Today was too nice not to shoot, but the snow was nasty. Before I could walk on the crust somewhat, but with the warm spell it was sink city. Every step was down in the snow past you knee. So I went only to the edge of the back yard this time and that is 35 yards.
I decided that since it was that close of a target I would shoot something traditional and open sights. I decided to shoot a Traditions Woodsman Hawkins.
Projectile: Lee mold .490 pure lead home cast roundball
Weather: 45º (hooray no jacket needed!!) overcast and calm
I got out to the shooting table and like always forgot a lot of stuff. I forgot the see through powder measure in the house. Being too lazy to go after it I took a brass hunting measure out. It was one of them you pull upward and each notch is supposed to be 10 grains.
Well I wanted to shoot 75 grains for starters and see how this shot. So I shot off three with that powder charge. I was shooting home cast roundball and moose milk pillow tick patches. I was surprised they were hitting so low. So I jumped the charge to 85 grains of powder and shot three more. Again, still low.
I had forgot to take my notes on this rifle with me, and I thought this was a 85 grain rifle. But I decided to go upward in the powder charge. So I pulled to what I thought was 95 grains of powder and shot several roundball. The group was good and so was the POI. So since I had to go in the house for more coffee.. I brought back the see through powder measure. Imagine my surprise when I poured a brass open measure into the see through measure and it read 105 grains of powder. I had noticed the crack of the rifle was good and powerful, but the recoil was nothing special IMO.
This little rifle with the slow twist is an amazing roundball rifle. I later checked my notes and it says 90 grains of powder for this rifle. It now also says.. up to 105 grains of 2f Goex.
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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 have three of those TC U-Views and find that they all throw light charges.
Using GOEX FFg as a base, one would expect a 100 grain measure to throw a 100 grain weight charge. However the U-Views average around 90.5 grain weight when set at 100 grains volume, filled to overflowing and cut off without a tap down. Tapping down the initial fill and topping it off again before closing the funnel yields a charge of about 94 grains weight.
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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.
__________________ 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."
Awesome shooting there, it seems with Goex and other real blackpowders you can get away with a little goof. The new powders out there could send you to the ER if your not careful. By the way it was 82 here today in Missouri.
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Fire at will! Which ones Will? Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk
The new powders out there could send you to the ER if your not careful.
Maybe for a bruised shoulder. But I don't think you could do a modern muzzleloader barrel any harm with a full double charge of any of the subs.
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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.
An interesting mistake
