Today I was shooting my Thompson Center Flintlock with a .50 caliber Green Mountain 21 inch carbine barrel. I was loading 90 grains of Graf's & Sons 2f powder and 250 grain Shockwaves. I was swabbing between shots. I used 4f as my prime and a German Agate as the rock. Ignition was very fast.
I then decided to try some 250 grain Hornady XTP and HPH-24 sabots. Accuracy went down hill real fast. While three grouped real good, suddenly fliers started appearing for no real reason.
This is an amazing barrel, but to be honest, I dislike the fiber optic sights. I might put a peep sight on this rifle and a standard brass front sight and see how this rifle will shoot.
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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."
I call them "furry" optic sights. They just don't suit my eyesight. Good shooting! I'm SO horny todo some shooting. It's going to be another month before the weather starts to cool a little - maybe to the mid 80's.
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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.
Nice Dave - I noticed in low light these sights are really good but when it is bright out you get a double image with the front sight.
I'm wondering, did anyone ever try putting a dab of white fingernail polish on the fiber optic to dull it up? I have some old fiber optic bow sights. I will put some of that on and see how it adheres and how difficult it is to remove.
I'll let everyone know how it works out.
But I'd be willing to bet that you have some old T/C sights laying around that you could switch out.
__________________ PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO THE RISING COST IN AMMO PRICES I WILL NO LONGER BE FIRING A WARNING SHOT.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have.
I'm not as good as I'm gonna get - but I'm better than I used to be. "Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point."
Yes I do have some old sets of T/C sights including a tang peep...
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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."
Hey Dave,
If you are going to use this gun for hunting I would think twicebefore replacing these sights with a peepsight. If you hunt you will know that the best chance for that tasty protein backstrap transport system likes waiting for the last bits of light to wander into your sight area. Low light plays hell with peep sight systems. And oh yeah, don't forget the idea of old eyes on some of us old timers. Shouldn't bother a young dude like you!!!
One thing about fiber optics is that they will grab any and all light and let you see the sights for a good clean sight picture. If anything think about keeping the front fiber optic and ditch the rear sight. This should still work for you. Rememeber this is all just an old guys opinion!
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Just Another Voice in the Crowd!!!
I agree that peep sights are no good in low light. That is the reason I took them off in the first place off a Renegade. I am going to try shooting this rifle later in the afternoon and see how I like the sights, but in mid day sun, they stink...
Another thing I noticed yesterday was the black powder. While there is a trend to shoot powders that are clean and do not fowl, I have to admit a simple wet patch and then a dry patch had that barrel all ready to go again. And fowling was not really as bad as you might expect for black powder. That Graf's is a good powder...
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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."
Another thing I noticed yesterday was the black powder. While there is a trend to shoot powders that are clean and do not fowl, I have to admit a simple wet patch and then a dry patch had that barrel all ready to go again. And fowling was not really as bad as you might expect for black powder. That Graf's is a good powder..
I'm with you on that one Cayugad. After I bought a case of GOEX FFFg last April and began shooting the new flintlock a lot, I realized thatit was easier to deal with than either Pyrodex or T7. I've had no problem matching (or exceeding)Pyrodex and T7 accuracy in any of my guns with the GOEX, but I can'tmatch T7 velocity. Though I doubt the deer will know the difference between 1650 fps and 1850 fps with a 300 grain bullet.
__________________
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.
Shockwaves in a 21 in GMB flinter
They just don't suit my eyesight. Good shooting! I'm SO horny todo some shooting. It's going to be another month before the weather starts to cool a little - maybe to the mid 80's.
