Olde NE Hunter

It's a start.

Took my new-to-me rifle to the range last Friday. At the end of the session I wondered if I had wasted my money.

Went to town and bought some thicker patches and tried again on Saturday. I went home happier. I started at 25 yards because I had trouble staying on the paper Friday. I picked the best two sets and took three more shots at 50 yards. I think I am close to the "sweet spot". Have to adjust the sight a little but I am getting close to a decent group off my homemade rest.

Semisane

Yep. You're getting there Olde NE Hunter. What patch lube were you using?

cayugad

All rifles are different. But my two Great Plains Rifles like a little more powder. The Great Plains Hunter I have is a .50 caliber and likes 95 grains of Goex 2f and a .018 patches ball. The Great Plains Hunter I have likes 70 grains of Goex 2f and the same patched ball. But one has a much more roundball twist to it.

I think your on the right path with your shooting. Hang in there. Its looking real good.

Olde NE Hunter

Just a pre-lubed 0.018 pillow ticking patch from CVA. Lube looks and feels waxy. Don't have the ambition just yet to put together some exotic home-brew concoction. I went to the range Friday with prelubed 0.010 and 0.015 patches and knew when I quit shooting that they were not thick enough. I may experiment with the .535 ball sometime in the future.

Just have to keep shooting. The muzzleloading season in Nebraska is not until December so I have time.

bronko22000

OldNE- next time you go out double up your .010" patches and if they work for you then you can go to Walmart and buy a yard of pillow tick material and use it. (.020").
I'd also drop down to 80 gr and then work your way up in 10 gr increments until you find the sweet spot.
If you like, I have about 40 lbs of .535" balls and would be more than happy to send you some. But it wouldn't be until October sometime when I get back home.

Semisane

You don't have to get exotic. Patch lube can make quite a difference. I would suggest you make a trip to a fabric store like JoAnn's Fabrics and pick up a half yard of 100% Cotton pillow tick. Cut a bunch of squares about 1.5" x 1.5" (square works just as well as round) to be lubed with olive oil or whatever vegetable cooking oil you have at home.

Bring the dry patches to the range with you, a small bottle of the oil, and a couple of paper towels. Lube about a dozen patches together in a stack. Make them fairly wet and massage the stack with your fingers to get the oil evenly distributed in the fabric. Then take three shots with the fairly wet patches and see what you get. Now, remove three patches from the stack, wrap them in a paper towel and dry them just a bit. See how those do. Then remove three more, wrap them in a paper towel and squeeze the heck out of them to dry them quite a bit, and see how they do.

Some guns don't seem to care how wet a patch is. But some of mine are particular, liking a fairly wet patch, or a fairly dry one.