I'm up early, enjoying the peace and quite before my offspring hit the deck. But, the slow burn of summer has me overthinking the details of crisp autumn days to come... so I might as well create a long post of nothing for all to enjoy.
I settled on 3F many moons ago and have been shooting that exclusively for about a decade in my 20ga smoothie. So long, in fact, that I forgot why I abandoned 2F and so decided to do some 2F vs 3F pattern testing. Including... after much talk and threatening... a test of Skychiefs "special" load with an EVOO soaked fibre wad on top of the payload. I've still got more testing to do, but I'm learning and seeing a trend. My conclusions thus far, you ask?
1. Shooting flintlocks is way more funner than those guns they sell in stores.
2. Skychief's special load does seem to tighten patterns. So, to you Mr. Skychief... :hatsoff:
3. 2F is definitely dirtier that 3F. After firing 2F, there's a lot more scale/flaked crud in the bore. Not a problem cleaning it out after each shot, but I could see it really building up if one doesn't do so.
4. You can throw the same loading at paper twice and get mildly different results each time. No reason to think this wouldn't happen, but point being one throw does not a conclusion make.
5. My gun doesn't seem to have any clear preference for 2F vs. 3F when throwing patterns.
6. 1 part powder to 1.5 parts shot seems to be the "sweet spot" for my gun. That is, about 80gr 2F and 1 1/2 oz. shot seemed to be about right and adding more shot (I tried up to 2oz.) actually resulted in fewer hits in my center circle.
7. Modest powder charges seemed to produce tighter patterns. I started patterning with fairly stout charges (100gr 2F and 80gr. 3F) but patterns seemed to improve when I backed off the powder charge slightly. I'll be focusing on 65-70gr. 3F and 75-80gr 2F next outing, with about 1 1/4 - 1 1/2oz shot.
8. Just as a baseline test, I did one pattern with a plastic shot cup ( :barf: ). The result was very surprising, mildly confusing and quite pleasing as well - it was terrible, among the poorest patterning of all the loads I tried.
9. I'm going to hunt squirrels this fall. (yes, you needed to know that)
10. There is no number ten. But kudos to you for pushing past the title of this thread and enduring my rambling all the way to the end. :thumbsup:
Happy Canada Day! :v
I settled on 3F many moons ago and have been shooting that exclusively for about a decade in my 20ga smoothie. So long, in fact, that I forgot why I abandoned 2F and so decided to do some 2F vs 3F pattern testing. Including... after much talk and threatening... a test of Skychiefs "special" load with an EVOO soaked fibre wad on top of the payload. I've still got more testing to do, but I'm learning and seeing a trend. My conclusions thus far, you ask?
1. Shooting flintlocks is way more funner than those guns they sell in stores.
2. Skychief's special load does seem to tighten patterns. So, to you Mr. Skychief... :hatsoff:
3. 2F is definitely dirtier that 3F. After firing 2F, there's a lot more scale/flaked crud in the bore. Not a problem cleaning it out after each shot, but I could see it really building up if one doesn't do so.
4. You can throw the same loading at paper twice and get mildly different results each time. No reason to think this wouldn't happen, but point being one throw does not a conclusion make.
5. My gun doesn't seem to have any clear preference for 2F vs. 3F when throwing patterns.
6. 1 part powder to 1.5 parts shot seems to be the "sweet spot" for my gun. That is, about 80gr 2F and 1 1/2 oz. shot seemed to be about right and adding more shot (I tried up to 2oz.) actually resulted in fewer hits in my center circle.
7. Modest powder charges seemed to produce tighter patterns. I started patterning with fairly stout charges (100gr 2F and 80gr. 3F) but patterns seemed to improve when I backed off the powder charge slightly. I'll be focusing on 65-70gr. 3F and 75-80gr 2F next outing, with about 1 1/4 - 1 1/2oz shot.
8. Just as a baseline test, I did one pattern with a plastic shot cup ( :barf: ). The result was very surprising, mildly confusing and quite pleasing as well - it was terrible, among the poorest patterning of all the loads I tried.
9. I'm going to hunt squirrels this fall. (yes, you needed to know that)
10. There is no number ten. But kudos to you for pushing past the title of this thread and enduring my rambling all the way to the end. :thumbsup:
Happy Canada Day! :v
I'll shoot you a message. :thumbsup:
