OK guys, remember the plan?
I've got a plan:
Shoot four five-shot groups with 95 grains of GOEX FFg over the chronograph.
Group 1 - patched ball seated to just barely touching the powder.
Group 2 - Patched ball seated very hard on the powder.
Group 3 - patched ball & wad seated to just barely touching the powder.
Group 4 - Patched ball & wad seated very hard on the powder.
I executed it Saturday in ninety-two degrees of sweat. Was somewhat disappointed because the chronograph batteries crapped out during the last group and I got only one reading for those five shots.
Anyway, it was interesting, and somewhat revealing.
Here's the data.
And here are the targets.
My personal conclusions:
I will never compress GOEX loads again, but seat them so the ball just touches the powder. Also, it does appear that the wad adds a little to velocity - at least with this patch thickness.
As far as accuracy, I can draw no conclusions on wad vs. no wad. The groups for this limited shoot are not different enough to do so. Shooting conditions were miserable, and sweat rolling down your face and having your skivvies stuck in your crack are not conducive to well controlled shooting. I may repeat the test in the fall just for the heck of it, and use .018 patches.
