went to a range with the gun first time
 

I went to the range for the first time in my life. Before I only shot 65-70 yards and was able to do that in my back yard. However I'm going to Iowa and with this new knight LRH I wanted to reach out and hit something.

I laser bore sighted the gun it hit about 5" high, 3 3/4" to the left.

After fixing that I was dead center on shot #2 but 1" low. Shot #3 was 1 1/2" low and 1/4" to the right.

Shot #4 was windy and I screwed up as well as #6. #'s 7-9 where all around the center but no real pattern. Would anyone be happy with this? I WANTED 1" high at 100 yds and was unable to pull it off in 9 shots.

here is the 100 yarder






I moved on to the 200 yard target Other tha someone shooting it 4 times with a 7mm The other 4 are mine scattered on the four corners. :arms:




like I said I never was good at target shooting. I never shot at this range or a range before. HOWEVER I never could get it to 1" high at 100 yards exactly or in 3 shots in a 1" group. (shots 8 and 9 are 1 1/4"...shots 2 and 3 are 1/2"

any ideas? how is my set-up? I was really shocked how easy the sabots could be loaded I hardly even had to fore it I mean at 5 year old could do it. They didn't drop in but they sure where not even close to being hard at all to push in.

So what is your setup? What powder? How much? What bullet / sabot / primer? Are you swabbing between shots? Letting the gun cool off? All these things can have an effect. The sabot going in real easy may be a clue. Then again maybe not. Too many variables unaccounted for to make a call.

Ops I thought I added all of that.

Knight Long Range Hunter .50 cal
BH 209- 110 GR
CCI 209M (MAGNUM)
Harverster ML Scorpion PT gold ballistic tip 300gr (crushed rib sabot)

Before you get too excited, this could be as simple as a different bullet, sabot, or powder charge. Also.. were you swabbing between shots?

What kind of powder charge were you shooting -
What bullet were you shooting -
What sabot were you shooting -
Were you swabbing between shots -
Was it hot outside, and were you letting the barrel cool -

What I would do is get some 250 grain Shockwaves or 250 grain Barnes Expanders. I would load 100 grains of Pyrodex RS and do this all over again. I would swab the barrel between shots, and let it cool at least three to five minutes if it is hot outside (grab the barrel and see how hot to the touch it is)

Shoot three shot groups and examine the group. You can then decide if you want to add more powder or not. Your rifle should take a good strong powder charge and still shoot very well.

we must have been posting at the same time.

That should have shot well. Maybe the rifle needs a break in period. You did scrub the bore real good and get all the oil out before shooting.

Could you describe your loading process to us?

Yes like i said new gun. I used a degresser and got the stock oil off. Then ran 3-5 dry patches to clean the bore good. I used hoppes #9 and cleaned the whole gun and left it sit in the gun case. Today I fired 2 primers before I even loaded the gun.

When I loaded the gun I poured 110gr of bh209 down the bore from my pre-done containers. (I made 20 of them up) I tapped the side of the barrel a few times witht he hand to make the powder sit level. Not knowing it it mattered I did it anyways. Took the sabot/bullet and started it a bit by hand then used the correct tool, then used the ram rod with the correct spire and on the tip and pushed it down till it was snug/tight then tap on it 2-3 times then pushed down hard again.

aim, fired, opened the bolt pulled the primer then walked the 100 yards then back. I marked the target. Came back loaded the gun and put the primer in. Several times they was others and I had a 8 min time before i shot again.

I would say the temp was around 70-75 but with the wind felt cooler.

At one time I did dry swab the barrel at the 100 yard I think it was after shot 5. I used hoppes 9 after a dry swabbed the barrel 3-4 times. I used a little of hoppes 9 then dry swabbed it a few more times.

There was a head wind most of the time. However never over 8 mph I'm sure when I was shooting if there was ever a cross wind it was NNE- WHICH WAS RARE.

for giggles I did shoot 300 yards. The scope toby briges made does not have a 300 yard mark. So I hung over a bit and was 6" low and 2" to the right. Walked 300 yards and checked trying to make a guess on how much hold over i would need and shot 5 1/4" high and 1 1/2" to the right. This gun shoots with this set-up I'm just not a range person with pratice and fine tuning I'm sure I'll be better. Just cost money- what don't

Hey earnhard, I may be incorrectly reading between the lines, but I'll ask anyway. Did you do any more scope adjusting after shot #2. If so, how many shot in a row did you take without adjusting the scope?

after shot 2, I shot #3. I wanted two shots in a row to confirm I was there with out moving the scope.

After shot #3 then I moved 8 clicks up. So It SHOULD HAVE put me 1" high.

You said you were using Blackhorn 209 it is best not to wipe between shots with Blackhorn. You said you were shooting a Knight they usually have a bore over ,500 and need a thicker sabot than a Crush Rib. You might try a MMP 12. Lee

I never wiped in the middle of shots just once.

Lee- on that website I would need your thinking ---50 Cal. Rifle
.451 - .452 Bullet correct?

Right, and there is a fairly wide range of sabots and as different manufactures tend to make there barrels a bit different in size. most Knight barrels tend to be a bit on the loose side which means the black harvester or the MMp hph24 [same thickness] or the MMP 12 often fit best. If it slides down easy it might come off the powder and act as a barrel obstruction. If you can push it down with out much effort its to loose for good accuracy most of the time if it takes both hands and you have to put a bit of effort into it it will probably be in the right neighborhood, if its so tight you would like pound on it with some thing then it is too tight and will likely not shoot good. Hope this helps. You might get on Modern Muzzle loader Forum and go to inline muzzle loaders and look at the sticky on bullets and sabots they have it well laid out. Lee

You say shots 7-9 didn't pattern, I disagree. I think they shot about a 2-inch group, which is "ok".

First question, is it the gun or is it you? I always like to take a rimfire or centerfire to the range with me that I am 100% certain is accurate so that if my groups are crap, I can shoot the gun of known accuracy and confirm that I'm not having issues that day. Some days this is all I needed to learn it was NOT the gun.

Next, 110gr BH209 is a relatively stiff load for a new gun. I would start with any gun at a lower charge, maybe 80gr, and work up. With EACH different bullet tested. Expensive yes, time consuming yes, guaranteed to avoid frustration and let you know what is going on, yes. Some bullet/sabot combos will top out at 85gr for max accuracy in a given gun, when others in the same gun will shoot fine at max charge. If you jump straight to a middle powder charge, it's hard to say what's going on.

Finally, I don't like how you describe the looseness of the sabot. IMHO sabots are more accurate the tighter they are. No, you don't want to pound them down with a hammer, but it should take a firm hand to get them down. I would recommend a tighter sabot, or a different bullet/sabot combination completely.

A 2-in group with the first bullet/sabot combination, especially when it was loose, is not bad. It's a starting point. Keep working with it, you'll get there.

I'm sure most dont agree with everything he does or says (toby bridges) he was able to use the same set-up as me from the 209m primers to the amount and type of the powder to the scope and bullets. He was able to shoot 50 bullets in a 1.6" hole without cleaning at 100 yds.

Now first off I'm not him and if I was and I did that I might of had a heart attack. I don't shoot as much as he does,( I know he has over 6000 shots with that gun) I don't have the time in the gun I'm sure at the point he did that. However he was able to have the same gun shoot the same bullets in a tight close group on more than on occasion. However once again his gun is not my gun. There could be a 0.002" difference who knows.


http://www.hpmuzzleloading.com/NewsRelease.html

I know he also tried several diiferent jackets (sabots) and charges of 777 and bh209 and found that " If your rifle has something different, this bullet and sabot combination may not shoot as well" However if it shot half as well I would be happy as hell. One thing I want to do is try 10gr less of bh209 and see what it does. That'll be 100gr.

someone on here said to try a different sabot which I have called on already. As far as 7-9 no pattern. I consider it no. If #7 was on the other side of the bullseye I would be estatic. I took my 300 mag and shot really good 10 shots my average of all of them together was 1.45" away from center to center. Two of them where 2 1/2" and the other 2 1/4" center to center away.

I'll have to see what works best but I'm at fault a bit too with moving a bit as wel I'm sure.