I went to the range yesterday to get ready for a deer hunt this weekend. I put down the bow and picked up the smokepole. I haven't shot it in a year, but it was very accurate at 100 yards before. I shot 10 shots through it and every other one was high. 5 were in the bullseye and 5 were anywhere from the 11 o'clock to the 1 o'clock position and almost a foot high. It would be a good shot followed by a bad one, then good, bad, etc. What would cause it to do this. Towards the end, I was really trying to see what the problem was and I noticed that the bad shots were harder to pack to the proper depth. I am shooting a 50 cal inline CVA with 100gr of pyrodex powder (not pellets) and full bore copper plated bullets. Any advice??? I thought about a lose scope, but it would be good, bad, good. I haven't checked that yet.

Maybe try to swab more often. It also could have been your barrel getting hot. Just swab your barrel every few shots and take your time between shots. It will give the barrel a chance to cool.

Don't shoot me with this question. When do I swab the barrel and how? I have not ever done that with a muzzleloader. It make sence. Do I use a dry patch or one with solvent? I was shooting fast because it was 36 degrees and windy. I was cold. I didn't think about the barrel heating up.

stinkbelly

Reading your post my first thoughts would be to really clean your barrel. You mentioned fully clad copper bullets, so I am assuming Powerbelts (could be leaving you some copper fouling)or were your bullets in sabots (could be leaving plastic fouling)? Non-the-less I would start by reallycleaning the barrel - solvent and maybe even some bore shine. Get it clean.

Swabbing between shots or in some cases after a series of shots, if your barrel has not been treated and you are shooting Pyro you will incurr powder residue foulingthe barrel. Swabbing the between shots is a very common practice. Swab solution - there are all kinds from spit, using a patch dampen it with saliva from the mouth run it the dry the barrel with a dry patch. Then there are tons of home made and even commercial cleaners. I prefer and use common old Windex with ammonia or windex withvinegarat the range and hunting I resort to the old fashioned spit-patch.

Clean it up real good, patch between shots when shooting targets and let us hear the results.

Good luck...

Swabbing your bore between shots cannot hurt! But I will tell you what CAN cause that performance, if you are using Power Belt bullets. If the bullets do not always shed those little plastic wads within a short distance from the muzzle, the bullet will perform erratically. If you have a new batch of bullets since last year, this could very well be the problem. Take the wads off their post, put a tiny spotof grease on the post, then twist the wads back on, distributing the grease around the post to help the bullet shuck the wad. Then try shooting again!

When Power Belts (called Black Belt Bullets then) first came out, I used the 295-grain .50's of plain lead in my rifle, and they were great! Later, I bought some of the copper-plated ones, and had the kind of problem you are experiencing! The wads weren't all coming off! When the wad came off withing 10 or 20 yards, they shot fine. I found a couple of wads sticking in the 50-yard target, where they had stripped off when the bullet went through the cardboard backer. These shots were all off the point of impact of the good shots.

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Sounds like you had a lot of things working against you. You were shooting full bore conicals, not swabbing, and shooting fast which heats up the barrel. I am not surprised you sprayed the target eventually.

When shooting black powder rifles, slow down. Take your time. Swab the barrel with an alcohol patch before you start your shooting. Some people have told me that when they do that the first shot out of their rifle with powerbelts is wild but they tamed that by a fine coating of bore butter swabbed down to the loaded projectile.

Some powerbelts will shoot real well on a fowled barrel until the barrel gets too fowled. I like to swab with powerbelts or conicals after every fourth shot. This will usually bring them back in line for you.

When you shoot fast the barrel will get hot. That can change the accuracy in a lot of rifles...

Good luck and let us know how it turns out for you. Also do not forget to pull the button, lube the spike and replace the button if your shooting the copper plated powerbelts...

Sabotloader, what do you mean by a treated barrel?

I went to the range yesterday and made some changes to my procedure. I fire a round. Let it cool. Swab it out with two different alcohol soaked patches. Blow out the nipple. Swab with two dry patches. This doesn't get it all out, but it does get over 90% out. I then wait a couple of minutes and load another round. Fire. Repeat. This is a combo of several of your procedures. I also removed the plastic cap of the powder belt bullets and added some bore butter. They were really stuck on. I found them on the ground near 25 yards. All my bullets hit an orange size target at 100 yards and that is good for me. Thanks for the help. Now I feel confident and can go hunting.