It finally stopped raining today and I decided to shoot. It was 70 degrees and sunny now. What more could you ask for. So I took a white paper plate and using black duct tape, taped that to the box. I had decided to shoot at 102 yards. And I figured that would be easy to see.
The rifle I selected was my 54 caliber Lyman Trade Rifle Flintlock. The rifle has a 1-48 twist and primitive sights. And I figured it was sighted in at 35 yards a little high. I was curious where it would hit at 100 yards. So my POA was the center of the X holding in the V upside down of the lower part. The cardboard was extra long so I could see how much drop there would be.
I was kind of shocked when I fired the first three shots. The load was 90 grains of Schuetzen black powder 2f, moosemilk patch, and a very oxidized Hornady .530 ball.
Shot #1 was on a clean barrel so I started making excuses for that. But #2 & #3 were fouled (no swabbing done during shooting). I could not believe they were hitting that high. It just did not make sense. Also why they were so far left.. again, it puzzled me.
So I aimed a little lower and shot #4,#5, and #6. OK, still to the left but much better height wise. So I adjusted my POA again to the right and shot #7-#10 well that was a little better.
The I got thinking.. is the rifle still dead on at 35 yards? So I pulled it down and walked it back to 35 yards and shot 5 shots with the same POA as first used... the upside down V the tape made. No adjustment for left or right. Granted the hits were two inches high above the front sight, but dead where I wanted them.
It just seemed strange to me that the ball would hit that high that far down range. But then, these rifles have amazed me for years. Maybe it was just poor shooting on my part. I hate long range with open sights. But the ignition was flawless with the flintlock.
Then after all was taken down, I started shooting at paint cans down there at 102 yards. Knowing the hold to use, hitting them was not that hard. But what amazed me.. a sabot with a good pistol bullet hits those cans and barely swings them. Having nothing in the can to slow that pistol bullet down, I think that bullet just slaps through it. When that ball hits those cans, they really jump.