Finally shot my new woodsrunner .54

[Buff1958]

I have been waiting a couple of weeks for a trophy shop to engrave a masonic logo in the butt plate of my new .54 Flintlock.
With it being the end of the school year he has just been covered up so I gave up and picked up my parts this morning.
I finished fitting the butt plate, patch box and stepped out into the yard to start working on the sights.
First shot at 25 yards was 4" left and 3" low so I bumped the front sight over and filed some off of it before backing up to 50 yards.
The next two shots were in the bullseye but lower than I wanted so I filed a little more off and put one just like I like.
I backed out to 100 and fired two more. With my tired old eyes I don't expect much at 100 but figured it would help fine tune the left and right.
They were as close as I could hope for so I am calling it good for today.
I don't believe I have ever sighted an open sight rifle with so few rounds fired.
Colonel Whelen once said "Only accurate rifles are interesting"

 

[Beaverman2]

what was your load?

 

[Buff1958]

120 grains of FF, oxyoke wad, .010 patch with a .535 ball

I have a .54 percussion that I have been hunting with for 25 years with that load so I tried it first.

 

[azmntman]

EXCELLENT first time out! (or 100th time out!)

 

[leakytire]

Nice shooting, and what a buck!

 

[TDM]

Guess I need to stop being so stingy with my powder. Well done @Buff1958.

 

[olskool]

120gr,! you are a better man than me! LOL, 76gr. is my load in a 54 with 75gr. i shot through a deer as she was quartering at 93 paces. i had a couple of 62 cal. and i tried 120gr. but man that thing was brutal! very nice buck and rifle,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Buff1958]

Nice shooting, and what a buck!

thanks....

 

[Buff1958]

120gr,! you are a better man than me! LOL, 76gr. is my load in a 54 with 75gr. i shot through a deer as she was quartering at 93 paces. i had a couple of 62 cal. and i tried 120gr. but man that thing was brutal! very nice buck and rifle,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I have 3 October county rifles and they all shoot better the more powder you use. The .54 and .62 shoot ok with 90, good with 100 and fantastic with 120.
I have a .69 he built me for a cape buffalo hunt that the recommended load is 225. Same thing, it shoots good with 200 and great with 225. It is silly heavy to carry around but I hunt with it a lot anyway. It is silly fun to shoot.

 

[olskool]

the doe i shot at 93 yds ran about 60yds and not the first drop of blood, it left holes almost like the one above. i have killed several with the 54 and little blood trails, i shot an 8 point last year with my SMR 45 at 85yds and blood was all over the ground where he stood. he made it about 4oyds with a huge blood trail, same with a 50cal. you just never know,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Frontstuffer070]

Thats some mightee fine shooshting! I don't think my old destroyed shoulder can hold up to a charge like that. I did drop 3 pellets into an unmentionable once and well I didn't do it a second time. Nice Rifle, maybe we both can share some pics of woods goat this season taken with our Woodsrunners.

 

[yellowhammer]

My .54 Woodsrunner cannot match yours for accuracy; far from it. I have yet to find a satisfactory load with it. I had to install a taller rear sight on it to get it on paper at 50 yards with 60 grains 2F - would not have had any front sight left with the tiny rear that came with it.

I have never loaded more than 70 grains in it to this point. Maybe the gun needs more umph to close up the groups. Not sure I want that.

Agree w/COL Whelen

 

[Buff1958]

My .54 Woodsrunner cannot match yours for accuracy; far from it. I have yet to find a satisfactory load with it. I had to install a taller rear sight on it to get it on paper at 50 yards with 60 grains 2F - would not have had any front sight left with the tiny rear that came with it.

I have never loaded more than 70 grains in it to this point. Maybe the gun needs more umph to close up the groups. Not sure I want that.

Agree w/COL Whelen

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you might try using 100. I have a SMR .45 that sprays bullets all over the target with 50 grans of FFF . It will shoot a one hole group with 90.
I suppose it has something to do with twist rate

 

[Buff1958]

Thats some mightee fine shooshting! I don't think my old destroyed shoulder can hold up to a charge like that. I did drop 3 pellets into an unmentionable once and well I didn't do it a second time. Nice Rifle, maybe we both can share some pics of woods goat this season taken with our Woodsrunners.

I have a MGM .45 barrel on a T/C encore stock that I made the same mistake with. 150 grains and the scope cleaved me in the forehead