Shot the SS Kodiak Pro today

[Pglasgow]

Well I just couldn't stand it. Headed up towards the mountains till I found a good spot on public land with a good back stop for shooting. Started with 80 grains Goex 270 Ballet. Took 4 shots 25 yards to get zeroed. Stepped out to 50 yards and got a 3 shot group 2.25 in high with all shots touching. Scopes are awesome .

I've had this wild hair to try some roundball with a hunting charge. I shot 90 grains Pyro P and .490 PRB. Shot at 50 yards. The first shot was 3" low and 2" right. I saw the wind blowing the patch across the snow and found it in a couple of pieces, it was pretty well shredded and burnt. I loaded another and it landed right where I expected it too. Right above the bullseye justunder 3" high. Shot another, this one clipping half of the last shot, cross eyes. The next shot was low again 3" and 1" left. Again another shredded patch. I stopped shooting PRB at that time but since returning home I thought of some things which may have caused problems with the strays. I may try couple of things in terms of loading procedure which I think may help. If it works, I'll post more on it later.

I then shot 375 SSBs with 75 grains 2f 777. Shot a 4 shot group with 3 of the 4 shots touching and one shotjust slightlyseparated.

Upon returning home, I removed the stock to inspect the U's. The cracks did not appear to have progressed any. Currently, the barrel is floated. She is shooting well enough that next outing I will be trying 100 yards with the 375 SSB's. I will be determining whether 777 or BP will win the honors for accuracy in the Kodiak Pro. I'm getting low onGoex now. Gonna need to get some more soon.

[cayugad]

Well it sounds like you had a good shooting trip. I'm glad to hear the rifle did fine. I like those 375 grain Buffalo SSB's as well. They are an excellent shooting bullet in most rifles.

[outdoorslover]

Glad to hear it shoots well for you! Best of luck with your gun!

[dmurphy317]

Sounds good. For the PRB try a tighter patch and 70 to 80 grains of powder. I got 2" groups at 50 yards using a .020 patch and .490 ball over 80gr of 777 2F. Should be more than enough for hunting deer out to at least 75 yards.

[frontier gander]

Good for you! About time you load up the truck and go into the forest and shoot! The deal with your torn patches i read in a book is due to the fast twist rifling cutting the patch as it comes out with that big of charge. I only used 40 grains when i used to shoot PRB out of my staghorn with 1:28 twist. Accuracy was awesome at 100 yards with that scoped rifle.

I actually took my 16 year old nephew shooting today with the x-150 and shot at 25 yards. I dropped the charge to 70 grains pyro rs and the saboted 240 grain bullet and he shot a 1 1/2" group at 25 yards with a crappy rest lol. He loved it though, i think i will have to buy him his own muzzleloader one year. This was his first time ever shooting a big 50. I even took a few shots and put 2 bullets in one hole and then another through my nephews previous shot hole. I did ALOT better today with this load than i did friday at the NRA. 52 degrees out! I also restocked on powder so im ready to go.

Anyone know if you can reuse sabots? I found a few of mine and they looked pretty much brand new.

Also found something weird, I get a lot of built up at the last 2" of the barrel and makes loading harder as more and more shots go out. After those 2", its easy as butter.

Phil. are you going to fix those cracks and beef the area up?

[Pglasgow]

ORIGINAL: dmurphy317

Sounds good. For the PRB try a tighter patch and 70 to 80 grains of powder. I got 2" groups at 50 yards using a .020 patch and .490 ball over 80gr of 777 2F. Should be more than enough for hunting deer out to at least 75 yards.

Dave, since you have tinkered with charges greater than 60 grains with PRB in fast twist, maybe you can save me some time. Now I like experimenting, but prefer learning the easy way. I felt like I had two groups today with PRB. One where the patches held up, and one where the patches didn't. One less than MOA and one 6 MOA. The sample of course is to small to make a reliable determination.

I'll give you some some background to what I did today. I used Walmart pillow ticking lubricated with olive oil. Now I lubricated these strips, which have been stored in a ballet box, some 8 months ago. I notice that the patches don't have the integrity they once did and had a soggy feel. They didn't cut as cleanly as before and they had a very shreddy edge where I cut them.

The Kodiak Pro, just like your Apex, has a QLA and I cut the patch in the QLA before pushing it down. I'm not positive, but I think a couple of the patches may have been coming apart just by engaging the rifling as I pushed from the QLA to the rifled part of the barrel. The snake eyes, which rounds had the expected recoil, have given me enough encouragement to try perhaps a couple of things. Freshly lubricated patches for one thing, and also pressing the patchd ball into rifling before cutting the patch.

The twist rateis not ideal and I don't plan to hunt deer with it. But for other purposes and fun at the range, I am interested in using PRB if reliable results can be obtained. Like the Apex, the rifling is unique. It is cut, shallow, and the grooves are roughly twice the width of the rifling. Designed for the powerbelt and other full bores I think, but also forgiving to sabots I would think as the shear area is increased 33% over equal width rifling/grooves. I thought it might also forgive a higher charge with PRB. So far no, but I'm not for sure I gave it adequate opportunity considering the patch situation today.

Which rifle did you try the 80 grains in? Is the rifling like your Apex? And any thoughts you might have about my experience today are welcome.

[dmurphy317]

I've not done a lot of PRB in fast twists but I did enough to get a few ideas on what worked. With .015 patches and 60+gr of powder it would not "group" much at all. With a .018 it got better but still not good above 70 or so. The .020 patch was some ticking I got from Walmart and it was lubed with a homemade concoction of bees wax, crisco and a touch of olive oil, I don't remember the ratios but it ended up being fairly thick when it cooled. I saturated the patch material while it was warm and then squeegied it out with a popsickle stick as it cooled off.

I found that it was easier to just cut it into 1.25" squares before loading instead of at the muzzle. I was shooting them in my MagBolt which has rifleing about .006 deep and, though I haven't really compared them, should be very similar to the Apex.

I have to admit, I really didn't expect to be able to go to 80gr of powder but it seemed to work well when I tried it. I haven't tried in a while and I don't remember what the temp was so who knows if it was repeatable.

Your patch shreading may be caused by the age of the patches, you said they seemed unstable in your hand so I could see them being less stable in a barrel. I would try some fresh patches and maybe a .495 ball for a tighter fit. Or you could just load it down to 50gr and save some money if your just plinking.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Pglasgow]

ORIGINAL: frontier gander


I actually took my 16 year old nephew shooting today with the x-150 and shot at 25 yards. I dropped the charge to 70 grains pyro rs and the saboted 240 grain bullet and he shot a 1 1/2" group at 25 yards with a crappy rest lol. He loved it though, i think i will have to buy him his own muzzleloader one year. This was his first time ever shooting a big 50.

That's great. You know what I like to do when introducing someone to a 50? Let them shoot a target with a 22LR, leave the same target up and then shoot it with the .50 cal. Just the general sense of awe which comes over them as they observe the holes is priceless, especially when using a bullet which "wadcuts" well, like a buffalo bullet.

I even took a few shots and put 2 bullets in one hole and then another through my nephews previous shot hole. I did ALOT better today with this load than i did friday at the NRA. 52 degrees out! I also restocked on powder so im ready to go.

Anyone know if you can reuse sabots? I found a few of mine and they looked pretty much brand new.

They are shooting great. As far as reusing sabots, I don't know. I don't think there would be any harm in trying them to see how they work. I would think that they would be a littleharder to load than fresh ones.

Phil. are you going to fix those cracks and beef the area up?

I think a crack is a crack and can't really be fixed. I also think they aren't harming anything but I am watching them. I do hope to work out something for a deal on a laminate stock if I can, something we Kodiak users could all participate in. We will see. I will attempt that before reinforcing the stock. If I do have to send that stock in as part of any negotiations for a laminate stock, I don't want it modified. What would be ideal for me, is to have and tokeep both stocks.