.54 Renegade range report

[Muddly]

Ball and BIG lead. .530 Hornadys and 535 grain No Excuses conicals.
70 grains of 3f Swiss and .58 wads for all.
These are her best results to date.
The first shot, high/right, is not her usual. I think it was me anticipating the recoil.
And there WAS recoil... 535 grains...
The 3rd round in the last group was an off center patch. Properly done, I wonder if it would've cut the 3rd shot from the 2nd group.
The patches were Ox Yoke pre lubed .015s. The label said .018, but my caliper, uncrushed, said .015. They are a miserably hard ram. Recovered patches show trivial abrasion. They're older stock and are rather dry. Shot some 'tuther day and they grouped over 3 inches at 50. No load changes. Today, they apparently found their way.
I also use .58 wads under both ball and bullet.
I previously Iossoed the daylights out of her to try to smooth her up a bit. No pitting, just the usual amount of tool marks...
The No Excuses went down like a minie. Very nice that!
I've been hopeful about this old girl. One good day does not a trend make. But it is encouraging!
Especially the ball load.
I HATE ball...

 

[smokepolehall]

Ball and BIG lead. .530 Hornadys and 535 grain No Excuses conicals.
70 grains of 3f Swiss and .58 wads for all.
These are her best results to date.
The first shot, high/right, is not her usual. I think it was me anticipating the recoil.
And there WAS recoil... 535 grains...
The 3rd round in the last group was an off center patch. Properly done, I wonder if it would've cut the 3rd shot from the 2nd group.
The patches were Ox Yoke pre lubed .015s. The label said .018, but my caliper, uncrushed, said .015. They are a miserably hard ram. Recovered patches show trivial abrasion. They're older stock and are rather dry. Shot some 'tuther day and they grouped over 3 inches at 50. No load changes. Today, they apparently found their way.
I also use .58 wads under both ball and bullet.
I previously Iossoed the daylights out of her to try to smooth her up a bit. No pitting, just the usual amount of tool marks...
The No Excuses went down like a minie. Very nice that!
I've been hopeful about this old girl. One good day does not a trend make. But it is encouraging!
Especially the ball load.
I HATE ball...

You are working on it for sure. I have one myself i have not had a chance to play with it.

 

[SmokepoleSam]

The patch doesn't have to be perfectly centered on the ball just all around the circumference of the ball so the ball doesn't touch the barrel just the patch does.

 

[Muddly]

Yup. But get too close to the edge and the patch may blow. That one did

 

[necchi]

I'd be willing to bet you could tighten it up a bit (both ball and bullet) if you dropped the charge a bit.
3F Swiss is pretty hot stuff, try some groups at 60 and again at 65