ORIGINAL: greatplains
Thanks for the replies. I'll try some wads and see ifthat helps. I started out using BP, then switched to Pyrodex a few years ago, just tried triple 7 this past week. I've killed two elk with great plains bullets and they performed great, but I could never get them to shoot a real tight group. Would be nice if wads would help them out. I may try to find a different front sight as well, I like the fiber sight for visibility, but at 100 yards it covers a large area, a finer bead wouldn't hurt.
Just for the sake of discussion, I started out using 80 grains of triple 7, then went to 85 grains with the maxi-ball, and got a couple of shots that re-cocked the hammer at 85. Never had that happen with BP or Pyrodex. Accuracy didn't seem tobealtered. Dropped down to 82.5 grains and all is ok, but that's a little lower charge than I thought would cause that to happen.....
Triple Se7en is a much hotter powder then Pyrodex or Goex. It produces about 15% more power then the other powder. I would guess with your rifle being the age it is, the barrel max is about 110 grains of Goex or Pyrodex, so you are pushing near the max load "allowed by the manufacturer."
The fact it is cocking the hammer back when it shoots, I would suspect that over the years age has weakened the hammer spring. Perhaps a hammer job might be in order, or you can just shoot it that way. I have an old Renegade that does the same thing when I shoot Triple Se7en so I always shoot Pyrodex out of it. At least you know the fire channel is nice and clear. If it can back pressure that much to cock the hammer there is nothing in there.