Today started out rather good. I was using my Lyman .54 caliber Trade Rifle flintlock. I had casted some .535 roundball to try out of it. When I shoot .530 diameter ball I shoot 90 grains. So I figured I would start the shooting with the slightly larger ball at 90 grains. I refer to the ball I cast myself as HC roundball which of course means, home casted roundball.



Shots were all taken at 75 yards with the open sights off a bench. Shots 1-4 were pretty good, but they seemed to be floating around the bull. So I decided to kick the powder charge up to 100 grains of Goex 2f.

With 100 grains, shots 5-8 were really making me smile. Then every thing went down hill from there. For some reason the ball started flying all over the place. Some of the shots even missed the 8x11 inch sheet of paper. I figured the barrel needed to be swabbed. So after swabbing it got better for a couple shots, but then went right back to spraying all over the place.

I checked the powder measure and it had not gotten bumped. The powder seemed fine. I was really puzzled. My sight picture was good. And the target was easy to see, even though it was seventy five yards.

I then checked the sights to make sure they were all nice and tight. They were fine. I checked the wedge pin and that was fine and in place. So I changed flints. After firing a total of fifteen shots...



and for the last seven unable to hold anything even close to a group. As you can see, two hits almost off the box from the 15 and two other shots.. well you explain to me where they went. I gave up on the rifle and changed to a different one for the rest of the day.