ronlaughlin

Three days ago i went up in the hills, and shot the target pictured above. The taped holes were made from the X7 after it was cleaned, and primers used to foul the barrel. Then i went for a hike for a few hours. When i finished the hike the breeze wasn't bad so i taped the target, and shot 3 more shots from the dirty barrel. It seemed weird the first shots, hit about the same place, as did the second shots, and the third shots kinda did too.

The range was 93 yard. The X7 with the 1X scope mounted was loaded with 110g Blackhorn, 300g Deep Curl, crush rib sabot, and Federal 215 large rifle magnum primers.



Today, i went up to shoot again using the same rifle, same load, same 93 yard, but this time i began with a squeaky, shiny clean barrel, no primer fouling.










Looking back through previous threads, and previous posts one thing stood out to me. The first shot from this rifle, is almost always the lowest shot, whether from a dirty barrel, clean barrel, or primer fouled barrel. The next two shots are usually some higher. So.. now what?

When hunting season begins, i will be out there carrying this rifle. A loaded rifle, with a squeaky shiny clean barrel.

nchawkeye

I have a theory on this...

Since I know others will jump on here after I post to tell me how wrong I am, here goes...

With a clean barrel, the bullet and sabot have less resistance than with a fouled barrel...So, the bullet spends less time in the barrel than one which has to push through some fouling...The faster a bullet exits a barrel, the less time recoil has to act on it, so the latter shots hit higher...Similar to shooting a heavier bullet in a handgun...

hubby11

But that does not explain the post-hike shots on a dirty barrel landing essentially in the same pattern as the first (and third) groupings with a clean barrel.

More of a funtion of barrel temp maybe??

cayugad

Not sure why that is the way it is... but you're a darn good shot either way..

Semisane

That's my approach also.

Ron, Ron, Ron. With all of the shooting you do I'm surprised you haven't diagnosed this phenomenon by now. It's quite obvious that as you sleep each night your eyeballs are becoming a bit loose in their sockets, causing a slight (but consistent) misalignment of your pupil with the center line of the scope. The recoil of the first shot is resetting your eyeball to it's proper position. This condition, known as SES (Slack Eyeball Syndrome) is believed to result from free movement of the eyeball during very relaxed deep sleep. It's obvious you are sleeping too well due to a lack of sufficient stress in your life.

There are three treatment options for SES; (1) seek out personal situations that are unpleasant enough to increase your daily stress levels to the point that you become unable to get a restful night's sleep, (2) each night set a loud jangly alarm clock to go off every 45 minutes throughout the night [it often helps to place the clock on the far side of the bedroom), (3) each morning, upon arising from bed, have someone slap you on the forehead as hard as possible to reseat your eyeballs.

For married individuals option number 3 is often the most successful, with the high level of success believed to be somehow related to the enthusiasm of the spouse's participation in the treatment protocol.

BuckDoeHunter

Thanks for posting Ron.

The Triumph almost always throws the first shot high, about 2 inches, but inline with the bull. When I get a chance, I will duplicate what u did with the taped targets, very interesting results. If I can save 3 primers by not fouling the bore, I will.


Semi, please do not post any more stuff like that, I almost dropped my Ipad laughing. I need a new Ipad but need another muzzleloader more

ronlaughlin

Semisane

Yes.. yes i believe you are correct when you suggest i have SES. However it doesn't seem that treatment # 3 is successful, as that is exactly how wife awakens me each and every morning. Also, there will be times in the middle of the day while she is talking to me, she administers treatment # 3. She will then inform me my stare became somewhat blank, and needed correcting..

OldFlick

I have shot one time every day with a clean gun every time. 5 shot group(5 days) of sub 1.5 MOA. Shoot same gun at range 5 shots over about 2 hrs.=3 MOA. This was 300 yrds. My decision was stone cold gun was difference. Groups were also centered on point of aim cold, not so much with quick groups.

nchawkeye

Sorry, I thought everyone did like Ron and I do...

The first shot, hold dead center, the second hold a tad to the left and the third a tad to the right!!! This way you don't have to worry about those one holers...

sam52

I have also had the same problem with a clean first shot, and would like to her other peoples theories too. My theory has been a dirty barrel will grab the patched ball better and let the rifling spin the ball correctly. Where a clean Barrel permits the patched ball to skip over the rifling a bit, which would result in the ball not spinning correctly.