Smoothbore accuracy?.

I have acquired a 20ga. Chambers Penn. fowler.
I have never hunted with a smoothbore and would like to practice for next Fall deer season.
What is a reasonable expectation for accuracy and max limits on range. I know there are many variables but working with ball,patch,and powder charges to find the most accurate, what should I expect.
Many thanks in advance.

I can have touching holes at twentyfive yards palm sized at fifty to six inch from side to side. I would not try hunting beyond fifty yards.
I put a rear sight on my smoothies as it’s easier for me. There are boys and girls shooting smooth rifles that shoot as well at a hundred that I do with my rifle gun.
A Canadian HBC officer wrote that there was no reason to buy a rifle since out to sixty yards a fusil would shoot as wall as a rifle. That’s not fully true when riflemen can cloverleaf at fifty yards, but is true when held as a hunting gun. A gun that can hit a dinner plate can put deer on that plate.

There are two ways to look at this question, how accurate is the gun, and how accurate is the shooter.

As far as the gun is concerned in my experience, I know my gun is capable of 4" groups at 100 yards from a rest, and probably smaller. That's with a flintlock smoothbore, 20 gauge, 46" barrel, no rear sight. If I shoot groups larger than that I know I'm not getting the best from my gun. I frequently don't.

Spence

6" at 60 yards offhand is what I try to maintain.

Mine has no rear sight and I pretty much ignore the front sight and focus on the target.

I hunt my smoothbore like I do my recurves. But it has more than twice the range and much less movement required - so it seems easier. ;-)

I hate to be bringing bad tidings. Just a couple weeks ago, I was participating at the April Trade Fair at Fort de Chartres. Part of the competitions included a shoothbore challenge. 5 shots at a range of perhaps 40 to 50 yards at a 6" wide board with an X used for an aiming point. Very few got 5 shots on the target. A few hit the board 4 times with most participants getting 3, 2, 1 or none on the board. The shooters who practice got more hits.

The good news is that with practice, keeping a group of 6" at 50 yards is indeed possible. But a realistic maximum range of 50 yards for hunting taking advantage of any rest available should be your limit.

On very, very, very good days at 25 yards I can get 3 to 5 in the palm of your hand (large hand) and at 50 yards 5 shots in a dinner plate. Its a 66 cal Officer's Model with 60 grains 3f , 10 thou. spit patch. But those are very good days.

If I could get four inch groups at 75 I would be tickled to death!

Thanks for the real life advice gents. Here in Georgia in the woods 50 yards would be a long shot unless you were hunting a field, power line, or right of way, so that's good news.
I have a big stack of paper plates I use as targets so if I get the right load worked up and can keep my shots in the plate at the 50 mark with a few months of practice, I would be confident enough to take a deer within range. I will not take a chance on wounding an animal if I don't think that I can make a clean kill. I'll get to work. Many thanks.

:thumbsup:

To no one in particular, just because I like to hear myself talk...

A personal pet peeve...hunting accuracy. Angle of deer. Angle of paper plate. I don't like to hear those and other similar terms with the same implication, that it's acceptable to have second rate accuracy because we are only shooting at deer. As though it's of utmost importance to be able to shoot 10X at paper, but far less than that is OK when shooting at live deer .

I've always gone at the game in a way opposite to that, I won't shoot at a deer until I know I can hit it exactly where I need to with whatever gun I choose to carry. If I can't shoot groups way smaller than a paper plate with my smoothbore I'll leave it at home or limit its use to shot for small game.

Off rant.

Spence

Having found a 1816 Pedersoli one of my winter projects was to obtain a replacement rear band and epoxy on a plastic card to whittle down to make a temporary rear sight for carrying out tests. I hope to settle the question of smoothbore accuracy for this particular piece. Going forwards I may create a permanently attached iron sight on the band. We'll see.

:metoo:

I can count the deer i've shot on 1 hand.....but never had to track one farther than 25 yards because I won't shoot one unless it's a heart shot.

A pal and self tried our Pattern F EIC muskets from a rest at 50 yards, and got groups for 10 of 3 1/2 to 4" with full powder loads and a ball between thick felt wads.
Not nice to shoot off a rest, but a good way to see what the gun is capable of.
(.75 cal ball)

IMHO it is a question with two answers. First a Smoothebore can & will be accurate up to 75 - 100 Yards. Second will it have killing power at that distance with a rebound ball. Yes maybe if you shot is dead in the Heart.

Now if you like you can find out how much energy that Roundballs produces you are shooting with a little experenent.

Got to the Post Office, get one of the Large Squarish Priority Mail Boxes, Put layers of folded News Papers in it stack like you see them on the News Stand, old magazines will also work.

Next soak the heck out of them with Water so they swellup them put out at 50 yards, and use as a target.


After one good hit you will have an idea how much killings power you have, as you will have proof with ball penetration, and scatter paper.

If you just have a clean hole you did not produce much energy.

PP,

With muskets, Accuracy fails a good bit before energy.

Richard.

George said:

To no one in particular, just because I like to hear myself talk...

A personal pet peeve...hunting accuracy. Angle of deer. Angle of paper plate. I don't like to hear those and other similar terms with the same implication, that it's acceptable to have second rate accuracy because we are only shooting at deer. As though it's of utmost importance to be able to shoot 10X at paper, but far less than that is OK when shooting at live deer .

I've always gone at the game in a way opposite to that, I won't shoot at a deer until I know I can hit it exactly where I need to with whatever gun I choose to carry. If I can't shoot groups way smaller than a paper plate with my smoothbore I'll leave it at home or limit its use to shot for small game.

Off rant.

Spence

Click to expand...

I support this rant. :applause:

Our game deserves much more worry than a paper target.

Like my bowhunting (real bowhunting :wink: ), I have two ranges as I'm hunting with my muzzleloaders.

1-Plenty close for a sure kill shot.

2-WAY too far.

1 and 2 may only be a scant few yards in difference.

Works for me.

Best regards, Skychief.

A .60 ball fired on top of 65 grains of powder will have approximately 450 ft pounds of energy, that’s more then enough to go through and through a deer at most angles. Closer well increases the energy.
The paper plate is a good target. Holding a plate on a deer sideways centered on the heart any where a ball hits in that space is a dead deer. Turn the deer facing yousame thing. In fact almost any angle you put that plate and it’s square to you and it covers the heart area means venison for dinner.
The hearts a little bigger then a human heart but not that much. About a four inch circle. However arota, venacava, pulmonary artery and vein and lung tissue that’s full of blood. Going the other way there is liver and hepatic blood vessels. A .60 cal hole through any af that drops deer pretty quick.

:hatsoff:

tenngun said:

A .60 cal hole through any af that drops deer pretty quick.

Click to expand...

Yes, it does. I prefer to do it on purpose, though, not as a happy accident. :grin:

Spence

I don't think it's so much "what accuracy can I expect from my smoothbore" it's "how much do I want to practice to get the accuracy I want".

Yes, everything has it's limits but practice can extend those limits.

Percy