Maven
08-25-2014, 04:50 PM
Several years ago I purchased a Green River Forge 20ga. flintlock trade gun* on one of the auction sites, but haven't really tested it @ 50 yd. using a rest. While it's pretty impressive @ 25 yd., 50 yd. was terra incognita to me. Today I tried to remedy that and got results which were good enough to make me try it again. No, I didn't get m.o.a. accuracy, but I did get 2 touching and 2 more close by (one of those was fired offhand).
Here's what I used: 80gr. FFg (Diamondback), a .600" Lyman RB (~327gr. in "pure" Pb), a .018" pillow tick patch,**
a 1/4" lubed Duro Felt wad, and a corrugated cardboard OP wad. The patches were lubed with 1 H20 : 6 Ballistol, which works very well as there's little/no fouling buildup. Btw, the wads were cut by me with a 5/8" arch punch. The bench rested loads landed several inches lower on the target than the ones fired offhand. As I mentioned above, the results were better than expected and good enough to entice me into trying them a second time.
My practice is to clean at the range if at all possible and today was no exception. What took me by surprise was how little fouling I had in the breach: two 5 min. soaks with Friendship Speed Juice***, a few patches to dry the bore followed by Hoppes #9 and I was done. Tomorrow I'll use a proper bore preservative.
*I think it's a copy of a Barnett design.
**I usually use .014" pillow tick, but .018" works well and didn't require much more effort to start and ram home. Moreover, .018" works well in a number of guns I own, whereas .014" is used only in the trade gun.
***equal parts of Murphy's Oil Soap, 70% or 90% Isopropyl Alcohol, and household strength H202. Don't leave it in the bore for more than 10 mins. though. Dry the bore and use your favorite preservative afterward.
Here's what I used: 80gr. FFg (Diamondback), a .600" Lyman RB (~327gr. in "pure" Pb), a .018" pillow tick patch,**
a 1/4" lubed Duro Felt wad, and a corrugated cardboard OP wad. The patches were lubed with 1 H20 : 6 Ballistol, which works very well as there's little/no fouling buildup. Btw, the wads were cut by me with a 5/8" arch punch. The bench rested loads landed several inches lower on the target than the ones fired offhand. As I mentioned above, the results were better than expected and good enough to entice me into trying them a second time.
My practice is to clean at the range if at all possible and today was no exception. What took me by surprise was how little fouling I had in the breach: two 5 min. soaks with Friendship Speed Juice***, a few patches to dry the bore followed by Hoppes #9 and I was done. Tomorrow I'll use a proper bore preservative.
*I think it's a copy of a Barnett design.
**I usually use .014" pillow tick, but .018" works well and didn't require much more effort to start and ram home. Moreover, .018" works well in a number of guns I own, whereas .014" is used only in the trade gun.
***equal parts of Murphy's Oil Soap, 70% or 90% Isopropyl Alcohol, and household strength H202. Don't leave it in the bore for more than 10 mins. though. Dry the bore and use your favorite preservative afterward.