johnnyo thread got me thinking..

[cayugad]

johnnyo had made a very interesting post about shooting his Traditions Woodsman Hawkins Flintlock at 50 yards with 80 grains of black powder and a .430 diameter 240 grain Hornady XTP and a Harvester Crushed Rib sabot. And he was getting some impressive groups.

Since I have the exact same rifle I decided to try the same thing today. I used my Traditions Woodsmans Hawkins which also has a 1-48 twist (my other Woodsman has a 1-66 twist), and is a flintlock. The powder I used was Graf's & sons 2f black powder. I also got out my supply of .430 Hornady 240 grain XTPs and some crushed rib sabots.

I set the target out at 50 yards. I held a six o'clock hold on the bottom of the black tape.



Shot #1 on a clean barrel did not alarm me too much. The next four actually grouped pretty good. This was with 80 grains and I was swabbing the bore between shots with isopropyl alcohol. The only thing that had me scratching my head was how low the shots were hitting.

So I swabbed the bore of the rifle clean and then loaded 85 grains of powder and a .490 roundball. I was using moosemilk as a patch lube. And I was under the impression that holding under the edge of that black tape that the rifle would load the black tape with roundball hits.




It basically loaded the round balls into the same place as the 80 grains of powder and 240 grain XTPs hit. In fact the roundball which normally group real well were beat out by the 240 xtp in group size.

This was one of them cases where I rifle I had a lot of faith in where it would hit, has changed. Now granted I have moved on to a new jug of powder, and I was shooting store purchased roundball instead of my usual home cast roundball.

So I swabbed the bore clean and decided to try the XTPs with 85 grains of powder. I also moved my POA to the top of the black tape. As you can see it shot two just under the tape and so I raised up even more and it hit the tape on the third shot.

I would have shot more, but was running out of time. Almost time for the Packer kick off...

[falcon]

That's a good report, Cayugad.

[awahlster.]

Interesting we used to shoot a lot of trail walk competions and we would shoot a fouling shot or two at the start then using a Moose milk type wet patch of .015, 50grs of 3f and a .490 round ball with my wifes tradition arms plains rifle 1-66 twist precussion. We wouldn't clean the barrel again until maybe the whole 20-25 shot trail was completed. With no swabing in between.

With my Green Mountain target barrel on my plains style precussion rifle I used a .020 wet patch and 70 grs of 3f and a .490 rd ball. My barrel has very deep grooves almost .010" hence the thicker patch.

[cayugad]

I should have added that when I shot the roundball I did not swab between shots. I only swabbed when I was shooting sabots.

[bronko22000]

Dave, POI shifted with iron sights? I wonder if it was the weather that had that effect?
After my earlier post with the 240 gr cast bullets and 80 Gr of FFg out of my GM LRH barrel, I may have to try the 240 XTPs. I have a lot of them too cause that is what I shoot out of my .44s. Maybe soon if it ever stops raining.
The paper today said the Chesapeak Bay has had millions of tons of debris dumped into it from the Susquehanna river, which runs about 20 miles from me. I don't think the river ever hit its normal level all year.

[riversmokepole]

Thought johnnyo had a sidelock? Either way nice shooting with a flinter

[cayugad]

Originally Posted by riversmokepole

Thought johnnyo had a sidelock? Either way nice shooting with a flinter

I just checked and you are right riversmokepole. His was a percussion. Well at least the twist was right. I just did it the hard way.

Actually I used a T/C agate in the jaws of this Traditions flintlock. It was super fast today. But this was the first time I had pan smokers and no boom. I think its because I normally do not swab between loads. So after I cleaned the bore I made sure to blow out the touch hole and that helped a lot. Also I had to keep the frizzen free of fouling today for some reason. But the ignition time was really fast, with lots of smoke today for some reason. Wind must have been right.

[johnnyo]

Originally Posted by cayugad

johnnyo had made a very interesting post about shooting his Traditions Woodsman Hawkins Flintlock at 50 yards with 80 grains of black powder and a .430 diameter 240 grain Hornady XTP and a Harvester Crushed Rib sabot. And he was getting some impressive groups.

Since I have the exact same rifle I decided to try the same thing today. I used my Traditions Woodsmans Hawkins which also has a 1-48 twist (my other Woodsman has a 1-66 twist), and is a flintlock. The powder I used was Graf's & sons 2f black powder. I also got out my supply of .430 Hornady 240 grain XTPs and some crushed rib sabots.

I set the target out at 50 yards. I held a six o'clock hold on the bottom of the black tape.



Shot #1 on a clean barrel did not alarm me too much. The next four actually grouped pretty good. This was with 80 grains and I was swabbing the bore between shots with isopropyl alcohol. The only thing that had me scratching my head was how low the shots were hitting.

So I swabbed the bore of the rifle clean and then loaded 85 grains of powder and a .490 roundball. I was using moosemilk as a patch lube. And I was under the impression that holding under the edge of that black tape that the rifle would load the black tape with roundball hits.




It basically loaded the round balls into the same place as the 80 grains of powder and 240 grain XTPs hit. In fact the roundball which normally group real well were beat out by the 240 xtp in group size.

This was one of them cases where I rifle I had a lot of faith in where it would hit, has changed. Now granted I have moved on to a new jug of powder, and I was shooting store purchased roundball instead of my usual home cast roundball.

So I swabbed the bore clean and decided to try the XTPs with 85 grains of powder. I also moved my POA to the top of the black tape. As you can see it shot two just under the tape and so I raised up even more and it hit the tape on the third shot.

I would have shot more, but was running out of time. Almost time for the Packer kick off...

Nothing wrong with that group. I'm shooting the Hornady sabots, not the crush-rib

You did do it the hard way with the flint-lock.

If you notice my thread with the 200gr .40 cal. they grouped lower than the 240gr...?