Her name is " Bumblebee"

[Muddly]

My flintlock Pennsylvania Hunter that is.
Took her out today with the .492/.010, mink oil for lube, with .54 wad and 70 grains of 2f Swiss.
One flyer, my fault, and the 3rd group hit 2 inches higher than the first two.
Groups were as follows:
1st, 1 & 3/4
2nd, 1 & 13/16
3rd, 1& 11/16
These are 3 shots at 50 yards.
They're also half what thicker patches were giving. Patches are still roughly treated. All frayed by lands, several torn through, but the improvement in accuracy is most welcome!
Equally so is the consistency in group size.
I feel there is still room for improvement. Once I feel she's broken in, I expect improvement.
As it is, she's the most accurate ball rifle I've had. If she keeps this up, the deer are in for a world of hurt come flintlock season!

 

[Grenadier1758]

With the later groups going higher above the point of impact than the first groups, it appears that there is just enough buildup of fouling to increase pressure and velocity of your ball, but not enough fouling to harm accuracy. The frayed patches are telling you that there are sharp edges on the lands and probably at the crown. Keep on shooting.

 

[springfield art]

My flintlock Pennsylvania Hunter that is.
Took her out today with the .492/.010, mink oil for lube, with .54 wad and 70 grains of 2f Swiss.
One flyer, my fault, and the 3rd group hit 2 inches higher than the first two.
Groups were as follows:
1st, 1 & 3/4
2nd, 1 & 13/16
3rd, 1& 11/16
These are 3 shots at 50 yards.
They're also half what thicker patches were giving. Patches are still roughly treated. All frayed by lands, several torn through, but the improvement in accuracy is most welcome!
Equally so is the consistency in group size.
I feel there is still room for improvement. Once I feel she's broken in, I expect improvement.
As it is, she's the most accurate ball rifle I've had. If she keeps this up, the deer are in for a world of hurt come flintlock season!

Congratulations! Doing all your homework, and being a responsible hunter, as well!

 

[hanshi]

My flintlock Pennsylvania Hunter that is.
Took her out today with the .492/.010, mink oil for lube, with .54 wad and 70 grains of 2f Swiss.
One flyer, my fault, and the 3rd group hit 2 inches higher than the first two.
Groups were as follows:
1st, 1 & 3/4
2nd, 1 & 13/16
3rd, 1& 11/16
These are 3 shots at 50 yards.
They're also half what thicker patches were giving. Patches are still roughly treated. All frayed by lands, several torn through, but the improvement in accuracy is most welcome!
Equally so is the consistency in group size.
I feel there is still room for improvement. Once I feel she's broken in, I expect improvement.
As it is, she's the most accurate ball rifle I've had. If she keeps this up, the deer are in for a world of hurt come flintlock season!

Actually that is excellent accuracy for 50 yds. But don't stop experimenting with components. Smooth the sharp crown as that's where most patches get holes.

 

[burlesontom]

If you have a sharp crown its easy to fix. I had the same problem with my 50 cal and I just used my RCBS case prep case mouth deburring tool to smooth the crown. Its hand powered so you have a lot of control while doing the work. In just a few minutes you will have a very smooth crown. I can post pictures of the crown if you want. I have cut several crowns on other guns with this same tool.

 

[NorthFork]

@Muddly

Can I get a touch of credit for this? Just kidding. Glad it worked out for you. Because I've been in your shoes before. Applying conventional wisdom to most factory arms does not = success in most cases. Took me years to figure this out.

 

[Muddly]

NorthFork,
Gave ya a shout out in the other thread ( my pa hunter is giving me fits), but more than happy to do so again!
Many thanks! And you did tell me so. Glad you did too!
Gonna try .010s in my first Hunter too.
One of the ways I test crowns, an bores, is to dry ball the combo I intend to use, then pull it and check for problems.
For the crown check, I already have a hole in the ball, start it, thread in the puller and pull it out.
It's easier if I cut patches at the muzzle. Start it and just pull it.
Both barrels show compression, but no failures of the patches.
Obviously though, coming out at maybe 1700 fps WILL change things a wee bit...

 

[NorthFork]

@Muddly

All of my patches from .45 T/C's, .54 T/c's, .50 Lyman's, .54 Lyman's, .50 CVA's , .50 Traditions, .45 Ped's, and .50 Ped's show ragged, burnt patches when using .010" nominal under ball size and .010" patches. Yet they shoot tighter groups this way than the typical .010" nominal under bore size ball and .018" thicker patches. I CAN shoot tighter groups in my Colerain and Rice DEEP grooved barrels with the typical .015" or .018" patches and .010" nominal under bore size patches with roughly the same loading effort. But for the typical factory production barrel of the American's (T/C) or Spanish (CVA/Traditions/Jukar/Dikar) or Italian (Pedersoli) I strongly prefer the .010" smaller than bore ball and .010" patch. If there is someone out there with a Lyman (for example) who prefers .005 under bore diameter balls and .020" patches, well......more power to yah.

 

[Muddly]

Gotcha. The usual T/C barrel, .005 grooves 1-48 twist, this makes a lot of sense.
The Pennsylvania Hunters are cut rifled .10 deep. Both mine slug .500 bore/.520 groove, 1-66.
Matters not though. .010 patches WORK and THAT'S what counts.
Grateful to you NorthFork!

 

[THE_LAST_WORD]

With the later groups going higher above the point of impact than the first groups, it appears that there is just enough buildup of fouling to increase pressure and velocity of your ball, but not enough fouling to harm accuracy. The frayed patches are telling you that there are sharp edges on the lands and probably at the crown. Keep on shooting.

yup once the barrel is used a bit more the accuracy should improve even more.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Bees are fish in Cally, so you can get it wet. Just keep your powder dry!

 

[THE_LAST_WORD]

Bees are fish in Cally, so you can get it wet. Just keep your powder dry!

that powder is usable once it dries after being wet is it not? ive taken old bp out powdered it and wet it with acetone and mold it back into primers before is your powder that kind?

 

[Muddly]

TLW,
I know of no such mold. You could get a Lee 250 grain R.E.A.L. and size it to your requirements.
OR, run a .500 ball through a .490 sizer. That will put a wee shank on it. Might work quite well in your rifle. I ran some .457 ball through a .452 sizer as an experiment, using a type of subcaliber adapter. Worked quite well actually.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Are those groups you're posting center to center (of the holes) or edge to edge? Either way those are pretty good groups.

 

[hanshi]

I predict Bumble Bee will be out stinging deer this fall.

 

[Muddly]

Center to center.

 

[THE_LAST_WORD]

TLW,
I know of no such mold. You could get a Lee 250 grain R.E.A.L. and size it to your requirements.
OR, run a .500 ball through a .490 sizer. That will put a wee shank on it. Might work quite well in your rifle. I ran some .457 ball through a .452 sizer as an experiment, using a type of subcaliber adapter. Worked quite well actually.

well thank you, its bad news but thank you, saves me time and energy continuing the search, cause that lee 250 r.e.a.l. bullet is .515diameter and would have to be sized 3 times. i will just get a .500 mini-ball mold at 360grain and size it down once,thanks.

 

[Muddly]

Out of my mold, the 250 grain .50 R.E.A.L. measures as follows:
Bottom band, .497
Mid band, .503
Top band, .513
Perhaps not as extreme sizing for your needs?

 

[THE_LAST_WORD]

Out of my mold, the 250 grain .50 R.E.A.L. measures as follows:
Bottom band, .497
Mid band, .503
Top band, .513
Perhaps not as extreme sizing for your needs?

the version of that mold sold today has bands starting at .502 and going up to .515 . so thank you but nah, getting a mold for a .500 mini-ball will work fine it will just be closer to 300grain than 360grain and that is alright. guy on here told me i could take .50round ball and size that to .495 and that sounds like a solid bullet to me, smiles cause it wont be round anymore and those should just push through a sizer .. thank you though. i probably wont be back to the site. someone is picketing my use of air rifles. so i am taking all my skills knowledge and lead and brass(which i dont need brass cause i use an air rifle, but others want brass, and i have a stockpile of brass button grommets. oh well. so i dont feel welcome here and thats not my problem, there are other places to have a voice. so take it easy and be blessed if ya dont hear from me again you know someone violated a persons liberty and persuit of happiness, and it was done against me on this site, hope everyone here likes being a part of that kind of thing. bye