Shooting with a friend

[cayugad]

A friend of mine called me this morning. He was interested in shooting muzzleloader and wanted my help sighting in. He came over and I checked his rifle. It was a Traditions Deer Hunter .50 caliber 1-48 twist. Looked like a nice rifle.

I then went and got my .50 caliber Traditions Woodsman Hawkins off the shelf. I figured we would be a little even as far as rifles go.

He said he had not shot in over a year and "never really sighted in the rife." I put up the target that had two bulls and asked him what distance he wanted to shoot. He said 50 yards, so that it where it was set.

He picked the target on the right, so I shot at the one on the left. We were both shooting 85 grains of powder. He shot Pyrodex RS and I shot Goex 2f. We both used moose milk and pillow tick. Also we were shooting my home cast ball.

He started shooting and was spraying all over the target for some reason, even missing the target at times. I was hitting right over the bulls eye like I should be, making a nice group.

He then wanted to move up to 25 yards, so we did that. He just could not seem to get with it so I suggested he shoot my rifle and I shoot his for a couple shots.

Well I put the one, under his bulls eye. I then learned he shoots a full cover sight picture while I shoot a six o'clock. So my hit would make sense. He does have a stiff trigger but I have seen worse. I then watched him and could see he was pulling his shots, jerking the trigger. I mentioned that to him and told him to work on that.

At 25 yards the three in the center of my bull was the results. The rifle was shooting real well. He continued to spray the target.

He finally wanted to shoot cans. So we set some cans back up at 50 yards and he was shooting at them. He was not hitting them, but was having a lot of fun. We filled them with water and I was exploding them for him. He finally said he had enough shooting for the day.

When we shot at cans I was free hand shooting. I was using a strange hold, shooting off the flat of my palm with the hand just in front of the trigger guard. It was working real good for me.

[deer655]

I can shoot multiple times with good form and then here comes a flinch which kills accuracy. I have found that if I use as very high rest and take plenty of time between shots that it helps with my flinching. What helps the most is the caldwell rest with a 8 inch extension; I'm 6'4 and hate going to the range where I'm using a rest thats low to the table. If my eye isnt square to the scope im a goner.Your friend has one good advantage; he has someone like you with tons of muzzleloader experience to share with him.

[Semisane]

That was a good read Cayugad. Sometimes it's hard to help a shooter with an obvious flinch without offending them. You might try getting him to back down to 40 or 50 grain loads for a while. Recoil does not bother me much. Still, sometimes I find myself not shooting well and switch to a light round ball load to settle down. The old brain seems to know the difference.

[lemoyne]

When I run into that situation I have them practice with an empty gun and just a cap they usually see whats wrong but sometimes it takes a bit of work to get them past the problem.

[TNHagies]

Sounds like a lot of fun. I had a buddy one time that had a flinching problem as well. I told him "Let's back the charge down to 40 grains, to save powder since we're just punchin' paper" Suddenly the flinching went away.

I can relate though. I'm a small guy and sometimes shootin' those big conicals I find myself closin' my eyes right before the gun goes off.

Your friend's lucky to know someone who can help him with MLs.

[cayugad]

This is the second time he has ever shot his rifle. I had to laugh when he dry balled it. He looked at me like he was lost. And then he said.. guess it had to happen to me sooner or later. So I got to show him how to clear a dry ball as well.

He really tested me though. He found a small last year's potato in the garden and put that on top of a chunk of firewood. It was 50 yards. He then dared me to hit the potato without hitting the wood. I mean this potato was the size of a ping pong ball. Let me tell you... we were both shocked when that potato went and exploded and the stump stayed.

I will try the suggestions you gave. I will make him dry cap in front of some white paper with a black line on it. (I was taught that way). And then you can see how much you pull the shot off the front site. After he's calmed down, I will cut his charge to about 40 grains and have him shoot. Although, that trigger of his, while Traditions fixed it... they could have let it off a little more. It is still pretty stiff.

[bohunterg]

Have them turn their back load or not load there rifle, then let them shoot, do this a few times. This will discover their flaws. Specially when it's empty. Went to a shooting class a while ago and they did this, they would Video tape you, very funny at times.