plainsman .45 percussion made in 1976.
At 25 metres it is dead on and at 50 metres, if I do my part, it groups around 2 inches. The problem is that off a rest my groups at 100 metres the rifle just won't group but prints randomly, with as much a 12 inches between bullet holes. I'm beginning to wonder if it it's the barrel/rifling?
I've experimented with round balls of 440 and 445, with .445 giving a better result. For patching I'm using pillow ticking something like .015. I'm also using a lighter cotton fabric (used for baby swaddling) that is something like .005-.008 thick (my calipers are manual and my eyes aren't what they used to be). Interestingly, I get the same accuracy at the 25-50 metres using either patch material, and recovered patches show no tears or excessive fraying, with a brown scorch mark under the ball.
For powder I'm using 45grains of Wano, (Schutzen??) which seems is all we can get in Australia. I've used as little as 40 grains and as much as 60. The 45 grain charge seems to be way to go.
The rifle is in good condition and the bore is very good. The rifling seems to have a 1:48 twist, however it looks quite shallow, more akin to the depth of rifling found in a modern cartidge rifle. I've got a couple of CVA's from the 1980's and their rifling is prominent (and they are tack drivers!)
As you can see I've experimented with various ingredients, however I'm getting nowhere. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you
I'm looking for some advice getting my rifle to group at 100 metres. It's a Pedersoli Plainsman .45 percussion made in 1976.
At 25 metres it is dead on and at 50 metres, if I do my part, it groups around 2 inches. The problem is that off a rest my groups at 100 metres the rifle just won't group but prints randomly, with as much a 12 inches between bullet holes. I'm beginning to wonder if it it's the barrel/rifling?
I've experimented with round balls of 440 and 445, with .445 giving a better result. For patching I'm using pillow ticking something like .015. I'm also using a lighter cotton fabric (used for baby swaddling) that is something like .005-.008 thick (my calipers are manual and my eyes aren't what they used to be). Interestingly, I get the same accuracy at the 25-50 metres using either patch material, and recovered patches show no tears or excessive fraying, with a brown scorch mark under the ball.
For powder I'm using 45grains of Wano, (Schutzen??) which seems is all we can get in Australia. I've used as little as 40 grains and as much as 60. The 45 grain charge seems to be way to go.
The rifle is in good condition and the bore is very good. The rifling seems to have a 1:48 twist, however it looks quite shallow, more akin to the depth of rifling found in a modern cartidge rifle. I've got a couple of CVA's from the 1980's and their rifling is prominent (and they are tack drivers!)
As you can see I've experimented with various ingredients, however I'm getting nowhere. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you