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Scoping a traditional rifle for fun
I had purchased a number of Simmons Pro Sport 4x32mm scopes from Natchez.com and wanted to scope a traditional rifle that had a common twist. I wanted this to test my theory that by having a scope on a traditional rifle it would let me play with the in-lines in side by side accuracy.
12/10/10 16º slight wind, snowing lightly, damp and cold. Thompson Center New Englander .54 caliber percussion cap rifle. 1-48 twist barrel. 1.5-6x40mm Traditions Illuminated cross hair scope. 90 grains of Pyrodex RS RWS 1075 caps .530 Hornady roundball, pillow tick patch, moosemilk lube. No swabbing. The rifle I decided to scope was a Thompson Center .54 caliber New Englander. I first tired to set that Simmons Pro Sport 4x32mm scope but discovered that the hammer on the rifle no matter how I adjusted the scope, hit the bell housing of the scope, so it would not work. I then remembered a long scope I had which might clear that rear bell issue. It was a Traditions Illuminated cross hair 1.5-6x40mm scope. Traditions had them on sale one day for $49.99 so I decided to see if I could break one. Plus I always wanted to test how well the illuminated cross hairs really work. It had been on a Green Mountain Barrel .50 caliber and had over 200 rounds through it. It was once even on my Remington Genesis. So the scope had went through a lot of abuse. I decided to see if it would stand for a little more. I mounted the scope and as I suspected it did clear the hammer so there was no issue with bending the thing, or doing anything else.  I had bore sighted the rifle in the house so I was sure it would be close to being on. I set the target out at 30 yards just to zero it.  The first two shots were 2-1/2 inches to the right. So I made an adjustment and then shot a five shot group. Needless to say I was pleased with that group. I then moved the target back to 50 yards and shot three shots. Again, it clover leafed. I was surprised though that the hits were basically in the same spot as they were at 30 yards. I would have suspected they might have came down a little. I was going to photograph them and discovered the camera batteries had gone dead, sitting out in the cold. I decided to end the shooting session as I was getting cold also. And next time out I want to see how the rifle does at 100 yards. If it is going to be as accurate as I believe it will be, this would make a nice rifle for all around hunting, with that big roundball in it. |
Awsome, neat stuff, id like to see the pics of the diffrent yrd shot that you try, update us on a post about it.
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Love them 54s!
Man is that what snow looks like?!! Was 65* here in southern colorado for the past 2 days. |
65ºs out. Man that's summer around here. I always picture Colorado as snow covered in the winter. I have an Aunt that lives in Golden and she always talks about snow.
They are calling for up to 12 inches or more today of the white stuff falling. It is really snowing out there. But at least its warm, its about 14 degrees out. So let it snow. I have a snow blower and a plow. And I just filled the wood stove, and the coffee pot is on, so I am set for about six hours. |
Nice looking group you shot with yer New Englander
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Man, that's tight Cayugad. Ninety grains of RS and a .530 ball? Yeah, that'll do. :cool2:
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Great group Dave, neat looking rig
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nice groups! i did the scope thing too. i changed out my new englander stock to a camo black mountain stock cheap off ebay and picked up a treehawk barrel for sabots. kinda a franken muzzy. got barrels in 54, 50. and also a 45 i picked up from a long distance target shooter i havent shot yet with like a 30 inch barrel, gotta love the new englander.
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Rifle: Thompson Center New Englander .54 caliber 1-48 twist
Scope: Traditions Illuminated cross hair model 1.5-6x40mm Powder: Pyrodex RS and Triple Seven 2f Projectiles: home cast .530 roundball with moosemilk patch and 250 grain Hornady XTP .452 with Red Harvester .54/.452 sabots. RWS 1075 caps Distance: 71 yards with range finder bench rest Weather: 16º slight wind (not much thank goodness) and very sunny When I got up this morning it was -19.9 below zero and we are not talking wind chill here. A little warmer then yesterday morning at least. But the weather man said there was a chance for sun shine and temps in the teens. So I knew I had a shot at some range time. I kept my eye on the thermometer and the sky. I had taken the scope off when I cleaned last time and wanted to see how close it would come back. I knew it was dead on at 50 and expected it to be a little higher on the target at 70 (since the rifle was technically sighted in for 100 yards) so time would tell. I checked and it said 14º above zero. That was good enough for me. I got everything ready, rifle, targets, swab solution of pure alcohol, etc and headed to my back yard. I decided to start with Roundball and a moosemilk patch. Last time out at 50 yards it groups very good but was stringing a little. I still decided to stick with 90 grains of Pyrodex RS just to see what would happen.  Resized to 94% (was 480 x 360) - Click image to enlarge  The first shot on a clean barrel (and this rifle has a bore treatment currently working in it.) kind of surprised me. I did not swab since I was shooting Pyrodex RS and round ball and shot three more times. Actually for the first group at that distance, other then it being a lot higher then I thought it would be, I was pleased with the group. So I swabbed the barrel clean with Simple Green, then used alcohol to make sure it was dry, and then dry patched it and popped two caps. I then decided to see how much difference the 250 grain Hornady XTP would do on the same kind of target. I loaded with 80 grain of Triple Seven 2f and shot at the lower set of bulls eyes. Resized to 94% (was 480 x 448) - Click image to enlarge  Again, surprised at how high they were hitting, but very pleased with the way this 1-48 twist barrel shot sabots. For that distance, I was more then pleased. I then swabbed the barrel again and reloaded pyrodex RS and shot a roundball. It shows adj #1. Not enough of an adjustment. So I made another adjustment and shot the final set of hits. The first two were real good, and I was pleased. Then the next two came in low and wild and I was not sure what was happening. So I swabbed the barrel clean and loaded triple Seven to see what the scope adjustment did to the XTP's. It stacked the two on the top. I swabbed and had a misfire with the Triple Seven. A new cap went off and it gave me the one touching the bull. I would not call it a misfire but it had a strange sound to it. I was worried about swabbing again. Maybe the cold and the fact of the swab was not agreeing with the Triple Seven powder. So I loaded and shot again and the results was the one next to the bulls eye. By now I had been outside for over an hour and was really thinking .. Hot Coffee. So I decided to stop for the day and maybe get a warmer day. But over all this scoped traditional rifle is doing well. Especially with the XTPs. Sabotloader gave me the idea to try them in this rifle and he was right. A 1-48 twist will do a good job with sabots. One reason I used the Triple Seven because he has such good luck with it. As usual, I had a misfire. Oh well, that is the name of this sport. Also this New Englander might have a single hunting trigger, but who ever did this one, did it right. It has to be one of the best single triggers I ever shot. No creep, and breaks crisp and clean. |
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