I have returned....
 

How are you folks doing?Been years where the heck have I been?I got addicted to crossbows Excalibur micro 335 you would not believe this I can shoot it better at 50 yards than my .50 cal hawkins..lol...

Soooooooooooo,I will be dropping in for help having a heck of time getting my .50 cal hawkins using 3f to shoot well at 50 yards?Could it be my peep sight?or load I am using 60/70 grs of 3f with .018 patch and .490 rb and bore button..

could it be my barrel is heating up,I shot about 20 shots and cleaned between each shot I would say about 10 minutes between each shot..

any tips would be nice..Anyhow be talking with you folks again..


sproulie...

What Hawken do you have?

hawken
 

I have Thompson Hawken.50 cal from 1969.is 1-48 twist...For years I used 370 maxi-balls with 70/80 grs of 2f it was great at 50 yards..

Long ago roundball told me to use 90 grs of 3f with .018 patch with bore button in Hawkens .50 cal for deer..This is first i tried it but 90 grs kicks my head off so I felt would start at 60/70 grs of 3f...

not using bore butter ,dry barrel with lubed patchs not cut at muzz but i can do that if needed just have 500 pillow .018 to use up...

I have peep sight and its hard at 50 yards to see too i try to use a 6 o,clock hold on small black dot on white paper..

not very good groups..moved back to 25 yds and not good BUT was fairly good at about my 5 th shot not 15 th shot ..

could my barrel be getting warm waited 10 minutes between shots cleaning every shot with dry barrel .Been gone so long I forgot everything...

While a hot barrel does seem to have an effect on accuracy with sabots, I have not found that to be the case with patched balls. You should not need a bore button with well fitting patches.

You don't say what powder you are using. But I'll bet it's Triple Seven. If so, switch to Pyrodex RS and your groups will likely improve.

Also, if you are using prelubed commercial patches the fabric may have deteriorated in storage. Recover some of your shot patches and inspect them for condition. If they show burn through or cuts around the bore/ball contact surface, the problem is either your patch material or lube.

Any discussion about accuracy with patched round balls should start with us seeing your used patches, can't diagnose problems without that...Put a tarp on the ground in front of the barrel for them to land on and then post the pics...

Well first off, welcome back Sproul.
Secondly, I agree that a button is not needed and the patches need to hold up without burning through. As far as your peep try shooting at a 6" bull at 50 yards. You should be able to see it well enough.

I am using Goex powder 3f was using 2f for my maxi-balls years ago it was suggested to go too 3f ..

patchs are around 8 years old and they were from ox-yoke.They used what they call Precision lube on them. patchs were going in hard so I just misted them with spray lube from member here i bought 3 years ago or so called Birddog 6 liquid patch lube .its liquid green color he makes for patchs ..He said in his info that using his lube may change point of impact but I hardly misted the Precision patch at all ...

The outside of all patchs at 60 grs of 3 f have small splits all around patch like when your blue jeans get old you get white strings little strings all around outside of patch about 1/16 deep...the ball shows a perfect black ring inside with no holes or tears in patch ..These patchs are .018 pillow tick from ox -yoke ..

peep does not have little insert to make hole smaller wish it did it was new invention V-PEEP back when peeps were illegal here in pa..

I use black dot on white paper and hold 6 0,clock or the front sight covers it at 50 yards......

Roundball sent me info long ago I guess he is not member here he like us here was big on .50 cal hawkins ..he said 90 grs of Geox 3f with bore button ,.018 patch with Hoppes lube for hunting he must have grit 70 grs of 3f hurts my face shooting,LOL..

Then he said .50 grs of Geox 3f ,no bore button,.018 patch ,hoppes lube for practice ..I must have kept his info in my save file it popped up....

I wonder if you could thread the hole in that V-PEEP to accept Lyman Sight Discs, or perhaps replace the top section of the V-PEEP with a piece of aluminum angle drilled and tapped for the Lyman discs.

Most likely you could ..RIGHTNOR was inventor of things like this he was unreal..he lived near me here in pa.sold his business as was getting older he could machine anything to work..

the V-PEEP he invented allowed us to use peep hunting as they were illegal now they are legal...Also his V-PEEP let light into the rear sight for hunting near dark..You may able to glue your idea in also just for target shooting then take it out for hunting but your thread idea ia could work also just cost of gunsmith is 22 dollars to do that plus sight so you could almost buy lyman peep sight new..

I have drills available if threads were right but I am thinking that your idea would work with some glue then remove it for deer hunting..or another cheap way to just stick something over hole some told me black electrical tape with pin hole on site or your glasses etc....

thanks for help keep it coming i am rusty on info for sure..lol..