The first 100 shots

OK, first, there is a difference between mini balls and Minié balls: mini balls do not exist... or if they do exist, they wouldn't work in your gun and if you use the prefex "mini" it would imply that the balls are smaller than normal. Minié balls were designed by Claude-Etienne Minié and are basically a hollow-base rifle bullet with an expanding skirt. They do not use patches. They are a type of conical bullet.

So, from the context of the post, I gather that you are using patched round balls, often abbreviated as "PRB". There are a number of things that could be hurting your accuracy. Changing patches certainly could make a difference. Most PRB shooters recommend tight patches, typically a .490 round ball with a .015" thick patch. Some even go with an .018" or .020" patch. I have not found that to be the case and get acceptable accuracy using scrap linen, used pillow ticking and even silk cut from an old silk pillow case... but I am not really a precision shooter. If you need to keep a hammer in your possibles bag, then something is wrong.

You don't say what kind of powder you are using, but you should not absolutely NEED to swab the bore every three shots with only a 65 grain charge. If your patches were previously pre-lubed, then they were likely lubed with T/C Bore Butter or something very much like it. That product gets a bad rap around here, but lots of people (myself included) use it regularly.

You are shooting a flintlock, which opens a whole 'nother can o' worms. Are you experiencing hang-fires? Is your flint wearing out and not sparking as well as it used to? How much powder do you prime the pan with? What kind of powder do you prime with?

The secret of accuracy and reliability with any gun is consistency. Do everything you do the exact same way and you will generally have the same results each time. Change some variable in the equation and you will have a different result than you did before.

Go back to doing what you used to do when you got acceptable accuracy. That may help. If it does, stick with what works, if not, then listen to the advice given by the other gray beards who inhabit this domain.

Good luck!

Vik65 said:

Hello All,
When I was a teen I read all about Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton and anything that could be found about pioneer life. Had thought I should get a muzzleloader kit back then and remember the ads for around 350.00, a lot of money back then. Fast forward 44 years and I bought myself a nice Christmas present, Pedersoli PA rifle .45 flintlock. YouTube and this forum have been very helpful.
The first hundred shots went pretty good once I figured out it’s a good idea to swab the bore every 3 shots, keep the flint clean and sharp and keep the level of primer in the pan level and give it a bump. Shooting .440 mini balls, lubed patches .010, 65 grains fffg main charge and primer. Was getting good consistency at 50 yards hitting within a 6 inch circle.
Went shooting today and the only difference was I used patches I made from walmart pillow ticking using mink oil for lube but the accuracy and consistency were no more. What happened? Everything else is the same, just the patches. The patches I was using in the first 100 shots were round and they came already lubed, the ones I used today were square and not much larger than the round ones. Now I noticed that the round patches .010 were going down the bore pretty easily like thumb, forefinger and middle finger easy, the pillow ticking offered more resistance but it wasn’t too difficult to ran them home.
Could my home made patches be too big? They were bigger than the round ones but not by much.
Any input would be appreciated.

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I would have to say that I would expect better accuracy than a 6" group at 50 yards. Was the original shooting off a rest or offhand? An off hand group of 6" isn't so bad, but still it could be improved. As others have noted, you are shooting a patched round ball.

I believe that washing the pillow ticking patching to remove the sizing has been mentioned. The sizing stiffens the material, preventing the lubricant from being properly distributed in the woven fabric. The square patch, unless it is grossly oversized, should be as accurate as a round patch or one cut at the muzzle. The oversized patch can catch on the loading jag and get pulled away from the powder. Care must be taken to be sure the ball and patch are properly seated. You want a patch that will wrap around the circumference of the ball and not get caught in the loading jag. The ball must be seated on the powder at the breech and not pulled away as the loading rod is removed. I would use a smaller square patch, but then, I cut my patches at the muzzle. I also think that 0.010" thick patching is too thin for accuracy. Okay for ease of loading, but not for accuracy. Could we see photos of recovered patches? That would help in evaluating tether accuracy issues.

Patch lubricant differences can be somewhat overrated as almost any lubricant can do as a patch lube. I do stay away from prelubricated patches as the lubricant can deteriorate the patch material over time, leading to loss of accuracy. For example a 6 inch circle as opposed to impacts nearly touching. Lubricants as simple as spit work as well as commercial lubricants such as Bore Butter or Track of the Wolf's Mink Oil to exotic mixtures of Bee's wax, oils and soaps to mixtures of water soluble oils and water. I would avoid using the dry patching methods of wetting the material with the patch lube, often water soluble cutting oils and water, then letting the material dry on a flat surface.

Do shoot off a stable rest. At this time, we are looking to remove variables in the shooting. Off hand shooting can come after developing an accurate load.