It was really really windy today. But I wanted to shoot anyway since it was 40 degrees. So I put up a target and took out the Lyman Trade Rifle flintlock. I wanted to try some 3f Goex powder and see what effect wind would have. The wind was blowing left to right on that picture. I would have never throught wind would have effected the .530 roundball as it appeared to do. Although I was shootin 3f and normally I shoot 90 grains of 2f Goex. I did not swab between shots.
I was using an old brass powder measure and after shooting a number of loads, came to realize that it was shooting 100 grains of Goex 3f. There are no numbers on this old measure, so I finally checked it against a see through. I shot five rounds with the 100 grains of powder. They all grouped mind you, but I did not expect them to hit that high.
Out of curiosity, I swabbed the barrel and then loaded 70 grains of Goex 3f. And I changed from a solid patch lube to moose milk. I fired four shots. About then company came over, so with the wind and all I decided to stop for the day. I was kind of surprised that 100 grains of Goex 3f would shoot like that. On some day when the wind is not howling like today, I want to try all of this again...
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Excellent shooting. Someday I would like to get a .54 for shooting balls. It is fairly calm here in Southern MN. We are under a winter storm watch though.
Art
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"Just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean everyone is not out to get you"
Hey Cayugad, when I saw the title of your post "Lyman in the Wind", my first thought was that you had another gun on the way.
Good shooting there. My GP .54 really likes FFFg. Still haven't shot it over the chrono yet.
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My wife says I'm totally nuts, but I think I'm Semisane.
Things I've Learned: (1) It's not possible to please everyone, but quite easy to piss everyone off. (2) If you love animals as I do, then you're not a vegetarian. (3) There's no need to act stupid, even if you're very good at it. (4) If you eat right and exercise, don't smoke or drink, you're going to die anyway.
At least it isn't real picky about what you feed it as far as a powder charge. Not really that much of a change from 70 to 100 grains.
Looks like the 100 grain charge was more wind resistant, though.
I'm done buying guns... and the next time out, I hope it is not too windy. That wind was brutal today. But I noticed it has calmed down and now all the melted snow is freezing into nice ice sheets all over everything. I HATE ICE....
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Cay...That looks about right to me, assuming the lower, numbered shots are with 70 and the higher ones are at 100...
My .54 would look about the same, if I'm looking at it correctly...One other thing to remember about patches, if you change lube it might affect not only group size, but elevation as well....I've always thought that one lube or the other was either better at sealing gases, giving a little higher velocities or was "slicker" and would shoot lower...
About the wind...I've shot .40s, .45s and my .54 in different matches around here in NC....It is dang near impossible to dope the wind with a round ball, best thing I have found to do with my slow twist guns with cut rifling is to really stoke them up, watch the flags down range and if they drop, touch her off....
that's an interesting observation about the wind nchawkeye... the wind was brutal at times. Also the solid lube I was using might have too much oil in it. Perhaps a little more beeswax would help it. Needs more testing I guess. I was trying another combination with Alox, castor oil, bees wax, and murphy's oil soap.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Lyman in the wind
