Hawken fun

[MountainDevil54]

CVA Hawken, 32" 58cal 1:66 twist barrel.
120 grains Goex 2f
.018" pillow tick patches with olive oil lube.
50 yards.  The other 3 shots were me adjusting my sight down one click. The lowest shot I'm not sure what i did, but it went low. Not a big deal! I am happy camper with the main 3 shot group.


Also i noticed a very odd color in the fouling, Yellow! With a .020" patch and this load, I normally have grey fouling with red streaks. Don't really think it means anything, just  a new color, maybe from the yellowish olive oil that's left in the bore when i reload on a fouled bore.


Either way, I will be testing a new batch of lube and see if i can get the bore just a little bit slicker next time out.

[oneshot12]

  good call !  don't make a whole lot of difference .never really used the olive  oil as a patch lube  .primarily use the same mix i use to clean the rifle and pistol with  as a lube for my patches .  real nice grouping 

[Hangfire]

What kind and size of projectile? Most people do not realize how accurate  a muzzle loader can be. When I was able to see iron sights my Green River Lehman could shoot under 2 inch groups at 100 yards. If I went over 90 grains of 3ff with a .495 round ball and pillow ticking patch I would get blow by and accuracy would drop off. I used melted Crisco for lube. I have heard that about 50 grains equivalent of cream of wheat over the powder would seal the groves more and you could go with more powder. My Green River barrel has deep grooves and 1-72 twist.

[oneshot12]

I will go along with you on that Hang fire  .never have had to   use much more then a 100 grains of 3 f and 20  thou tick patch when hunting or shooting a round ball . and normal target shooting  is not much over 80 grains  in my 1in 66 twist  54 cal   .i do use the greased  20 thou  patch  when ever i am hunting just to keep the powder dryer  and during the match shoots i use a mix lube of  bore cleaner and dish soap  to lube the patches and clean up after words   never have had a blow by problem using the 20 thou  patch in my rifle though  :

[C-Money]

Very nice group! Looks like dinner will be on the table if game gives you a chance!

[MountainDevil54]

What kind and size of projectile? Most people do not realize how accurate  a muzzle loader can be. When I was able to see iron sights my Green River Lehman could shoot under 2 inch groups at 100 yards. If I went over 90 grains of 3ff with a .495 round ball and pillow ticking patch I would get blow by and accuracy would drop off. I used melted Crisco for lube. I have heard that about 50 grains equivalent of cream of wheat over the powder would seal the groves more and you could go with more powder. My Green River barrel has deep grooves and 1-72 twist.

.570" round ball with the .018 pillow tick patch. The last time out with the .020 i pulled a 1 3/4" 3 shot group at 100 yards which impressed the hell out of me. Im just tinkering around with the thinner patch at the moment. I do feel that the thinner patch is actually more accuracy, at 50 yards at least. We'll see what it does at 100 yards next time.

[Hangfire]

That is the thing with the muzzleloader each gun is different and change any component, powder, bullet, patch, lubricant or cap CAN change every thing.

Years ago there used to be a hunting rifle match at the Spokane rifle club. It was open to any legal deer hunting rifle, scoped or open sights. A person using a half stock traditional  muzzle loader with iron sights beat all comers off hand. He had just finished building the rifle, sighted it in and won. I have forgotten his name but he was a very experienced muzzle loader shooter and as I remember the gun had a douglas barrel.

[MountainDevil54]

i made some new patch lube with the olive oil and beeswax but i think i didnt add enough beewax. You can rub it in between your fingers and it goes dry pretty quickly. I'll have to see what else i have, but first i will try those patches just in case.

[oneshot12]

  I will go along with hangfire on the changing of any components  .i worked on the patch  various lubes  for a lone time to untill i finley found one that worked really well for me   but it was a whole lot hit and miss in between   .havent shot the douglas  barrel to much  but i shot the green mountian  1/66 in my 54   and myother half has a 45 cal with the same barrel  she seems to do pretty well over all at the shoots with then gun   .Just keep plugging away i am sure youwill find the patch lube that works best for you and the gun your shooting