Question for you PRB shooters...

[sabotloader]

It was an excellent day here... Terry is in Kennewick babysitting the grandkids - I was left home alone Terry had left me some guidelines to get done while she was gone (I prefer the word guidlines ot the term 'honeu-do-list') but it was was just to darn nice to stay inside or even do the chores outside that she wanted done. So what-da-think I did...

I drove to Little Boulder Rock Pit hoping I could punch may way in through the snow on the road... success.

It was really even a better day than this pic shows - the rock pit is just over the hill from here.



I spent most of the day shooting PRB's in the Pit. I took both the 54 and the 50 - I even took the 870 in case I got time to pattern the turkey gun.

I went though a lot of RB's but could never really get the performance from the 50 I feel I need... The old 54 was rock solid.

OK - you guys that know what you are doing... Here is a picture of patches I collected....



The top row is .015 Ox-Yoke pre-lubed patches... they held up real well.
The second row is .018 TC pre-lubed Pillow patches - I did not find one of them that looked like it held up at all.
Third row - bore buttons collected from down range - they all look good....

Why are the thinner .015 patches holding up better than the thicker .018 - they both load down the barrel with about equal force. It seemed to me I was all over the place with the .018's.

My goal today was to shoot off-hand at everthing (trying to get ready for the up-coming Rondy events...) I set clay pigeons out on the ground in the snow @ 25 yards and @ 50 yards. Then loaded up and tried to pick them off shooting off-hand. The 25 yard birds were easy with both the 50 and the 54. The 54 handled the 50 yard birds with relative ease also. Wish I could say that got them all with one shot each - didn't happen. The 54 has a tang mounted peep and globe site on the front. The 50 has a 'V' Peep and blade on the front. I really had trouble getting the 50 yard birds with it. I have decided I do not always get the blade centered in the 'V' peep - I am always a little up or a little down + trying to see the target. Decision - I am putting on a Tang peep site tonight or tomorrow. Then I am going to try to get a Glode for it.

Here are the targets... 50 yard Birds...



I became so frustrated with the 50 on the 50 birds - decided to set a target out at 50 and try it - see if it would tel me more.... It did - I suck at shooting open sights off-hand @ 50...



Even with all of my failures - IT WAS A GREAT DAY IN THE PIT and when I got home this afternoon Christmas came early or late - tell you more about that later.

[hunting junkie]

I had to quit reading when you got to this part.OK - you guys that know what you are doing...

[lemoyne]

Blowing patches like that with that light a load? Is the barrel rough or do you need a larger ball. I all ways end up using a .495 and a .535 but I never could get a load that light to shoot accurate either, the lightest load that shot decent groups for me was 80 gr. Tearing patches up like that indicates a real problem, especially if you were putting wads under them. Lee

[Semisane]

I suck at shooting open sights off-hand @ 50...

Suck??? Are you kidding me? When I look at your target I see 4 out of 5 into a two-inch group off-hand at 50 yards. I hope to do that on a real good day shooting off-hand.

[cayugad]

The patches that are blown.. are they old? When pre lubed patches get too old, they will blow out sometimes. Also I see you were you shooting Triple Seven. Triple Seven will blow patches, but with a bore button under them it should not have happened.

That rifle's been shot too much to have a ruff bore. Are the ball and patch loading real easy? Sometimes that will let gas slip by and that too will knock a patch all up. A thicker patch or larger ball can cure that.

With light loads, patches should not normally blow. Good shooting there..

[mountaineer magic]

Well I don't know a whole lot but my 54 cal will shoot a .530 ball and a .015 patch absolutely great but my 50 cal will not shoot a .490 ball hardly at all. I got some .495 balls and they made a world of difference. I would try moving up to a Hornady .495 and see what happens.

[sabotloader]

Lee

Blowing patches like that with that light a load? Is the barrel rough or do you need a larger ball. I all ways end up using a .495 and a .535 but I never could get a load that light to shoot accurate either, the lightest load that shot decent groups for me was 80 gr.

Those patches are from the 50 and both the barrel on the 50 and the 54 are glass smooth - excellent barrels. Why would the thicker patch which should be tighter burn more than the thinner patch?

I tried .535 in my Renengade on my first attempts last year and i could not get them down a fouledbarrel with a .015 patch. I have not tried .495 RB's in the 50 at all.

With your statement maybe I am tryng to shoot a 'to light load' but with the 50 it gives me 1700 fps @ the muzzle. And if I shoot them from the bench with rests both of them will break birds at 100.

I hate doing something that i do not know what I am doing = probably why I never learned to like vegtables as a younger person... but I am detirmined to master this thing - well maybe not master but get better.

Tearing patches up like that indicates a real problem, especially if you were putting wads under them

The wads are to help insulate the patch from the heat of T7-3f on the bottom of the RB- Looking at the patches the .015 patches anyway the point at which the ball sits on the patch looks good to me... the .018's - I can not figure out why they are so bad and the thinner .015's look somewhat? better.

I will keep shooting and sperimenting som-mo

Semi

Ya but! Only one shot would havebroken the bird...and one would have chipped it....

[Underclocked]

aim a little to the left.

[sabotloader]

UC

Ah wer

[hunting junkie]

They are two different kinds of patches.