Got my front sight fixed and adjusted...

[Boerrancher]

Yesterday I went to the range with my new sight even though it was 10 degrees F. I shot a few rounds and filed the front sight to where I was shooting just a bit high at 100 yds. I was only shooting one shot at a time and adjusting the sight after each shot. By the time I had fired 10 rounds, the sight was where I wanted it, so I decided to shoot a group. I had a nice string straight up the paper of ten shots , so I thought it ought to shoot a nice group. I changed targets out and went to shooting. When I walked down to the target after 5 shots to my amazement they were all over the place. I came home and cleaned the rifle and this Morning I had 5 shots left so I stepped out on my back deck and shot the last 5 off hand at my 12x12 inch plate I have up at 100 yds. Off hand I had 5 of them in a place less than 6 inches. This was far better than the all over the map results I had yesterday with the last five shots I took at the range. Can the fouling destroy your accuracy that bad after only 10 shots?

The next time I go to the range I am going to take a rod and some patches with me, just to see what happens. I am still undecided as to the Graf's 2F powder. It doesn't seem to burn as clean as my Goex 3F does. I also noticed that the fouling tends to build up more on the muzzle more with the 2F than it does the 3F. I can see that I am going to have to play with this some more. I just wish the weather was nicer. I do know that with a clean bore I can now pack my 45-70 hunting with me and will have at least 5 good shots before the accuracy starts to fall off.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[waksupi]

Joe, I don't believe you will find any 2F that will shoot as clean as 3F. That doesn't mean the 3F would necessarily be more accurate in your rifle. I went to 3F in all my muzzleloaders, regardless of bore size.

[Boz330]

Joe, did you blowtube or just shoot? To answer you question, yes accuracy can go that fast. A good lube will make a difference. A duplex load will help as well. There is no reason not to use one if you aren't going to compete.

Bob

[SharpsShooter]

Dry cold weather........not blow tubing....seems like you said earlier you were using a smokeless lube......yep 10 shots is luck with those conditions.....just the right lube might have saved you by keeping the fouling soft enough to be pushed out by the next shot.

SS

[Bullshop]

Would you like to try a sample of NASA lube?
I'll ship it free. Compair it and report on weather it made any differance.
BIC/BS

[Boerrancher]

Bullshop,

I would be glad to give it a try considering the weather here won't change for a couple more months. All of my shooting will be in the cold dry air that is flowing out of your neck of the woods down to here.

Everyone else,

What the heck is a blow tube and how do you use it? Secondly, how did they manage to keep the accuracy decent in the old days with the 25-20, 32-20, and the 44-40, just to name a few in those old Winchester lever guns? I would love to load some holy black for my 66 or 92 either one, but it seems kind of pointless when I won't get the magazine tube empty before my accuracy goes to... well you know. Is it all in the lube? If it is I will have to buy a second lube sizer just for BPCR work. That will make the wife happy.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[Bullshop]

PM me your address and God willing we will get some to you.
BIC/BS

[NickSS]

Blow tubing is easy and will let you shoot a lot of black powder without loosing accuracy if you are using a good BP lube. With Smokeless lube you will not get as good results. I make a blow tube by taking a empty cartridge case and drilling out the primer pocket large enough to slip fit a piece of clear plastic tubing (1/4 inch size works for me) stick about a foot of tubing in the case and you have a blow tube. To use it stick the shell in the chamber and exhail through the tube. Two or three breaths work fine. Do this just before loading the next round. I have shot up to 100 rounds using one without loosing accuracy. However. Not using one will result in lost accuracy after 5 to 10 rounds depending upon weather, humidity, powder used and caliber. One of the joys of BP is figuring out how to beat fouling. The first thing is a good lube. After that is it all little improvements.

[SharpsShooter]

This is a blow tube

http://www.midwayusa.com/midwayusa/staticpages/highres/134010.jpg

Also NASA lube is top drawer stuff and I have fired 10 shots without blow tubing or wiping with fine results.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r255/SharpsShooter_photos/10shot4570GroupNASA-1.jpg

SS

[SharpsShooter]

Secondly, how did they manage to keep the accuracy decent in the old days with the 25-20, 32-20, and the 44-40, just to name a few in those old Winchester lever guns? I would love to load some holy black for my 66 or 92 either one, but it seems kind of pointless when I won't get the magazine tube empty before my accuracy goes to... well you know. Is it all in the lube? If it is I will have to buy a second lube sizer just for BPCR work. That will make the wife happy.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

Back then the powders burned moist, leaving a soft pliable fouling that typically allowed reasonable strings of fire. Also the lubes used had natural oils and chemicals and were not petroleum based.

Lube is your biggest friend and boolits that have large lube capacity will solve many problems. Blow tubing works very well for single shots, but is not practical for leverguns or revolvers. This is where a good lube and boolit show their stuff.

Duplexing is another method that is heralded to work well, but since I don't partake, I'll let someone with experience relate on that topic.


SS

[Boerrancher]

Thanks for the replies fellas. Now I know why the old timers talked of using rendered bear fat, mixed with bee's wax and all kinds of other weird stuff for their boolit lube. I have been using the Lyman Black Molly lube just to get it out of my lube sizer. I have some home made lube that is a mixture of lanolin, STP, and parafin, It is kind of soft and sticky, so I am hoping that it will work well for a BP Lube.

I will work on building a blow tube I will use one of my cases that is starting to show some signs of over use.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[omgb]

STP and paraffin are not going to work. BP is a whole other ball game. Wait until the NASA lube arrives and use that. Any petroleum product in the lube will combine with the BP fouling to make a sulfur based tar that kills accuracy.

In the old days, dinner plate accuracy from lever guns was considered pretty good. The guns fouled and were not overly accurate once they did...dispite Hollywood's tails to the contrary.

A workable BP load will also have a card wad between the powder and the bullet base. This is a must to keep the slow burning BP grains from deforming the bullet base.

A duplex load works like this. You put a small charge of RL7 or 2400 under the BP. To do this you first reduce the BP load by 10% (measured by volume) Then add by weight, between 6 and 7% of the smokeless. For example, 40 grns of BP reduced to 36 grns by volume. Then a carefully measure charge (by weight) of 2 grns of RL7 or 2400. The smokeless goes in first, then the BP, then a card wad then the bullet.

It burns unbelievably clean.

[Boz330]

What omgb said about the duplex load. I don't use them anymore but it really does work. Also I found that the NASA lube will work just fine on smokeless boolit loads so you can get out of the extra sizer although I bought one before I figured that out.

Bob

[SharpsShooter]

Also I found that the NASA lube will work just fine on smokeless boolit loads so you can get out of the extra sizer although I bought one before I figured that out.

Bob

+1 to this. I use NASA for everything I load and have zero complaints. The fastest it gets run is 1800fps in my Krag. Beyond that I could not say, but for me it does it all in one sizer.

SS

[cajun shooter]

Joe, I'm going too just add to what everyone else has said. It's a wonder that your bore was not all fouled with the lube you were using. Any oil based lubes are a no-no with BP. Also 3F will always shoot with less fouling as thats the nature of the beast. Thats not to say that if you have the correct componets 3f will shoot better than 2F. I think that 2F will give you a better shot to shot with less recoil when you put the correct lube in the case. Bullshops lube is top notch. You can when ready make your own if you chose. Homemade lubes work for alot of shooters and I enjoy making mine as it adds another dimension to my shooting pleasure. If you decide to try this, shoot me a PM and I will give you the steps and equipment needed. Later David