longcruise
70 Cal.
The weather and life in general finally came together allowing an opportunity to visit the range with my vintage 1974 Tc Hawken with it's original 50 barrel now rebored to 54 by mr Hoyt.
The only thing I did to the barrel before shooting was to polish the bore a bit with a few tight patches coated with JB bore paste in case there were any fine edges that needed smoothing. I'm pretty sure the polishing was unnecessary but I did it anyway. Afterward I cleaned it just as I would after shooting.
All the shots were at 25 yards from a solid bench.
I started off with cast 530 balls (which drop at 533 from a Lee mold), 70 grains of Scheutzen 3f and a Joanne's drill patch. I'm not big on measuring patch material but it is a way to compare and communicate. The drill measures .017. It was not a loose fit but also far from tight. Here's the target with that load. The shot well out of the group was an uncalled flyer. Maybe because the fit was not tight enough. It looks like a 4shot group but there are actually five shots in there. I was able to pick up three of the patches. One of them was frayed into the area of patch, ball and bore contact. That may have been the uncalled flyer. Could also have been an off weight ball. I didn't weigh any of the balls but should have.
The next group was shot with 80 grains and a tough duck patch that measures .022. It was noticeably tighter but not unpleasant to load. The target below is 6 shots. I fired the extra shot because the lowest shot is excluded because I fidgeted while settling the sight picture and touched the set trigger. I'm surprised it wasn't further out!
Found three of the patches and they are in fine shape. I'm going to do some more fiddling with the charge but given that the 70 and 80 grain charges are suitable for hunting.
I'm quite happy with the results, given that my old trifocal supported eyes have a tough time forming a sight picture.
The .022 patches held up very well.
The only thing I did to the barrel before shooting was to polish the bore a bit with a few tight patches coated with JB bore paste in case there were any fine edges that needed smoothing. I'm pretty sure the polishing was unnecessary but I did it anyway. Afterward I cleaned it just as I would after shooting.
All the shots were at 25 yards from a solid bench.
I started off with cast 530 balls (which drop at 533 from a Lee mold), 70 grains of Scheutzen 3f and a Joanne's drill patch. I'm not big on measuring patch material but it is a way to compare and communicate. The drill measures .017. It was not a loose fit but also far from tight. Here's the target with that load. The shot well out of the group was an uncalled flyer. Maybe because the fit was not tight enough. It looks like a 4shot group but there are actually five shots in there. I was able to pick up three of the patches. One of them was frayed into the area of patch, ball and bore contact. That may have been the uncalled flyer. Could also have been an off weight ball. I didn't weigh any of the balls but should have.
The next group was shot with 80 grains and a tough duck patch that measures .022. It was noticeably tighter but not unpleasant to load. The target below is 6 shots. I fired the extra shot because the lowest shot is excluded because I fidgeted while settling the sight picture and touched the set trigger. I'm surprised it wasn't further out!
Found three of the patches and they are in fine shape. I'm going to do some more fiddling with the charge but given that the 70 and 80 grain charges are suitable for hunting.
I'm quite happy with the results, given that my old trifocal supported eyes have a tough time forming a sight picture.
The .022 patches held up very well.
