Hi everyone,

I was target shooting with my .54 cal Blunderbuss, and I was noticing that the shot spread REALLY fast. I was using 80 grains Pyrodex Select, 1 over powder wad, 80 volume grains of #6 shot, and 1 over shot wad. I was shooting groups at least 36" in diameter at 12 yards.

This got me thinking. I said to myself, "Is there any way to get this shot group tighter? Its a Blunderbuss, so probably not."

I proceeded to experiment. I had a weird idea, and I am still not sure where it came from. The idea was to use a 4:3 ratio of powder to shot, and to double the over powder wad.

I then tried 80 grains BLACK POWDER (I ran out of Pyrodex,) 2 over shot wads stacked on top of each other, 60 volume grains of #6 shot, and 1 over shot wad.

At the same distance, 12 yards, I shot a 19" group with this. In fact, all but 12 pellets hit the 17" target.

I have one question. What happened? How did my shot group tighten? Only a few things changed. The type of powder changed, but I disproved this was the reason after trying 1 over powder wad with it and getting some 36" groups. The thickness of the over powder wad changed by me doubling it with 2 wads. The amount of shot changed by my odd idea of the 4:3 ratio of powder to shot.

So, what happened? How did it tighten?

I would upload pictures, but there is a persistent error happening.

Jared