HELP!!!! Bobcat question

[Still Hunter]

I have a CVA "bobcat" or "mountain stalker" .50 Cal. I know, I know its a cheapy but its my first muzzleloading rifle. I have owned many revolvers but thought I would try the rifles out. My revolver is more accurate than the rifle. At 25 yards taking a full sight picture(top of the front sight even with the top of the rear) it shoots 5-6 INCHES LOW!!!! at 50 yards 7-8 INCHES LOW!!!! and at 75 yards 12 INCHES LOW!!!! is there something I don't know here??? Should I maybe file the front site down or remove all together?? Please help.

I am shooting 80 grains ffg with a .15 patch and .490 ball
The groups are tight within 1/2 inch so it is shooting consistant just way low. :redface:

 

[rabjr]

Rear sight is not adjustable I take it? Then yes file the front a little, try again, repeat if needed.

 

[Rebel]

Take a little off the front sight at a time and recheck it. It don't take a lot to move the group up, and it is a lot easier to take off than to put back on.

 

[Still Hunter]

Thanks everyone!!! I am off this weekend to get that group DEAD CENTER at one hundred yards.
I will make sure I file just a bit at a time too.

:winking: :applause: :applause: :applause:

 

[silverfox]

If you mean dead center at 100 yds. That's hard to do but you will have to do all your shooting and adjusting at 100 yards.
I would get it dead on at 25 or 50 first. If it is about 2 or 3" high at 50 it will be very close at 100 without changeing anything. I (assume) this gun is to be used for hunting. If so you need to know where your are hitting at 25, 50, 75, even if you are on at 100. Don't want you shooting over something at the closer ranges or making a bad shot because it was high.
Good luck Fox :thumbsup:

 

[Rebel]

And also, if you plan on hunting with it you should try to keep your shots at 75 yds or less anyway. I like 50 yds as a sight in range. But you do need to try it at 25, 75, and 100 to know where it will shoot.

 

[cayugad]

I have a Mountain Stalker in .54 caliber and like you, when I first started shooting it, it shot very low.

I was shooting 85 grains of Goex 2f and a patched roundball. Very accurate and very deadly for deer. I also had to adjust the sights since they were fixed.

I later bought different sights for the rifle and put them on the rifle. While the rifle is not expensive, it is a great shooter. Good luck with your rifle.

 

[Zonie]

Because I don't know the distance between the front and rear sight on your rifle, I am going to give you a number. Multiply this number by the number of inches between your front sight and the rear sight.
It will give you a approximent amount you will need to remove from the front sight to raise the group.

The number is... (.005).
If the distance between your front and rear sight is, let us say, 19 inches, then 19 X .005 = .097
This is just a little over 3/32 which sounds like a lot, but a lot of factory guns have intentionally left the sight high so the owner can adjust it to whatever his/her loads need.

Your 80 grain load (if it is GOEX FFg) is giving a velocity of around 1538 FPS (Lyman Blackpowder Handbook). If they are zeroed at 50 yards, they will be hitting about 7.3 inches low at 100 yards.

Many folks find that zeroing at 75 yards gives them the best compromise for hunting.
If zeroed at 75 yards, your load will be hitting about 4.1 inches low at 100 yards and 1.6 inches high at 50 yards.

zonie

 

[bwhoffman]

I would look into installing a new rear sight with an elevator. fairly straight forward task.

my $.02,

Brett

 

[patch knife]

I would put about 200 rounds through that rifle , to make sure the barrel is broke in and the point of impact doesn't change , before I would file off too much of that front sight . After shooting 200 rounds , I would also know which powder , patch and ball combo shoots best out of my rifle :winking: . That's what I'd do , anyways , what you do is up to you . Don't be ashamed of that Bobcat , they are very accuarte with the right load (at least the one I bought for my daughter is :thumbsup: )

 

First go to the range with some office supplies, a ruler, scotch tape and white out. Measure down an 1/8 of an inch and place a piece of tape leaving that 1/8th of an inch bare and paint it with white out. Place the bottom of the white out area in the rear sight notch and see where it hits. If its low cover another 1/16th of an inch with white out. If its high, scrape off a 1/16th of an inch. And try again, until you get it where you want it. You might want to wipe between shots.

Then, either file down the front sight. Or notch it and soldered a stub of brass welding rod on it.

CP

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

but a lot of factory guns have intentionally left the sight high so the owner can adjust it to whatever his/her loads need.

There is much wisdom in the above quotation from Zonie's reply.

Since the folks who made the gun do not know what powder charge and projectile combination you want to zero your gun with... they leave the sight high so you can adjust it (very carefully) with a small jeweler's file. This is a much better way to let the user decide what load and where they want it to hit based on the sighting arrangement.

Some people also use a "fine bead" when sighting and that is just a way of lowering the impact at close range IF the gun was initially sighted in at long range. While fixed sights may not be that versatile as a nice micrometer adjustable aperature rear sight, they do work nicely for the 100-125 yard range of the average muzzleloading rifle. Besides that, fixed sights dont' get out of adjustment--unless they are completely broken.

Regards, and shoot safely!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[jim gray]

The groups are tight within 1/2 inch so it is shooting consistant just way low.

To may way of thinking that is excellent accuracy depending on the range at which you shot the group and the mnumber of shots in the group.

For the price of a Bobcat, mine was about $50, you can't complain about a group like that. Just follow the expert advice that you have been given above. You might want to try a conicals of a couple different weights as well, just to see how they group. The heavier bullets may bring the group up a little. That's up to you though. I personally shoot only roundballs, but won't knock anyone for trying something else to shoot a little straighter.

Have a great time at the range.

 

[Brawdhead]

it shoots 5-6 INCHES LOW!!!! at 50 yards 7-8 INCHES LOW!!!! and at 75 yards 12 INCHES LOW!!!! is there something I don't know here??? Should I maybe file the front site down or remove all together??

If you're getting a good group, but it's too low, then filing the front sight is probably the best remedy. Bobcats ship with an overly tall front blade sight with the expectation that the owner will adjust it as necessary when setting it up.

Aim at the bullseye from your desired distance.
Fire a few shots. (er, from bench)
Aim again at the bullseye, then raise your head a touch to see where the line betweeen your rear sight and the shot group on the target intersects the front blade.

That should give you an estimate of how much material you need to remove from the sight.

But, as others have suggested, only remove a little at a time. And mark it before you do any filing, so you can keep track of how far you've gone.

Dan