Holding it together at 50 yards

[JCB]

Thanks for the reply’s. I’m going to take the advice given about attaching a temporary rear sight. I feel like I’m being consistent in my sight picture and hold, but maybe I’m not. I did put it on the bench today and adjusted the powder charge. I shot between 65 to 110 grain loads. When I got to 110 I thought I had the problem solved but after about four shots that grouped fairly good it fell apart again. I’ll rig up a rear sight and go from there. If that’s the issue then I’ll install one permanently. I was really trying to avoid that though.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Thanks for the reply’s. I’m going to take the advice given about attaching a temporary rear sight. I feel like I’m being consistent in my sight picture and hold, but maybe I’m not. I did put it on the bench today and adjusted the powder charge. I shot between 65 to 110 grain loads. When I got to 110 I thought I had the problem solved but after about four shots that grouped fairly good it fell apart again. I’ll rig up a rear sight and go from there. If that’s the issue then I’ll install one permanently. I was really trying to avoid that though.

I feel your pain. And when I finally did put a sight on it, all the pain went away.......

 

[tenngun]

Some will call it sacrilege. I hunt with mine and like to take game home instead of wounding it to run and suffer.
A touch of epoxy and a buckhorn. It works and turned this Bess into a game getter instead of a safe queen.
And I LIKE IT!
View attachment 26207

I would solder it on over glue but I ‘likee’. I just don’t get cheek lock, tang screw Ect thing.
My first shotgun was a savage with a rear sight when I was fourteen and I just never learned to do without it.

 

[smo]

Funny thing, I grew up shooting a 16 gauge without front or rear sights.

I’ve always compared shooting that way too shooting a bow instinctively.

Point it where your looking and squeeze the trigger.

 

[tenngun]

I know from experience, smoothie shooters with out sights or just a front sight can shoot equal or better then me with both. Howsomever my group’s with out a rear sight.

 

[Cowboy]

Are you smo the Widowmaker?
These guys shoot very well with there smoothbore

Yes, and yes he is!

 

[JackP]

I think being right or left eyed has a big effect on pointing a shotgun. If your left eyed like myself, and right handed, In my opinion it caused me to have the need to aim and not point. I couldn't understand for years why I had to close my left eye to get a sight picture while my dad could leave both eyes open.
Anyway this situation could help or hinder with natural pointing or aiming. You shotgunners can explain it better.

Jack

 

[Britsmoothy]

I think being right or left eyed has a big effect on pointing a shotgun. If your left eyed like myself, and right handed, In my opinion it caused me to have the need to aim and not point. I couldn't understand for years why I had to close my left eye to get a sight picture while my dad could leave both eyes open.
Anyway this situation could help or hinder with natural pointing or aiming. You shotgunners can explain it better.

Jack

Good point.
If the op wares glasses, mask the none shooting eye.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Wear safety glasses and mask the non-shooting eye.

 

[theoldredneck]

When I got to age reading glasses were required to read being able to see sights or bead changed also. The rear bead or sight for shotguns/smooth bores became a wonderful accessory. Now a high viz front and good rear sight is no guarantee I can shoot a group from a bench as distance increases.

 

[sonnyboy]

Is this off the bench or offhand/freestyle? The load has to be able to do the job off the bench before it can be expected to shoot well offhand.
I have one smoothbore that likes and average to tight load, .600 ball with. 010 patch, the other won't group a tight load worth a darn with a tight load.l, shoots better with a .595 ball and .010 patch than with same ball and thicker patch or .600 ball and thin patch, but,,,, it shoots even better with no patch, just sandwiching the ball between a lubed wad and an overshot card. This is all off the bench. Can I shoot as well off hand, no, but the potential is there, and most people (even with modern guns) can't shoot up to their gun's potential.

When load testing I would put something on the gun to use as a rear sight, or figure out how to best line up the tang screw, just to make sure you are holding the same way every shot.

After the group is good off the bench it becomes a matter of gun fit and mounting the gun to the shoulder and cheek weld the same way every time. Your eye is the rear sight, so, if the gun is on a different place on your shoulder and/or your cheek weld is different on the stock from shot to shot, you are changing the rear sight.
At 25 yards, maybe the slight change doesn't show, but at 50 it does. Or, you are moving the gun to look where the shot went too soon, not following through, due to lack of confidence at 50.

make a rear sight out of a magnet!!!!

 

[brazosland]

OP, I don’t know where I saw it, but someone somewhere posted a pic of a rear aperture sight they made for their smoothbore by simply folding a piece of brass into an angle, drilling a hole in one side and running the tang bolt through it.

The part sticking up they drilled a hole in for the aperture...and...taddah!...rear sight!

 

[kkat6500]

I recently picked up a 58 smoothie only to find it’s a 54 anyway would this be a 28 gauge? What would be a good load and ball size to start with?

 

[sb 54 cal.]

Try .530 or .535 I use .535 chewed ball I make with a wood rasp and .28 ga. shotgun wads

 

[Nessmuck56]

OP, I don’t know where I saw it, but someone somewhere posted a pic of a rear aperture sight they made for their smoothbore by simply folding a piece of brass into an angle, drilling a hole in one side and running the tang bolt through it.

The part sticking up they drilled a hole in for the aperture...and...taddah!...rear sight!

Used one of my brass trapping tags...just to work up a good load combo...and an approx height to make A solid rear peep sight ...and mount it to that screw