Well. Shoot. Had a bit of problem sighting in. The gun failed to hold the cocked position after a dozen shots or so. The sear still caught the tumbler notch I made, but the change in notch depth made the other side of the sear rock higher and the trigger assy was in the way. A little heat with the torch, and a little tweaking (of the sear, not me) and I got it working. Found a box of .535 balls in the closet, so I tried them this morning as I finished sighting in. Went back to the .530 balls, .015 patches, and 100 gr. Pyrodex FFg—-cause that’s what I had. Got a couple bullet holes touching, and a couple 2” from the other group, also pretty close to each other, at 50yds. I ain’t satisfied with that, but for now I can live with it.
That brings me to two questions.
1) will a .535 ball with a .010 patch shoot the same as a .530 ball with a .015 patch?
2) at 100 gr, the hammer would bounce back to cocked position occasionally. That’s how I broke the sear notch in the first place. I was having ignition problems so I drilled out the flash hole just a hare bigger. I had a brand new nipple on it today. I dropped the charge to 85 gr and didn’t get the hammer bounce as often, but still did occasionally. Is 85 gr too much? Or might there be another issue. I swabbed the bore twice between each shot with a dry patch.
We seen tracks today, and my boy almost got a shot, ( would have if a 6x6 was legal). We jumped another group in the noisy snow, but didn’t get to see them. Going back in the morning.