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Your best load at 50 yards

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Nessmuck56

40 Cal.
Joined
Nov 5, 2011
Messages
461
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Location
New Hampshire
Do you folks use the same charge at 25 and 50 yards....or do you find you need a stiffer charge to get a tighter group at 50. Iam shooting a 62 cal Tulle.....65 grains FFF at 25 works good....not so good at 50....but it could be the trigger man . Been loading 65 grains,card,felt pad,.010 patch 600 ball.
 
Nessmuck, Like you, I discovered what works @ 25 yd. doesn't necessarily work @ 50. My GRF 20ga. trade gun is pretty accurate with a .597" RB + .018" compressed pillow ticking patch + 70gr. or 80gr. [Diamondback] FFg. Sometimes I also add a 5/8" lubed felt OP wad or 5/8" lubed corrugated cardboard (from shipping boxes) OP wad. Last week I tried to get "accurate" results @ 50 yd. and found I had to go to 90gr. FFg, which hit low on the target, so I might need to go to 100gr.
Btw, I wrote it all up on the Cast Boolits site in the Muzzleloader subforum, "Tow wads & .610" RB's a la Mike Beliveau...." using the same name as I do here. There's also a pic of my 25 yd. target using the 80gr. charge & .597" RB.

Good luck and let us know how you fare!
 
80 grains under a tow nested .595 ball will give a big ragged hole at 25 yards, but closer to 7 inchs at 50. That will do in a deer. However while I will shoot tow at shoots and demos I will hunt with a prb and shoot 4-5 inchs at 50.
 
Nessmuck56 said:
Do you folks use the same charge at 25 and 50 yards....or do you find you need a stiffer charge to get a tighter group at 50.

I don't use different charges at all. In fact, I never even work up a load at only 25 yards. I start at 50, but will not touch sights as long as I'm on paper until I have the group I want at 75 yards. I will then also test that load at 100 yards just to see what kind of drop I have between 75 and 100. When I'm satisfied with all that, I adjust sights to be dead on at 75 yards. This tends to give me what I call a "100 yard" gun, meaning on deer, I can just put it on the spot and shoot regardless if I'm at or under 100 yards. I'm usually only a few inches low at 100 and a couple high at 50 with excellent groups across the board (of course they open up a little bit at a hundred.) But it's all ONE best load.
 
In my .62 smooth bore, 55 grains FF. Same load any range, it is my main deer gun.

I sight it in at 100yds but most shots are quite close.



William Alexander
 
Nessmuck56 said:
Are you guys shooting offhand when working up loads and different combos ???
I never do. I always shoot from a rest when working up loads, figuring that's the best way to see what the gun can do. After I get it all sighted in and hitting where it should, then I can shoot offhand to see what I can do.

When hunting I take any rest I can on every shot except the very shortest ones.

Spence
 
I have not ever taken an off hand shot at a deer or bigger. Have stood several times on my hind feet like a man but rested one arm on a tree. most shots have come kneeling on the ground or sitting on the ground. I have never used a tree stand, but have got most of mykills from under a tree hidden in some bush.
 
Well ...the smoothy is going on the bags....just have to keep the same angle of the dangle...to get some results...Smoothy and Bench just don't go together !! But ...that takes most of "me" from messing shots up !!
 
George said:
Nessmuck56 said:
Are you guys shooting offhand when working up loads and different combos ???
I never do. I always shoot from a rest when working up loads, figuring that's the best way to see what the gun can do. After I get it all sighted in and hitting where it should, then I can shoot offhand to see what I can do.

When hunting I take any rest I can on every shot except the very shortest ones.

Spence

100% the same for me. :thumbsup:
 
Nessmuck56 said:
Well ...the smoothy is going on the bags....just have to keep the same angle of the dangle...to get some results...Smoothy and Bench just don't go together !! But ...that takes most of "me" from messing shots up !!
Good plan.
You want to eliminate all of the unsteady effects caused by your body but at the same time, reproduce the same conditions that happen when you would be hunting.

I don't recommend actually resting the gun on a bag when you shoot because that is not how the gun is going to be held when your hunting.

IMO, a better plan is to use a bench to sit on and a shooting bench or some other stable support to rest the elbow of the supporting hand on.

That will provide a stable support for the gun while your hand holds the gun in a normal fashion.
The weight of your supporting arm will also cause the gun to recoil similar to what will happen when your out in the field.
 
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