.58 Jaeger Target Loads

[joe posney]

Greetings to all shooters, particularly .58 cal shooters of the Jaeger. I am really interested in what loads have worked for y'all in shooting paper targets, not hunting loads at all, especially at 100yds. I have been having consistent success with my .58 Jager (31" Getz barrel) at 25 & 50 yds using 45 grs of FFFg. I still am working up a consistent load for 100yds. I have hit with 50/55 and 60 grains, but can't quite settle in on a load. I know I need to bench the gun and put in through my own trials..and I will be doing this soon. I just wondered if any of you had experience in working up loads for the Jaeger...especially at 100yds. Would appriciate any shared range experiences!

 

[Birddog6]

I have built 4 of them in .58 cal & all of them I shot 65 to 75 grains of FF in them for all ranges. I don't change load for distances. You have 20+ dif rifles, dif loads for dif distances in dif rifles, would take an hour to find the right page for the right load for the rifle rifle, etc.

One load will be the sweet load in the Jaeger, & it will be 60 to 75 grains most likely.

And if you are not using a solid bench, sand bags, writing the stuff down, etc., you will not find the best load for the rifle. First thing you have to do is eliminate all of the human error that you can, and the first error is you holding the rifle, let the bench & bags do that.

 

[MikeChapin]

I would do the same thing if it was a Jaeger .58 or a .32 squirrel rifle.

The first thing is to do what Birddog said. Get all the human interaction out of the way. You want to see how well the rifle is doing, not how well you are shooting from various positions. You also want to shoot at a point. I generally use the cover patches on Shoot-N-See target on a piece of 8.5 x 11" paper. This give you a point to aim at rather than trying to find the middle of a larger target. If you have to use a larger target use a 6 O'Clock hold to give you a finer sighting area.

I shoot the rifle with various loads at 50 yards and find the load that groups the best. Then I mess with the patching to see if that affects the groups. When I get the best group, five shots touching, I can get I adjust the sights to where I am hitting dead on.

I use two loads for paper punching. A lighter load for 25 and 50 yards and a herkier load for 100 yards and hunting. For the 100 yard load for a .58 I would go up 20 grains from the 50 yard load to start. I use a 2" day glo sticky target on a large piece of paper. That's what I can see the best at that distance. I adjust the charge until I am hitting within an inch high or low on the target and keeping the shots within 2 1/2". Thats about as good as my old eyes will do at that range with open iron sights.

For an example, my .58, a 36" GM barreled flint Hawken, uses 60 grains 3F under a .570 ball with a .020 medium weight denim patch. At 50 yards this will shoot an 1" cluster which looks like one ragged hole at 50 yards. For 100 yards it will shoot about 2" high with 85 grains 3F and keep the group under 3".

Hope this helps.

 

[redwing]

Yea Mike I was going to mention to you how old your eyes look. :rotf: I have a 31' swamped Colerain on a flint Yeager. It shoots 70 Grs. of 2F at 25 and 50 yards. It shoots 95 Grs. of 2F at 100 Yds. On the taller leaf it is on at 140 yds with 120 Grs. of 2F. That is with a .570 ball and a .022 Walmart Blue Duc. H#9Plus for lube. These are hammer start loads. :thumbsup:

 

[jdstrang]

Injun Joe:

What is your projectile of choice? You neglected to mention that one little detail...

 

[MikeChapin]

Yea Mike I was going to mention to you how old your eyes look. :rotf: ...

I'll have you know those bags fit my face just fine. :grin: