Getting closer

[gmannx217]

Thanks to everyone for their advice . My 18" inch groups have shrunk to 4" but I had to stoke her all the way up to 110 grains of 2f. Started today at 90 grains going up in 5 grain increments. Each 5 shot group got progressively smaller. Ran out of wads but the gun seems to like more powder for sure. So 110 grains 2f, unlubed fiber wad, lubed .015 patch and .600 ball.

 

[Stumpkiller]

That's a stout load. I shoot 75 gr FFg in my 0.662" bore with 0.648" balls. Same amount I use with shot.

 

[Alden]

Yes, 110 grains is a pretty hot load indeed. I'd look at changing something, everything, else instead.

 

[gmannx217]

Is it too stout? I've tried just about everything else. Should I try 3f and back it down?

 

[Stumpkiller]

You said you started at 90 gr. Tey backing down from there 5gr at a time.

What are you hunting?

 

[gmannx217]

I started at 90 today. The previous sessions at the range which produced nothing better than 14"-18" "groups" I was working between 70 and 90 grains with all different patch/wad/ ball combinations. It was. It until today when I started going 90 grains and above did I see my groups start to shrink.

Deer is what I hunt. Realize this is a heavy load but seems to provide the only remotely accurate load.

 

[gwalker]

I suggest that you try 3F black powder. Start at 75 grains and work up in 5 grain increments like you have been doing. Leave all else the same (unlubed felt pad, lubed 0.015 patch, and 0.600 round ball. Your shrinkage in group sizes may be nothing more than your becoming more familiar/comfortable with your smooth bore. Practice on being consistent with how you load the gun, your breathing, pulling the butt stock firmly into your shoulder, and lay the gun fore-stock loosely in the palm of your hand. Squeeze the trigger gently and the same from shot to shot. Human variables often count for much of the variability in shot to shot placement on the target at 50 yards.

 

[alex efremenko]

At what range is the target? At certain ranges you will not get ''rifle like'' accuracy.

 

[gmannx217]

All my testing has been at 50 yards

 

[larryp]

Some smoothbores don't like patched balls ( mine own included). Try lubing the wad and use a bare ball and a overshot card. My .62 trade gun prefers 75gr of 3fg, a lubed 1/4" wool felt wad, a .610 ball and a thin overshot card.
The theory is that without rifling grooves for the patch to fold into evenly a patched ball in a smoothbore has the patch folding up unevenly causing it to go to one side or the other.

 

[Britsmoothy]

So this guy gets somewhere and because of the charge everyone starts telling him he is wrong!
The gun ain't going to blow up so take no notice, you found your load.

 

[Dewey]

:hmm: Duelist is using hefty loads, too, (110 gr 2F with towed rb and 100 gr 2F for shot in his videos, for example) and no one tells HIM not to go that high ....

I would LOVE to get 4" groups at 50 yards ... still working on it.

IMHO, whatever works for your gun is what you use, unless it is unsafe.

Having said that, it's always good to try something new to see if you can do better ... I'm going to try Larry's load next time I'm at the range.

 

[MSW]

sounds a bit on the high side, but if your gun is in good condition, I wouldn't worry about safety. if you are OK with what I imagine will be a pretty hefty recoil, I would suspect that you're heading in the right direction.

just one guy's opinion ... free and no doubt well worth the price...

 

[alex efremenko]

In my experience, 4"" at 50 yds is acceptable. Some claim better ,but I haven't shot with anyone who makes such claims.
My 57.5"" barreled gun doors not even have a ''normal'' report till I use 70 gr of ffg. And then it likes 75gr with a loosely patched ball.

 

[gmannx217]

Recoil is not bad or maybe I am recoil averse. To me at least the 12 GA with 3" mags or even my .30-06 hits my shoulder far worse. In fact I'd say my Lyman GPR with 80 grns 3f hits worse.

 

[Alden]

Yeah, avoid the FFFg whatever you do.

 

[azmntman]

So this guy gets somewhere and because of the charge everyone starts telling him he is wrong!
The gun ain't going to blow up so take no notice, you found your load.

:thumbsup:

 

[MattC]

Avoid 3f?

I just picked up a 20g trade gun recently, and the seller told me the same thing, however, Larryp says he uses 3f.

What would be the negative to using 3f in a gun like this? I'm new to smoothies so I have a lot to learn about tuning them.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Avoid 3f?

I just picked up a 20g trade gun recently, and the seller told me the same thing, however, Larryp says he uses 3f.

What would be the negative to using 3f in a gun like this? I'm new to smoothies so I have a lot to learn about tuning them.

Yes many pipe this one too. I use 3f in my 20g, 12g and my .750" bess.
If I don't power is down and I have to dump more of the courser stuff to get cleaner kills.

I do often wonder just how many folks on here actually hunt on here! Especially anything bigger than a quail!

 

[Dewey]

From what I've seen on this forum, 50% of the time Alden is joking ... and no one can tell which 50% !!!

I also use 3F, as do a good number of other shooters.

Use 3F if it works for YOUR GUN. Some guns seem to like 2F, so experiment !!!

But don't be afraid of using 3F unless your loads are excessive.

Here is a good link to shooting a smoothbore:
http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/SmoothboreLoads.html