I think I'd try the clean/dry barrel some more & experiment with changing the charge weight.
I agree
wabi. I also want to get some thicker patch material and give that a try.
You might also try experimenting with different lubes and if it is hard to load the 2nd shot with ..018 patching, try the 2nd with a dirty barrel and a .015 patch,
Gonna` do that
nchawkeye. I've been using my home made lube (25% bees wax, 25% Crisco, 50% olive oil) which always seems to work pretty well. But I've also got some Eastern Main Shooters Supply "Premium Lube" which, though expensive, seems to work well and gave me good groups with the 95 grain loads in some earlier shooting. I'll do a side-by-side experiment with those two lubes, plus pure Crisco and pure olive oil. It's not hard to load a 2nd shot on a dirty bore. In fact, inthe "5 shot / dirty bore" experiment (target #26 in my post) even shot #5 wasn't difficult to load.
Hey
HuntAway, I keep having the same thoughts - "is 70 - 80 grains enough for deer". I've never shot a deer with a patched ball. Always used Great Plains conicals in my sidelock guns for hunting (over 80 grains Pyrodex) and always had good results. There's just something in my mind thatkeeps telling me I should be driving those patched balls faster (sabot syndrome??). But, those with experience assure me that 70 grains and a ball will do a deer in with no problem. So, I've decided to find my most accurate load and use that. Hopefully, I'll find out for myself how well it works on deer next fall. I'll be limiting my shots to 75 yards, though.