Shot #18 today!
 

Well, I finally got some time to shoot #18 today. I purchased this rifle (T/C Hawken) .50 percussion back in January and just now got to shoot it. I shot it @ 25 yds. with 50gr. of FFFg and patched .490 RB. I started out with .018 pillow tick (square cut) patches lubed with TOTW mink oil and was not impressed... (3"group). I had some patches pre-lubed with moose milk in an empty skoal tin and when I opened it they were MOULDY!!!... YUUUCK!!!! So I grabbed a pack of pre-lubed T/C .015 patches and continued on. After a few sight adjustments, my last three shots were touching one another. The only problem is...they're about 3" high of my POA and my rear sight is nearly bottomed out. Now, before we get into the scrutiny, let me add that I only made a few minor adjustments to the elevation and most of my adjustments were made to the windage. I don't have much elevation adjustment left so I think I'm gonna put a HIGHER front sight on and start over. I did get a really tight group...my last 3 shots were touching one another, they're just 3" high of POA. Sorry, I don't have pics....had to clean er' up and get ready to leave for my Tue. night Accounting class....

BPS

Before you start changing sights.. up the powder charge and see what happens. I had one rifle that shot high and when I put more powder to it, it actually brought the POI down. Why, I am not sure. Also I use a six o'clock hold. And sometimes you can adjust the sight in the rear sight. But your right.. you will probably need a different front sight.

I have never shot any of mine with that amount of powder, some time more powder will make them shoot lower because the ball is out of the muzzle by the time that recoil lifts it.
My recommendation would be to try 90 grains for a few shots to see if that is the problem. Mine all use from 90 to 110 grains for best accuracy at 100 yds.

I was shooting a light load in the interest of conserving powder as well as to see where this new-to-me rifle was hitting @ 25 yds. As I had stated, I only made minor adjustments down (4-5 clicks) on the elevation and the rear sight is nearly bottomed out. I intend to get this rifle tweeked in for "plinking" and I will probably use it and a few others in the Blackpowder shoot I'm going to host this summer. I can't see using 90-100 grain charges when most of our shots will be under 50 yds. I have never been one to believe that the more powder you dump in em' the better they shoot, but I do believe that each rifle has it's own taste for the right combination of powder, patch, lube, and ball. I will probably try some heavier charges next time I shoot this rifle because I will eventually need to develop a load for hunting anyway, but I still have a sneaking feeling that I will have to change the front sight as the previous owner had the rear sight nearly bottomed already and I can see why.

BPS

Well, I shot it again today and I did just that, CRANKED UP THE POWDER CHARGE. I started out with 70gr @ 25yds. and went up in 5gr increments to 90gr and the groups not only opened up, but (as I expected) THEY WENT HIGHER!!! 90gr was almost 6" high of point of aim!!! Granted, this was @ 25yds but....the groups progressively got higher. I shot three shot groups and then swabbed the barrel clean and dry between groups. I did try one group with liquid wrench and I found it VERY hard to load each consecutive shot. I used both pre-cut and square cut patches and shot FFFg for most of my shooting but near the end, I flushed and dried the barrel and started over with FFg. I found that I didn't seem to have the fouling that I did with FFFg, but I'm not sure if some of that problem was coming from using the LW or not. I did find that the shots using FFg were closer to point of aim than those with FFFg which tended to be higher. The best groups I had were with 50-65gr loads at that distance and I don't have a chronograph so I don't know what the difference in velocity was. That will probably be my next investment.

BPS