This was the first year in probably 10 or so that I hunted deer in MO with modern firearms, but I did. So in preparation of the December 17 start of the Muzzleloading season I went shooting on Saturday. I shot at both 50 and 100 yards. Here's my 100 yd target.
I have one concern. The first shot is ALWAYS several inches low: like 5" low from a clean, dry barrel. Subsequent shots all group together. I can think of only two things that would do this: cold vs warm barrel, or the amount of lube in the barrel with follow up shots. My next time out I'm going to load the rifle, then run a lubed only patch down the barrel so that the barrel will be in the "general" condition of a barrel that had been shot (without the grime). Wait 30 minutes and shoot again. I can't believe the grime would actually improve things so I don't think that's it. And some of the shots occurred in-between target checks and loadings so I'm not convinced it's the "warm barrel", but won't discount that possibility either. I hope its the extra lube and not the heat. This is not a "one time" occurrence but is a trend. With a 43.25" barrel I suppose the extra "drag" of the barrel could slow things down without sufficient lube present. The single .22cal hole was after an adjustment to the Mini and wanted to shoot at a target that didn't have any .22cal holes in it……..
My point of aim was "pumpkin on the post", which means I'm shooting a bit high at 100. Based on my chronographed MV of 1760FPS, it looks like I'm sighted in for 130 yards. I'd like to drop that a bit as it means that the peak of trajectory is +4.8" above the line of sight at 50 yards and that's higher then I want. My shots at 50 confirmed that ballistic data.
Any thoughts? Warm vs cold, lube?