Posting my results in case it helps somebody in a similar position.
I finally got out to the range yesterday to try some different patches in my woodsman with a 1:48 twist. Previously, I had good luck with shorter full-bore conicals, such as a 295 gr. Powerbelt and a 247 gr. Thor. But the old round ball (0.490) couldn't hold a group with any more than 50 grains of powder, for whatever reason. I had tried patches sized 0.01" thick (came with the gun) and 0.02". Neither worked well. Though, admittedly, the 0.02 was so thick I could barely get the ball down with a mallet. So I gave up pretty fast on that one.
0.015" seemed to do it. With 90 grains FF Pyrodex, I got 3 shots consistently within 1" at 50 yards and one group at about 3/4" (CTC) with 70 grains. Since groups had previously been closer to 8-10", I am quite pleased. The fouling was a lot less, too. Maybe the increased pressure created a better burn?
Using ITX round ball (hunting = lead free here), I had to go back to the 0.01 patch to avoid having to use a range rod + mallet. But that combo put the shots in the same hole as the lead balls were hitting. So now I have a round ball combo for the range & for hunting that shoots identically out to hunting ranges (75-80 yards max).
The rifle had been sighted in with the heavier conicals so shots were hitting a couple inches higher but otherwise still fine on windage. Just for kicks, I took 3 shots at the steel plate at 100 yards while seated on the ground (typical hunting situation for me), holding dead-on. All three hit.
As a side benefit, my conical combo was costing about 80 cents per shot for the powerbelts and about $1.50 for the Thors. Now with round ball, I can shoot at about 15 cents for lead and about a buck for ITX. That's a lot better, in my opinion. If I ever go out for elk or something larger than a deer, I may opt for those conicals again. But for deer, I'm satisfied with the round ball.
I finally got out to the range yesterday to try some different patches in my woodsman with a 1:48 twist. Previously, I had good luck with shorter full-bore conicals, such as a 295 gr. Powerbelt and a 247 gr. Thor. But the old round ball (0.490) couldn't hold a group with any more than 50 grains of powder, for whatever reason. I had tried patches sized 0.01" thick (came with the gun) and 0.02". Neither worked well. Though, admittedly, the 0.02 was so thick I could barely get the ball down with a mallet. So I gave up pretty fast on that one.
0.015" seemed to do it. With 90 grains FF Pyrodex, I got 3 shots consistently within 1" at 50 yards and one group at about 3/4" (CTC) with 70 grains. Since groups had previously been closer to 8-10", I am quite pleased. The fouling was a lot less, too. Maybe the increased pressure created a better burn?
Using ITX round ball (hunting = lead free here), I had to go back to the 0.01 patch to avoid having to use a range rod + mallet. But that combo put the shots in the same hole as the lead balls were hitting. So now I have a round ball combo for the range & for hunting that shoots identically out to hunting ranges (75-80 yards max).
The rifle had been sighted in with the heavier conicals so shots were hitting a couple inches higher but otherwise still fine on windage. Just for kicks, I took 3 shots at the steel plate at 100 yards while seated on the ground (typical hunting situation for me), holding dead-on. All three hit.
As a side benefit, my conical combo was costing about 80 cents per shot for the powerbelts and about $1.50 for the Thors. Now with round ball, I can shoot at about 15 cents for lead and about a buck for ITX. That's a lot better, in my opinion. If I ever go out for elk or something larger than a deer, I may opt for those conicals again. But for deer, I'm satisfied with the round ball.
