range test with the kentucky 50 cal
 

my target was at 68 yards, the widest spread was 8 inches. i swabed between each shot or cleaned. i used prb and 60 grs of t7 for the first 3 shots, 4th shot was 60 grs of t7 and a sabot with a xtp bullet. the next 4 shots were prb with 65 grs of rs. i was standing shooting freehand so that played a big part of the large spread plus my patches were shredded and burnt up. worse with the t7 but the rs was no better on the patches so i figure that played the biggest factor of all on the accuracy. the first shot with the 60grs oft7 and the last shot #8 with the 65grs of rs were the best but i was leaning against my pickup with these two shots. i'm going to get some wonder wads and try again to see if this helps.

RE: range test with the kentucky 50 cal
 

The wonder wads will definitely help. What kind of lube did you use on the patches?

RE: range test with the kentucky 50 cal
 

Most kentuck rifles are built as strickly PRB guns with a slow twist and will shoot best at 50 yds and over with about half the ball weight in powder. It sounds like maybe your patch is to thin or your ball to small your patches should be whole and not burned[ now I did not say they should not be black with some powders just not burned].
Speaking personally I gave up trying to shoot 777 with PRB or with #11 caps a long time a go it just was not designed fpr that use and would not work as well for me as Pyrodex or black. Lee

RE: range test with the kentucky 50 cal
 

An interesting target. Some of the wads might help. Especially when you noted that the patches were shredded and burnt up. This could be the Triple Se7en powder doing that. The shredding could be a sign of a ruff bore. If you have no wads, try dumping the powder, then tap the load level, and add 20 grains of corn meal and then the patch and ball. That would also act as a wad.

Another thing I would try is to kick up the powder charge. A lot of times some rifles just shoot better with stronger powder charges.Also some of the new rifles take a time to break in. Maybe not so much with the new rifles like the rifles of old, but still some of them are ruff in the bore and need to break in. So I would not get too worried at this point of an 8 inch spread. I would just keep shooting and trying different powder charges. Sooner or later you will find the rifle's sweet load. If the rifle were at my house, I would kick that powder charge up to 90 grains of Pyrodex RS and a patched ball and see what happens. Pyrodex RS is a very consistant powder in most rifles.

If you have some JB Bore Paste try scrubbing the bore with that. Some people use Jewelry Polish and do the bores. I know one fellow that used to scrub the bores out with Comet Cleanser. All of these will help to smooth out the bore if it is ruff, and get the rifle shooting tighter groups sooner.

RE: range test with the kentucky 50 cal
 

You will never have good groups until you find out why your patches are shreadding...

What are you using for pathes?? How thick are they?? What are you using for lube and how are you applying???

Triple Seven doesn't do well with prb and patches, it burns hotter, that may be why your patches are burning through...

You'll have better luck with Pyrodex R-S, or better yet Goex in FFF or FF...

RE: range test with the kentucky 50 cal
 

Tooth paste does a pretty good job taking the rough spots out of a bore also.

RE: range test with the kentucky 50 cal
 

If your bore might be ruff or have burrs you might push a cotten ball through with a jag if any of the cotten hangs up then thats where the problem is, usually unless it is very bad burrs or a rough bore will cut rather than shred an patch of course 777 does tend to shred them, but when it happens with a load like 65 grs I would start by checking the fit of the ball and patch, there should be plan easy to see marks where the patch material was pressed into the pure lead ball by the bore and light ones where the riflings are. if thats the case then check you bore like Cayquad said its likly you have some problem in one of those areas.

RE: range test with the kentucky 50 cal
 

the patches are t.c. cotton .015 and the lube is cva grease patch, the rb's are the tradition roundballs. the t7 ate the patches slap up, and there was very little of the patch left with the rs. i got some hornady balls i am going to try monday with the cornmill and maybe some crisco. besides the patches i think i just need a better rest plus move my sights some. i know it needs shot a couple 100 times to smooth out the insides after i find the right patch/lube combo. the old cva kentucky 45 cal i had if i rember right it took a hammer to drive it home and the patches always turned out good. these are the same patches but i used tc maxi lube on them back then.

RE: range test with the kentucky 50 cal
 

You're wasting your time until you get away from that Triple 7 and get some good patching...

Go to WalMart and buy some cotton pillow ticking and if you have a JoAnne fabric store, drop by and pick up some cotton drill...

Barrels will break in, but that's not why your patches are burning up, they won't hold up to the heat of Triple 7 and I've seen complaints of store bought patches in the past few years on a traditional muzzleloading forum I belong to...

The key is to find the right patch and lube combo, as long as a ball is about .010 under bore you can find a good combo if you work with the patching, no need for corn meal, nesting, wads etc...That patch must stay intact to have good groups...

RE: range test with the kentucky 50 cal
 

I'd stick with Pyrodex R/S, or use BP. I'd try dropping back to 50 gr and see what happens, then bump it up to 80 gr and see if it better or worse.
For PRB (50 cal) I usually start off at 50 gr then go up in 15 gr (50 - 65 - 80 - 95)increments to see if it likes mild or hot loads. Once you find the general range of best performance, then you can "fine tune" with 5 grain changes.
If you think the bore might be rough it wouldn't hurt to polish it lightly, but I wouldn't get carried away. A change in patch thickness or ball diameter can sometimes make a big change, too.
Bottom line - buy lots of powder, different patches, different dia ball, and get out and shoot a lot! It's fun, not work!!!!!!!!!! :D