Bad Balls

Save all the balls of irregular weight and then shoot them for group. I think you will surprise yourself.
Usually light projectiles will manifest vertical more than they will windage.
Fliers usually mean blown patches or shooter error in my experience.

Was your time between shots consistent? As per another thread, the hotter the barrel gets the longer it gets, and that might have put some stress on the pins, and warped the barrel some.

I think you said the fliers came later in the strings too, which would indicate a barrel warming up and changing the harmonics or stresses.

I wonder what your groups would look like if you let your barrel fully cool between shots? Give it maybe 20-30 minutes between them next time if you can.

We all have bad shooting days for no reason.

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Speak for yerself, JJ. I've never had one of those days. :wink: :rotf: Hey, this is the ml game. Stuff happens sometimes that are hard to explain. That's why jugs of liquid forgetfullness were invented.
BTW, I see a lot of criticism about swaged balls. I'm not opposed to them but I do cast my own. However, I had one experience with swaged I'd like to pass on. At one of the two big championship shoots in my state one year. I set up on the firing line and found, that in the huge truck load of stuff I brought, I had forgotten to load any round balls. :redface: I was planning on shooting the bench rest match with my TC Half Breed in .45 cal. For target use I had often used .457" balls. But with none available I went the vendors and could only find some Hornaday .440" swaged ones. Folks, I'm here to tell you I won that bench match shooting against genuine heavy bench rest rifles with my offhand rifle. Those swaged deals just aren't all that bad.

I haven't weighed swaged balls ever, but I doubt the difference makes much of a difference. Unless you're deep into competitive shooting, then the game is much different. I personally don't worry about it, and I use swaged balls. Enough to worry about...well, not "worry" but enough different procedures in loading any ML rifle.

We've all had bad days, and me, I've had more bad days personally that I had to blame myself rather than my guns. A good workman doesn't blame his tools. Our ancestors used bag molds and were quite happy and fed themselves and their families and raised crops without chemicals.

You know, you are right, any day at the range is a good day. I cast and buy swaged balls, and for my shooting they are pretty much the same.

I agree with Richard Eames when he says:
"Swaged balls are not consistent in weight, need to weight them and as mentioned, consistent seating pressure is necessary. Most folks miss that aspect of consistency in shooting."
I think he has hit the nail on the head. I have found that the swaged balls are not consistent in weight and need to be weighed to give the best accuracy, all other factors being controlled as you have stated.

I shoot mostly my own cast balls but occasionally will try some swaged both from Speer and Hornady and cannot discern much if any difference in accuracy.
One should be able to tell the difference in how hard or easy they load if of great diameter differences.

Measure and weigh would be the first (and easiest)thing I would do. The check everything else. If you can't find anything wrong, then try shooting again.

Quick thought. If you're getting horizontal stringing, both left and right of your point of aim on the same string, it may have been an issue with inconsistent hold. Might be something so small you didn't notice it.

A couple of weeks ago I had a similar situation and reviewing my books pointed to that problem. Haven't had a chance to get back out and try again.

Lot to learn for muzzleloading and I bow to the greater experience and knowledge of others but, I tend to think that the other proposed issues would lead to your group moving or blowing up.