Thompson Center Seneca and cold weather

[ike]

I live in Minnesota. In October with temps in the 40s I spent some time making sure I knew the sight picture and that the load (35 gr Gpex 3f and a .310 round bass with a .115 compressed pillow ticking patch lubed with bear fat) was still good. I shot a 1 1/2 inch group at 25 yds. ( with my astigmatism that is pretty good), then to 50 yds. and shot a 2 inch group. I give you this information as background.
Saturday I went to the squirrel woods. I had 4 squirrels within 25 yds and missed three of them I was shooting from a rest. Outside Temp was 18 degrees.
I also learned that if I put a patch on my glasses and looked through a hole in the patch my sight picture is much clearer. Yesterday I went to the range to see where the gun was shooting. At 25 yds I could not group the shots. They were all over the target. Patches were in shreds and some were only small pieces. They were easy to find on new snow. I was cleaning every 5 shots but I have never had to do that with this rifle before. I had an idea (brain fart) of dropping the powder to 25 Gr of Goex 3 f just to see what happens. Five shots good group with just a bit different sight picture and the patches were all whole with just frayed edges. Look out squirrels tomorrow. I posted this to give another shooter who cannot hit the target when it gets cold some ideas on how to solve the problem.

I did have the same issue with a Trade gun shooting .600 RB That problem was solved by changing the patch lube to bear fat. Bear fat stays consistent even in cold weather and I use it all year around.
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[TreeMan]

Had your patches been lubed for several months or longer? It’s possible the lube deteriorated your patching material. That happens a lot with store bought lubed patches that have been sitting on the shelf of the gun shop for years.

 

[Bassdog1]

If I read this right you are shooting a 32 Caliber TC Seneca. I shoot one also and have never had to load anything over 15 Grains of Goex using a .010 patch and shooting a .315 ball lubed with Tracks Mink Oil while squirrel hunting. I have never had an issue with this load from temps in the 90s down to the teens. Your Seneca has a 1 in 30 twist and the only time I have had any accuracy issues with my 32 Cal. Thompsons is when I try to use heavy for caliber powder charges. These guns were built specifically to shoot accurately with light charges. Congrats on owning a 32 Seneca they are few and far in between.