I was almost ready to give up on my flinter

[Stumpkiller]

Glad it worked for you. :hatsoff:

 

[lakota]

Over the summer I did do quite a bit of bench shooting off a big caldwell sandbag. I fiddled and fiddled with patching and lube mixes and powder charges. I even tried some Buffalo Ball-ets and those shot absolutley horrible and were a bear to load. Over the past week or so I have been doing a lot of dry firing with a peice of wood in the lock instead of the flint. Today was my best day out with this rifle. Next trip out I am going to take my sand bag and bench shoot it again. That crescent butt plate sure doesnt make for pleasant bench rest shooting.

 

[jerrywh]

I would drop down to 60 grs. and give it a try.

 

[Rusty Spur 82]

Sounds like you are doing everything right.I know that I have an easier time in putting my cappers on target over my flinter.I praise myself sometimes for not having a flinch problem even with my modern magnums but I have to admit,that for me,the change over to flint was an eye opener.I have a handle on it now but it took awhile.Part of the fun is taming the beast.Have you tried mink oil for a lube yet? I read some posts about it and liked what I heard for using it as a hunting lube.I picked some up and tried it and wallah,I got some pretty good groups with it over my other lube that I was using.I just rub a thin coat on the patch.The mink oil doesn't seem to cake like some other stuff I have tried.I just through I'd pass that on to you for another thing to try.Look at all the shooting fun you are going to have.You'll get it.That's a fine rifle you have.

 

[paulvallandigham]

A barrel will burn powder EFFICIENTLY at a rate of 11.5 grains per inch. For a 42", .40 caliber bore, that is 60.69 Grains of powder. The Match shooters try to stay with powder charges Under or AT that level, for best accuracy. Hunters often put more powder in their guns, seeking more velocity, and giving up some accuracy, for very small gains in flatter trajectory. :youcrazy: :nono: :surrender:

I shot a new .40 cal. rifle using 65 grains of 3Fg powder(Goex) that was very accurate. I don't recall the barrel length, but it was over 40 inches.

Stick with cutting your patches at the muzzle. Sharpen that edge, as I see some irregular shapes and edges to your spent patches.

Until you know how to center and Seat a ball in a patch in the crown of THIS GUN, stay away from pre-CUT patches. Different guns have different crowns, and it takes time to learn what you have to do to consistently center a ball in a patch and run it down the barrel.

We all think its a minor deal, but I learned this lesson years ago when I sold off my first factory built gun, and began shooting my semi-custom made rifle. It was a different caliber, and the crown was different.

I had a bit of trouble centering a ball properly on a pre-cut patch for awhile, and spoiled some groups in the process. Since I was doing all my load development work off Sandbag rests, It was clear what caused the ball to "fly" wide of the group. When I switched to cutting my patches at the muzzle with a straight razor I had bought years before for this very purpose, those flyers stopped. :v

I have since used Pre-cut patches, but I purposely buy a larger diameter patch size just to make sure I have enough fabric on all sides of my lead ball if I manage to get that patch off-center a bit when I seat the ball in the muzzle. :hmm:

Spend the money to acquire a Dial caliper. Harbor Freight sells them. And you can buy them from the suppliers you will find using the Links on this forum, too. You will find lots of uses for such a precision tool, including measuring the OUTSIDE diameter of your RBs, the Inside diameter of your bore, and grooves, and the thickness of your patch materials. It should cost you around 20-25 dollars. :hmm:

Do NOT buy a DIGITAL caliper. You won't use it often enough to justify the substantial difference in cost, and it then becomes just another place to store DEAD BATTERIES! :shocked2: :nono:

All rifles tend to have a "Sweet spot" where the harmonics of the barrel's vibration come together to give you tight groups. Working on target loads for accuracy involves finding that MV that causes this all to happen. If you have access to a chronograph( You can buy a Chrony for less than $100; Competition Electronics chronographs start at under $200, and have more whistles and bells), to use in load development, it will cut your range time down and point the direction you need to go to tighten groups.

When you find that "Sweet spot", you can record the velocity in your notebook on that gun, and from then on, when you buy new powder, or a different brand of powder, you can achieve that same group size, and Point of Impact with your fixed sights, by finding a powder charge that generates that same MV.

Most guns have at least 2 sweet spots, BTW. One will be with a relatively Mild Target load of powder; the other will be reached by loading a higher load of powder- often more than is efficiently burned in that barrel length. The Barrel vibrates, like the string on a violin when plucked( Harmonics).

Even when you are burning powder outside the muzzle, the weight of that powder will change the harmonics of the barrel as its being pushed down the barrel. Again, if all the various factors that come together in a given barrel stabilize the ball at the muzzle in the same location, you get a consistent release of the ball and a small group.

The POI may change, of course, because you have little control over where those harmonic waves are as the ball leaves the muzzle. But, you will find that "other sweet spot" that gives small groups. :shocked2: :thumbsup:

The .40 caliber makes a very fine Target caliber with BP. Its a good medium and small sized game gun for hunting. It shoots relatively flat. Its only restriction is the WEIGHT of the ball, which causes it to lose velocity quickly. Many whitetails have been taken inside 35 yards with this caliber gun. But, generally hunters use these rifles to take small game and varmints up to the size of coyotes ( 35 lbs.approx.) out to 130 yds. or so. After that range, the ball has run out of gas, and is dropping so much that its difficult to hold over the correct amount using iron sights, to compensate for the falling trajectory of the ball. :thumbsup:

Comment: Its not important if you NOTICE the flash of a flintlock. Regardless of rifle, or action, if you don't see fire and smoke in front of that front sight as the gun is fired, you either have "flinched", or are failing to follow through, usually, by lifting your head off the stock in anticipation of recoil.

Lifting the head is very often caused by a stock that does not fit you properly when shooting off-hand, so that you are looking out of the top of your eye socket, and your head is Laying on top of the comb of the stock, you neck twisted back to lift your head up to see the sights.

All that muscle strain works against you. The more erect your neck and head can be with the cheek Next To the comb of the stock, while seeing your sights, the better your off-hand shooting will be. :hmm:

When your head is erect, you eye looks through the center of the orbit( socket), relieving eye strain. When erect, the neck muscles are not required to strain to hold you head up in a forward, lay-down position( think of doing push-ups, and how much your neck hurts after doing 100 of them). :hmm:

 

[David W.]

Spend the money to acquire a Dial caliper. Harbor Freight sells them. And you can buy them from the suppliers you will find using the Links on this forum, too. You will find lots of uses for such a precision tool, including measuring the OUTSIDE diameter of your RBs, the Inside diameter of your bore, and grooves, and the thickness of your patch materials. It should cost you around 20-25 dollars. :hmm:

Do NOT buy a DIGITAL caliper. You won't use it often enough to justify the substantial difference in cost, and it then becomes just another place to store DEAD BATTERIES! :shocked2: :nono:

I believe one should purchase a caliper based on his/her useage. Digital calipers have the advantage of reading in both inches and millimeters. Dial calipers are sufficient for most people. Watever the case, being a mechanical engineer, I prefer good quality instruments over the bargan basement varity. Starrett, Brown and Sharpe, or Mitutoyo comes to mind. Look on ebay and find some used one's.

For patching material (and a few other uses), micrometers work much better than calipers.

 

[matt denison]

I think you are way overloading your gun. How did you arrive at the 70 gr. of FFF load? Get back to the basics, never mind all the technical advice about calipers and $100 chronographs and etc. For a .45 cal. start at 55 grains of your preferd powder and work up slowly until you get a decent group at 25 yards. Use a rest to eliminate some human caused variables. Only change ONE thing at a time. Pick a patch and stick with it throughout the shooting session. If you can not get a decent group with FFFg then try FFg. Think basics until the gun shows you what it wants. You can fine tune from there with lubes and patch thickness and expensive add ons. One more thing. Be consistent with your loading technique. However you load the gun on the first shot do it that way for all shots.

 

[majg1234]

agree with laffindog back off the powder a little,you might try a felt wad over the powder to reduce the standard deviation in the velocity..this worked well on my TVM .40 S MTN rifle

 

[geb324]

I agree with Lafindog in my .45 I use 45gr 3fff
and by all means use a bench rest and start at 25
yards You will be surprised at your groups

 

[shootemup]

I just thought of this - are there any other problems with the rifle? How does the barrel fit to the stock? I shoot a fairly hot load for a .40 since I use it for deer (65 grains of 3f), so I actually glass bedded mine.

 

[RBrooks]

I missed that formula on the amount of powder
per barrel length? How would you calculate
11.5 grains of FFF per inch for a 50 cal in 31" and
36" barrel?

 

[jerrywh]

As far back as I can remember the basic rule has been 1 1/2 times the caliber for powder charge.
That's 60 grs for a 40 cal. 75grs for a 50 etc.
The old time target shooters with long rifles used a very low powder charge. When I taget shoot I only use 50 grs. in a 54 for any range under 75 yards. If it's 100 yds or more I go to 80 grs.
When I miss it's me not the gun.

 

[Oldnamvet]

He is talking per cubic inch of barrel volume.
So for a 50 caliber with a 36 inch barrel it would calculate out to 81 grains. For a 31 inch barrel it would be 70 grains.

 

[CrackStock]

I would try getting my load development done on the bench to remove some of the human error factor from the load testing process. Once you have the rifle grouping well, then go to standing for sight adjustment at that position.

I would back off of the powder drastically and move up in 5 grain increments until I found what the rifle likes. I have a .40 that likes 40 grains of 3f and another that likes a tad over 50 while a friend shoots much higher charges.

One thing that I have not read addressed is how new is this barrel? Did you buy it new or is it new to you? Was it ever shot enough to remove the rough edges from manufacturing? It may simply be in need of lapping.

Do you know the make of the barrel? They list the supposed caliber, but there is variance depending upon the maker. Yours might be a bit oversized and need a larger ball and/or patch to obtain best accuracy.

Good luck - we all hope the hear of tight groups and meat in the freezer!

 

[lakota]

The 70 grains is what the original owner said shot the best for him.

The barrel to stock fit is very close. I take the barrel out of the stock to clean it and it seems like it actually "snaps" back into the stock when I reassemble it.

I bought the rifle used from the original owner. He also sent me the original shipping lable which puts the gun at 7 years old. From the look of the stock the gun was well used but taken care of as the bore is bright smooth and shiny. There are minor dings in the stock and the entry thimble and the finish on the wood around it is worn from handling. The butt plate was also worn but I re browned that. I am thinking of refinishing the stock. I would like a finish a few shades darker that it is now.

The previous owner gave me a 5 day inspection period so I took it down to the Log Cabin Shop and I think it was Dan went over it and said everything looked good with it.

 

[Rusty Spur 82]

If Dan or Rick said it was good,then you can bet it is.

 

[Zonie]

Welcome to the Forum.

To use Paul's recommendation for determining the maximum efficient powder load divide the bore size in half. Multiply the results times itself and then multiply this answer by 3.142.
This gives the area of the bore.

Multiply this area times the barrel length and you will have the volume of the barrels bore.

This is the value that is multiplied by 11.5 to determine the final answer.

Note: This is not the maximum powder charge that can be loaded in the barrel if a higher velocity is desired. It is a rough indication of where the law of diminishing returns on the powder volume/velocity gain starts to be apparent.

Whether or not the value is a good target load in your gun cannot be said. It seems to work for some and not for others.

 

[ebiggs1]

I find it to be so unreliable, I don't even consider it. Besides it's much more fun to just shoot and find what load your gun likes. Shooting is more fun than arithmetic.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The Chinese made dial caliper I have was checked( immediately) against my father's Vernier Caliper, and found to be just as accurate, and a bit easier to read with my eyesight. Its also been checked against micrometers of several American Made brands, including Sterrett. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the "cheap" caliper.

Since I am not a professional machinist, I don't use it every day. But, Its been used dozens of times or more measuring parts for guns and gun locks. I, Too, Will NOT recommend a cheap tool if accuracy is compromised by the price.

If I had some reason to measure a a part to 10,000ths, or 100,000ths of an inch,or in millimeters, I would acquire a digital caliper.

I don't know much of anything having to do with the gun industry that requires that level of tolerance, save the tools used to make the steel parts for the guns.When you get to 10,000ths of an inch in tolerances, a change in surface temperature can change the dimensions of steel parts. The temperature of the human hand holding a gun part for as little as 5 minutes is enough to alter its dimensions beyond one 10,000th of an inch. :shocked2: :hmm: :surrender:

 

[hoochiepapa]

That buttplate is supposed to rest in the pocket of your bicep, not on your shoulder. Move the butt down so that the hook rests right on the top of your bicep.