Details on my new to me .54 cal plains style rifle

[Dr5x]

Nitsud,
Thank you for the targets
Basing on the targets alone I come to two conclusions.

Your patching is a tad too thin, Send me a couple targets where you have placed a sheet of paper between ball and patching, thereby adding a touch more thickness to tightness of your ball/patch combination.
The other conclusion that leaps out tome is that you are using swaged balls and like so many of us , including me at one time, you have a belief in faeries.
Every wee thing you do in loading your rifle will have its effect on your target.

Therefore when you say" I still have a few flyers" you, like so many of us accept those flyers as something that Just Happens It' them dang fairies or possibly those Pixies that come packed in with your powder be it black Powder or Pytodex.

Every "Flyer" actually is caused and it represents a waste of powder and whatever your lead ball is made of.

Flyers are caused . If you get them when shooting offhand they could be caused by the basic reason OR a case of the Sheakes.
If you a shooting bench rest which should eliminate all or most of thshahakes your Flyer

is probably caused by an off balance ball.

You say you are using my System. Go back and reread the section on how to eliminate those off balance balls by eliminating off weight balls by weighing out the balls and eliminating the all balls weighing more than one grain lighter than the heaviest ball in the batch you are selecting.

Last I looked, swaged balls are all over the place with about 25 balls in a box of 100 will be light weight and ending up as a flyer.

Look at your targets and you have some reasonable groups and a number of flyers. count the shots and then count how many of them are flyers/

Solution to this problem is to get a cale that measures in grains , eliminating the light weights and quit wasting the cost of the light weights and the powder wasted in shooting
the doomed light weight ball off toward the northwest somewhere.

Balls you cast yourself will run about 5 or 6 out of a hundred as too light for accuracy

If you ignore this suggestion YOU are the Pixie that causes them dang fliers.

Dutch

 

[Nitsudttesrod]

Mr. Schoultz,

Thank you for your input. I have weighed out the swagged balls I am using, I think I may have screwed up though and did not weigh within one gr of the heaviest. I made an excel spreadsheet and recorded the weight data for each ball then plotted this data in a scatter plot. I took a .5 gr deviation from the mean and made those my good balls. .5gr higher than the mean and .5gr lower than the mean. I am actively on the search for thicker patch material and will try the cigarette paper method on my next outing to the range to see where I need to be as far as patching. I am also going to obtain a ball mold so I can produce my own round balls which will be a fun activity and give me better quality control. I'll post some pictures of my targets the next time I'm at the range. Thanks again!

 

[BrownBear]

I am actively on the search for thicker patch material and will try the cigarette paper method on my next outing to the range to see where I need to be as far as patching.

You can also double up and combine thinner patching for the sake of experiment. If you have some .010 and .015 you can combine them for .020, .025 and .030 thicknesses. Just lube the outer patch and not the inner.

 

[Tom Compton]

Powder available at Texas MLRA shoots in March, June and October Location Brady Tx. Won't quote $ for vendors but very reasonable last October. I'm near Austin but several TMLRA members in Houston area.

I've won 7 Tx state championships plus LA, Mississippi and Tennessee using Douglas barrels. Beautiful gun.
TC

What did you win them in???

In '81 I won the Rifle Championship out of the Closed Agg

Since then the Offhand Agg 2x
Hunter Agg 3x

And in 2015 the Flint Agg

 

[Tom Compton]

Ive never had a .54 Douglas barrel on a rifle but based on 36 years shooting .40, .45 and .50 Douglas barrels I suggest a .535 ball and .018" or thicker patch for pure target work. 90 grains of Goex FFg will probably work w the 1:66 twist but start around 75.

My GM .54 is a 1:70 or 1:72 twist and does well w .025 denim, MAP for lube and 90 up to 120 gr FFg.

 

[Billnpatti]

Have you checked with Cabela's or Bass Pro for black powder. You have to ask for it. Ask the gun department manager because often the counter salesmen don't know that they have it.

As an aside, you don't need to disassemble your lock to get it squeaky clean. Go to your favorite auto parts store and get a spray can of either brake cleaner or carb cleaner. Remove your lock from your rifle, take it outside and give it a good flushing with the spray cleaner. It will strip all of the dirt and gunk out of your lock and leave it squeaky clean without having to disassemble it. Then all you have to do is to lightly oil all of the working parts and put it back in your gun. Lightly is the operative word when lubing your lock. Never use any grease of any kind because it will collect fouling, dirt, etc. Too much oil will do that same thing. Just a small drop of oil on the working parts is all you need. Of course, you need to wipe your lock with a rag with a bit of oil on it. If you have an air compressor, a good way to oil your lock is to spray it with WD-40 and then blow out all of the WD-40 that you can. It will leave just enough lubricant and the lock plate and all of the parts will have a very light coat of oil left on them.

Just a tip to make maintaining your lock a bit easier. :hatsoff:

 

[Tom Compton]

I'm thinkin bout just a drop of synthetic motor oil on contact points of the lock. Anyone tried it? Won't freeze or get thinner.
TC

 

[kansas_volunteer]

Wonder who D. Lange was/is?

There was an semipro muzzle loading gunsmith in Hays, Kansas, named Lange or Lang back in the middle part of the '70s. He was one of the best. He built several Hawken style rifles that I know of, and only used the best parts and wood. His work was impeccable. He had some connection to Colorado shoots and shooters, but thats about all I can remember now. Perhaps there's a connection, or perhaps not.

He also made the Ivory grips for Ruger's one millionth Blackhawk.

 

[Elkeater]

As an aside, you don't need to disassemble your lock to get it squeaky clean. Go to your favorite auto parts store and get a spray can of either brake cleaner or carb cleaner. Remove your lock from your rifle, take it outside and give it a good flushing with the spray cleaner. It will strip all of the dirt and gunk out of your lock and leave it squeaky clean without having to disassemble it.. :hatsoff:

Good advise. Be sure to wear safety glasses.

 

[Maven]

New ATF works very well and is cheaper than synthetic oil, but either will do the job.

 

[Micah Clark]

You have a very nice rifle there built by someone who knew what they were doing. That's definitely a keeper and a good find that will serve you well. Your shooting pretty well for starters. . a few tweaks mentioned here in this thread, and you're "cooking with gas" so to speak.

 

[Nitsudttesrod]

Interesting, wonder if my gun is from that builder? Whoever built it did an awesome job of inletting everything. No gaps or gouges.

 

[Nitsudttesrod]

Thanks Mac!

 

[Nitsudttesrod]

I haven't checked with BassPro yet but I can. I pass by their Pearland location everyday while going to this casing manufacturing job I'm currently involved with. I will most defiantly ask to speak with a manager since the last time I went there in search of round balls the kid behind the counter didn't know what I was talking about haha.

 

[Nitsudttesrod]

BTW, an update on my situation. I finally bought a 1" OD micrometer to measure my patch thickness. I had previously been utilizing dial calipers which I know are not as accurate but was all I had at the time. I measured my denim patch which measured .023" with the dial calipers while squeezing the jaws as tight as I could. With the OD micrometer the same patching material measured in at .014". .014" won't cut it as far as sealing capabilities. Time to take my new micrometer and head to the fabric stores and get perplexing stares from the women there.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Wonder who D. Lange was/is?

There was an semipro muzzle loading gunsmith in Hays, Kansas, named Lange or Lang back in the middle part of the '70s. He was one of the best. He built several Hawken style rifles that I know of, and only used the best parts and wood. His work was impeccable. He had some connection to Colorado shoots and shooters, but thats about all I can remember now. Perhaps there's a connection, or perhaps not

He also made the Ivory grips for Ruger's one millionth Blackhawk.

I lived in Hays in the late 80's and was a member of the High Plains Longrifles there. I've lost touch with folks there, but still have some friends in Hays. I'll try to find some information on Mr. Lange. I believe the club is still active.

 

[Einsiedler]

Ive never had a .54 Douglas barrel on a rifle but based on 36 years shooting .40, .45 and .50 Douglas barrels I suggest a .535 ball and .018" or thicker patch for pure target work. 90 grains of Goex FFg will probably work w the 1:66 twist but start around 75.

My GM .54 is a 1:70 or 1:72 twist and does well w .025 denim, MAP for lube and 90 up to 120 gr FFg.

Back in the late 70's had an ugly as sin plains style rifle with .54 Douglas barrel that was deadly with the above recommended load. Only difference was I used 120 grains FFg.

Killed
Beaucoup
Deers

 

[Dr5x]

Netsud, or possibly Dustin,
I must apologize I never seemed to be ABSOLUTELY clear in explaining the medod of selecting the best balls.
People think that I am suggesting you should keep the average balls which could mean all the balls were equally off weight.

, all with flyer tendencies.
By keeping those balls within one grain of the heaviest we are guaranteeing that there is far less chance of there being an air bubble or in clusion to effect the ball's flight as it spins down range.
Take a wheel weight off one of your vehicle's wheels a speed down the highway, you'll quickly see the effect of an off balance spinning object

This is considered controversial. I have always figured it was just logic.

If you can't find Cigarette paper, try Scott's 1000 toilet paper. Disappounting for it intended purpose but excellent for shimming your ball/patch combination. One roll should last about 27 lifetimes,

Dutch

 

[Tom Compton]

That Scott's to must b what the Indian chief called John Wayne tp. It's rough, it's tough and won't take s*** off an Indian.

 

[Nitsudttesrod]

Haha thanks Mr. Schoultz. I just got in a box of .535s so I'll weigh those out from to within one grain from the heaviest. The discards I will melt down and cast my own. As for measuring patch material thickness, the denim I'm currently using is pretty hard to start with my short starter. It takes several hard whacks with my palm to get her below the muzzle line to cut my patch. Even causes soreness in my hand the next day. However, they only measured .014" in thickness with my OD micrometer and the round is fairly easily sent home with one smooth push on my range rod. Could I be compressing too much when taking my measurement?