Designing a build for 100 yard accuracy?

There are too many great options for a rifle to really put them all on one gun. Right now I'm looking at 100 yard accuracy; what factors are most critical? Large caliber or small? Longer barrel or short? Heavy barrel? Heavy rifle? If the fit is right, does the style (Jaeger, Pennsylvania, Southern) matter?

My target is the NRA's Muzzleloader Rifle course, with the ideal of shooting a flintlock I have built. My expectation is that this is a 3-5 year goal, at best.

You talking rested or offhand?

NRA DM rating. Note that I am starting at zero, it's just nice to have a plan.

Sorry, phone typing. That's prone, standing, and sitting.

I'm coming from non-muzzleloading experience (rimfire) for that kind of shooting, so I'll leave the details of lock and barrel to folks who know what they're talking about.

But I'll make one point about the stock. A rounded forend is anathema for consistent holding and avoiding sight cant from shot to shot and from one position to the next. Just too much opportunity for the rifle to shift around.

In my experience that kind of shifting affects scores more than details of loads and metalwork. I prefer a forend fairly flat on the bottom with slight rounding at the sides, headed towards "triangular" or "square" in cross section, take your pick.

There were a manure pile of target rifles that used 45 cal.

It does tend to shoot flatter than a 50, 54 etc, but that's a pretty broad statement and conditional on more factors than could be addressed in any number of posts.

I would suggest that the style or school of the rifle with regards to accuracy would have more to do with how the rifle fits you than some blanket statement that would say Jaeger's are more accurate then Southern Mountain rifles.

Personally, if I was looking for a rifle that would closely match the architecture/feel/hold of center fire rifles that I shoot well - which should in turn increase my chances of shooting "it" accurately, I would build one in the style of J.P. Beck - he seemed to understand the relationship between barrel orientation compared to the comb line, drop at the comb and heel etc.

Then you would have to decide what caliber you want to shoot (again, I would pick a .45 or a .40) and then decide "what" I wanted to shoot from it.

If it's roundballs then I want square cut rifling, about 10-12 thou deep with 1:56 twist (if 45) or 1:48 twist if 40 cal.

(square rifling is "anecdotally" more accurate than round rifling and my twist rates are based on Modified Greenhill formulae)

If I wanted to shoot conicals then I would drop the rifling depth to somewhere around 4 thou and have the twist custom cut to the exact projectile I wanted to shoot - so an uber-custom "one projectile" barrel.

In any event the barrel would most probably be "heavy" for the caliber - like an inch or inch and a quarter across the flats - so heavier to hold but not into the extreme of slug guns etc.

The heavier barrel should alleviate some barrel harmonic issues or at least minimize their effect on the shot and should (somewhat) steady my shot at positions other than prone. That might be personal though - when standing or kneeling I shoot my 9 1/2 pound centerfires more accurately than my 7 1/2 pound rifles - while more (tedious) to hold they tend to "wave around" less for ME.

So that is some of the things I would consider if I was building a rifle for "maximum accuracy".

leam said:

Right now I'm looking at 100 yard accuracy,,
My target is the NRA's Muzzleloader Rifle course

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That's way to broad, International or Conventional?
(Different targets)
Flintlock is limited to round ball.
If your going International with a B-19 an off the shelf Lyman Great Plains is capable of placing in the top 10 if you can shoot.

If your going Conventional,(?) that opens another can of worms. I'd go with a longer swamped barrel.
I've seen 45's take a whopping in stiff winds.
I gotta tell ya,, there are many configurations of rifles being used and all of them can shoot better then the guy pulling the trigger.

My point is there simply isn't a simple answer to your question, there is no "best" rifle that will qualify you as a good shooter,, especially in the Flintlock categories.
If you want to become an accurate shooter with a flintlock in 3-5yrs, I would recommend an off the shelf Lyman rifle that fit's you, a Deerslayer trigger, an upgraded frizzen and 2yrs of practice before you decide to get a custom rifle made for competition.
Find and attend an NMLRA Territorial shoot in your area,, the NRA is great but are generally clueless in ML activities beyond helping the local Boy Scouts learn about ML.
The NMLRA will get you into and next to the big boys in the game.
Search and find the NMLRA reps in your area and call'm,, they'll know of other shoot's in your area. Actual hands on and face to face info will get you a lot further along and much sooner then dreaming of the perfect rifle.
Believe me, it's the that shooter wins, not the rifle.

This shooter has a lot to learn, so I do have time to plan. I have a Traditions Deerhunter and Dutch's accuracy system to work through, and then hit matches later in the year. The fibre optic sights need to either get replaced or covered, I doubt the "competitive advantage" rules would favor me there. Actually, haven't gotten a copy of the rules yet, so that's another issue.

The NRA rating is more a framework than the end state. Really, it's about having fun, shooting my best, and being with friends. Using an external measure like the NRA's helps guide. Does the NMLRA have something similar? If so that would probably be preferable.

I don't know about the NRA muzzleloader course, but when I think long distance accuracy, I think of a big Hawken rifle. Heavy bullet will handle the wind better, and it could shoot heavier charge for flatter trajectory. I might be way off base on what is allowed, but I'm just thinking about long distance accuracy.

hadden west said:

I don't know about the NRA muzzleloader course, but when I think long distance accuracy, I think of a big Hawken rifle. Heavy bullet will handle the wind better, and it could shoot heavier charge for flatter trajectory. I might be way off base on what is allowed, but I'm just thinking about long distance accuracy.

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Not that I'm a long range competitor or take long range hunting shots, but that certainly lines up with my particular array of rifles. The most accurate of all by quite a margin is a 12+ pound GRRW Hawken in 58 caliber, 36" barrel tapered from 1 1/8" to 1" at the muzzle. Heavy enough to be very steady offhand, but with reduced muzzle weight for easy pointing. With it's preferred powder charges of 120-140 grains of 2f with round ball, it's comparatively flat shooting and less subject to wind drift than smaller calibers. Due to the weight, recoil isn't objectionable either.

Dunno how that compares at all the chunk guns and such, because I have no experience with them. But among my buddies, they won't even shoot if I drag out that big 58 when we're shooting 100 or further.

All things being equal, the guys I know who shoot best at 100 are the guys who shoot a lot, a lot....
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They shoot a lot... :hmm:

So many things to consider, but here's a short list;

According to Pletch, the Large Siler is the fastest flint lock, but a Wheel lock can be just a smidge faster. They're messier and more finicky than traditional flint is though.

A fairly large and inside coned touch hole will speed ignition. A fairly short barrel will decrease barrel dwell time, and heavy barrels (like a D-weight in a swamped barrel) with the smallest caliber for the weight will be stiffer than the largest caliber.

Straight barrels will be heavier and intrinsically stiffer than swamped. The longer the barrel, the more oscillations it will have in the time between ignition, and ball exit. The whippier it is, the greater the amplitude of those oscillations.

High sights will give you a cleaner sight picture than low sights, and if the rules (and your eyes) allow it, you might even think about those extended tang peeps.

Square bottom rifling is more common in target guns than radius groove rifling, and generally easier to develop loads for. Get Dutch Schultz' accuracy system and follow it in working up your load.

The larger and heavier the ball, the better it will buck the wind, but more recoil it will develop to get it to speed. It's a trade-off, but a RB is a RB and the shape has the same intrinsic accuracy characteristics regardless of caliber.

Larger charges are more forgiving of slight variations in loading volume than smaller ones (below the Davenport maximum).

Hooked buttplates will hold better in standing position. Build your stock to fit you the best in the least stable position. IE, it's easier to drop 10 points in standing than it is in prone, but a standing stock will probably only cost you 1-3 points in prone.

You might even think about diverging away from the traditional ML'ing stock shapes, and going more toward a more modern laminated and stable target stock and shape if fit and accuracy is what you're after more than a traditional "look".

Hey John, thanks! From the first read, it sounds like the NMLRA has a wide variety of shoot types but the individual ratings can only occur at national matches. Would you say that's accurate?

My gut feel is that the NRA rating would be useful as a training tool; you can track progress throughout practices and reduce cost by not having to be at a large match. Going to an NMLRA match the accuracy challenge then includes travel, match jitters, new range acclimation, and a host of other factors. The goals don't seem mutually exclusive, just different.

From a build perspective, I would like my rifle to appear somewhat historical. It will be from the "first year apprentice went nuts with a chisel and cast off parts" school.