What would you consider reasonable accuracy?

NorthFork · Jun 29, 2019

Recently bought a flintlock pistol. Have shot a bunch of cap and ball revolvers but no single shot muzzleloader pistols. What would you consider to be reasonable accuracy with a brand new 45 Cal flintlock pistol? The barrel is rifled. This range session was mostly a function test to make sure the lock functioned correctly and to get an idea as to what patch thickness and ball size was needed. Shot 15 shots at one target at 10 yards and at 15 yards. 2", 6", 12", happy if any shots hit the target paper?

Edit- somehow this ended up in the wrong sub forum, I'll see if a mod can move it.

biliff · Jun 29, 2019

Just starting out with a brand new pistol, from a bench rest, I’d be reasonably happy with 2” groups at 25 yards. Further load development should cut that in half

NorthFork · Jun 29, 2019

Did not shoot from a rest. Was no need to as this range session had nothing to do with load development. Was simply a matter of 'does it function?'. I shot all 15 shots offhand (one handed not two).

biliff said:
Just starting out with a brand new pistol, from a bench rest, I’d be reasonably happy with 2” groups at 25 yards. Further load development should cut that in half

hanshi · Jun 29, 2019

At 25 yards I'd expect 2" groups to be reasonable accuracy. That's what I get with my flint .50.

NorthFork · Jun 29, 2019

Hanshi are those groups from a rest or offhand?

biliff · Jun 29, 2019

NorthFork said:
Did not shoot from a rest. Was no need to as this range session had nothing to do with load development. Was simply a matter of 'does it function?'. I shot all 15 shots offhand (one handed not two).

You asked what the group considered to be reasonable accuracy from a brand new flintlock pistol. I told you my expectations. Shooting one handed without benefit of a rest tells you nothing about the pistols accuracy. If you're asking about what I would expect a first time flintlock pistol SHOOTER to be able to accomplish on their first range session, I'd say keep your expectations low unless you're an accomplished bullseye pistol shot and even then don't expect much. Guess I'm just confused as to exactly what you're asking.

Kansas Jake · Jun 30, 2019

Shooting off hand introduces two major variables. One is what load was used and how accurate is it. Two, how good are you at shooting a flintlock with the style of grip on the firearm.

Bluff makes good points. Clarification would be helpful.

FerricOxide · Jun 30, 2019

Offhand with a 1 hand grip? If your able to shoot 2-3" 5 shot groups at 10 yards your doing really well Imo. That's about what I can do with my percussion guns.
Off a rest is something different imo, as your now takeing the human element mostly out of it. Only thing it's good for is figuring out the load that is the most accurate in your barrel. Once you've got that, it's time to work on yourself.

I think the difference creates a lot of confusion. You get someone asking " how accurate is your gun" and they mean, how accurate can you shoot it offhand, while you reply back a number that's from shooting off sandbags.

zimmerstutzen · Jun 30, 2019

Don't know what 45 caliber pistol you got, but few production pistols are tack drivers out of the box. Lock time, trigger pull, sights, etc have a lot to do with it, even if the shooter is an accomplished shot. With some production pistols hitting the paper at 25 yds is actually good. Usually such pistols can be tuned and to an extent "fixed" for better accuracy. The shape of the grip and training of the hand muscles is also very important. If the gun is too front heavy, your hand will cramp and strain just to aim the gun. with a decent target gun, On a good day, when all the cosmic forces aligned, I was able to shot a 5 shot groups at 25 yds, that could be covered with a 50 cent piece. And there are lots of people who are much better.

nkbj · Jun 30, 2019

I expect to be able to bounce a can across the yard.

Stantheman86 · Jul 1, 2019

My Pedersoli flintlock Kentucky pistol can make a ragged hole with 5 shots, from a sandbag, at 25 yards.

theoldredneck · Jul 1, 2019

Something else to consider is the way a flintlock works. For me when going from modern or percussion to flint there is a relearning curve. The hammer falling, flint spark shower, ignition flash/burn and then gun going off has a delay. This gives a distraction that causes me to take focus off front sight and target. I also flinch sometimes. After a few shots I settle down and regain focus. Even then I never shoot as well with flint as with modern and percussion guns. It isn't the guns, it is me. With guns in a solid rest they produce groups equal to percussion. I'm the problem not the gun, may not be your problem but worth looking at.

NorthFork · Jul 1, 2019

Ok, time out for a minute. While I appreciate the replies, this thread has not gone the way I intended at all. Some of you are taking this way too seriously. This was a casual shooting session. I was simply testing function of this new pistol. Nothing more, nothing less. I posted a target at 10 yards for something to aim at. I shot offhand with one hand. 12 of the 15 shots I took were at 10 yards. I then backed up to 15 and took 3 more shots. I took aiming, trigger squeeze, and follow through seriously but I was not testing loads, my abilities, nor the pistols capabilities. Nor to I know if the load I chose to shoot is even accurate in that pistol. I was simply looking for a basic benchmark from others as to what would be considered reasonable accuracy. All 15 shots in a 4" group, 10" group, etc. Sort of a "casual range trip, what should I expect" sort of question. Pistol functioned perfectly btw.

Loyalist Dave · Jul 1, 2019

NorthFork said:
What would you consider to be reasonable accuracy with a brand new 45 Cal flintlock pistol?

What Pistol are you using?
Flintlock only narrows down the ignition system.

IF it was a box-lock vest or muff pistol like this: I'd say 6" at 10 feet would be excellent...

IF you're talking the other end of the spectrum, a specific target or dueling pistol like this, with a set trigger included, I'd say 6" at 50 yards would be excellent:

IF you were talking about something like this...I'd have no idea (not that I have a great idea about the other two)

…,

LD

SamTex1949 · Jul 1, 2019

LD, is that a 10 xring precision pistol (or at least one like it) I knew Alex in SATX and a few gents who had those to shoot competitively. I was young and poor and couldnt afford one . They were excellent shooters at 25yd off hand .

NorthFork · Jul 1, 2019

I was wanting to avoid the common "import muzzleloader bad" mentality that sometimes crops up here. It is a Pedersoli Navy Moll .45. I put 12 of the shots into a 6" group centered almost perfectly around my POA. I pulled 3 of the 15 shots so I am not including them. First time shooting a flintlock pistol.

Grenadier1758 · Jul 1, 2019

NorthFork, if that group was at 50 or even 25 yards, then you got a good group considering this was your first time shooting a flint lock pistol. With practice that group will shrink. How much it shrinks will depend on your ability to control the pistol while shooting and using the most accurate load.

nhmoose · Jul 1, 2019

How good do you shoot is the big question.

Bench, solid mechanical rest? Offhand uh NO!

Dibbuk · Jul 2, 2019

I can confidently state that all of my muzzleloaders can group better than I can. How small the group size is, is up to me.

biliff · Jul 3, 2019

NorthFork said:
Ok, time out for a minute. While I appreciate the replies, this thread has not gone the way I intended at all. Some of you are taking this way too seriously. This was a casual shooting session. I was simply testing function of this new pistol. Nothing more, nothing less. I posted a target at 10 yards for something to aim at. I shot offhand with one hand. 12 of the 15 shots I took were at 10 yards. I then backed up to 15 and took 3 more shots. I took aiming, trigger squeeze, and follow through seriously but I was not testing loads, my abilities, nor the pistols capabilities. Nor to I know if the load I chose to shoot is even accurate in that pistol. I was simply looking for a basic benchmark from others as to what would be considered reasonable accuracy. All 15 shots in a 4" group, 10" group, etc. Sort of a "casual range trip, what should I expect" sort of question. Pistol functioned perfectly btw.

Would have been helpful if you had stated that in the original post. 6" groups, offhand one handed at 10 yds isn’t a very good group. But we have no idea if its you, the pistol, the load or some combination of all the above. Kind of a non-sensical question.

What would you consider reasonable accuracy?

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