100yd .45 Range Report

[Trench]

I got out to the range early this morning with my John Small rifle to do some more 100yd work.

Today's load was 70gr FFFg, a .440 ball, a .015 patch, spit-lube, and a .020 patch over the charge. The .015 patch burns holes without it.

Shooting was done sitting with elbows resting on a bench. No front support.

I'm able to load this combination without a short-starter, but I found I needed the butt of my knife to push it past the crown after the 3rd shot.

It was calm to begin with, but the wind shifted to the right at about 5mph and pushed my last three shots out about 6 inches. I'd like to say I can shoot 2.5in groups with this rifle, but if the wind wasn't blowing that smaller group would be inside the 4.7in group. So, I effectively shot a 4.7in group today. I'm totally happy with that. :grin:

Posing with "Fearnaught"

 

[wattlebuster]

I would be too :applause: cause I cant see the target that far. :idunno: Good shooting Trench and I like that rifle

 

[Trench]

I'm just now starting to shoot at 100yd targets. This is my first .45. I was happy to see that once I sighted it in for my normal target load, that I could shoot out to 100yds without adjusting for hold-over with a 70gr charge.

Getting my .50 and .58 to do the same thing was just burning up too much powder for punching paper.

I should also mention that I shot with new Forum Member, Salty Possum. He's just getting in to black powder. A great guy to shoot with. I only had this forum for reference when I got started. Having someone at the range and on-hand goes a long way in helping to prevent the early errors I encountered. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to help a new guy out.

 

As I remember, we both started working with new rifles at about the same time and were both having a hard time getting good groups.
I finally got mine straightened out. Glad to see you did too.
Are you going to shoot the forum woodswalk at Friendship in a couple of weeks?

 

[Baxter]

Beautiful rifle, excellent shooting, nice garb! baxter

 

[MSW]

nice shooting out of a pretty rifle ... what's not to like?

congrats!

 

[Trench]

That's right, Randy! I still don't totally get it. All this time I thought I had a sharp crown or land or something chewing up my patches. Putting something between the powder and the PRB goes a long way with this rifle. It's not so much an issue with the lighter charges, but anything over 50gr, it totally needs it.

 

Clearly God did exist in the war of 1812. Nice rifle and nice outfit. I am hit or miss still trying to get over flinters flinch.

 

[George T.]

I have a 58 that loads and shoots great with the .015 patches but they are ragged as heck. I went to the .018's and that fixed the problem but it does require a short starter. I'll try the .015's again in a couple of hundred shots and see if the problem goes away!

That is a fine looking rifle! Geo. T.

 

[Deadeye]

Is accuracy just as good with the over powder patch as without. You might try a wetter patch
I have 3 .45s and I use a .440 ball and a .013 spit patch (chewed on til it's soaked)I normally shoot 60 grs. of 3F but I've shot as much as 110 and my patches just have a dark spot in the center but I could wash them and use them again.
They're all 3 very accurate with the spit patched ball.

 

[Trench]

Right now, it's a hypothesis that this Range Report shows better accuracy using an over-powder patch. I won't know for sure until I get it back to the 50yd range to compare it to this picture using the same load combo without the over-powder patch.

Here's the patches condition without the over-powder patch. With the patch, the edges are windbeaten and there is just a black ring present.

Here's how it groups with 70gr and a .020 patch. I'm guessing this is how it'll look when I get it back to 50yds with this Range Report's load combination.

 

[nchawkeye]

I'd move away from the spit patch and try thicker patching...It also looks like you could be cutting those patches when loading...Cut a 15-20 inch strip of patching, load the ball and push down 6-8 inches then pull back up with the patching and see if you have cuts or stressed areas where the lands contact the patching...

 

[dbutch]

Try to achieve a 360 degree patch weave on round ball...and more lube.
Happy shooting!

 

[Trench]

I'm trying to develop a load that doesn't require a short-starter. The .015 patch witha .440 ball is the tightest fit that I can do that with.

I did the cut-test about a year ago and didn't find any of that. All the damage appears to be gas-cutting, as it dissapears when I use an over-powder patch.

 

[mooman76]

Since you are wanting a load that is some what loose,(not wanting a short starter) you are sacrificing accuracy to a degree. That's why you are getting shredded patches. I tend to like a not so tight patch myself but I do usually use a short starter to get the ball started. I usually shoot light loads anyway. The over powder wad or patch is helping to make up for that. Maybe you can find a stronger patch material that is the same thickness so you can still load without a short starter. I am curious though why you don't seem to want to use a short starter in your loads?

 

[Trench]

I think you're right about finding a stronger material than what I'm using. I shouldn't have bought 4 yards of this stuff at once, but it was on sale.

I've started looking for a load combination that doesn't use a short starter for academic reason. I'm looking to load my rifle closer to what has been described in various first-hand accounts from the 1820's in the US. Also, I wanted to see how much accuracy I could get out of my rifle sticking to loads that don't need anything more than a push past the crown with the handle of my knife followed up with the hickory ramrod.

Lastly, I also wanted to find a combination that was easy to load for squirrel hunting. Loads that require a firm smack on a short starter and my brass range rod to get down was just a bit too much for squirrels at 25 or 30 yards.

I forgot I did recover some patches shot with the over-powder patch. I was amazed at the difference. Here's the two for comparison:

 

[Billnpatti]

When you use the term "over powder patch" what exactly are you referring to? Is it actually a piece of patching? I use felt or leather wads over my powder but I have never heard of using a "patch". Is it possible that you are using the term "patch" for the same thing that I call a "wad"? Are we using different things are is it just a matter of semantics? :thumbsup:

 

[Trench]

I'm just pushing a dry shooting patch in to the bore before I load the PRB. When I recover them, they have a nice neat round hole burned in to them. It leaves my shooting patch virtually untouched, though.

 

[Carl Fowler III]

Trench, two thoughts on the matter: (1) I would pick up those patches after every range session and reuse them. (2) Are you getting consistent and precise seating of the ball everytime, it seems that the patches could be folding differently over the powder causing a small difference in seating depth with each shot? :v

 

[George]

I'm just pushing a dry shooting patch in to the bore before I load the PRB.

I did that routinely back when I was shooting heavy loads in my .54 caliber plains rifle, and it worked very well. I just rolled it into a little ball and put it into the muzzle before the patched ball. Totally protected the greased patch on the ball, never effected the rifle's accuracy.

Spence