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Anyone of those shots in your pic would have resulted in a dead deer.....Shoot more and over think less....Just go out and enjoy some range time.
RoJo..………. I'd like to make a suggestion if that's ok...…..
I'd like to suggest that with the combo you shot the group with in the photo that you just posted, that you settle on it and just shoot more.
It appears that you're trying to obtain knowledge, maybe at to fast a pace. Not being critical of your wanting to learn. Those of us who have been at this for years, even many decades, still learn. We learn from others, trials, from our own and/or other's mistakes. It never ends. And what may work for one, might not for another.
Don't put yourself in a task saturation position, it'll come to you.
Throw that first shot out and the next 5 gave you a great group.
I shot most of what you posted here last Friday except 100 gr. (by volume) and had CCI 209M primers. My tubes are loaded to try 110 gr. this week with another box of TEZ 250's and the smooth Harvester. I kept track of the good advice you gave me before. Grateful for your help.110 grains BH209 + 250 grain TEZ + Harvester smooth black sabot + Winchester 209 primer = full freezer
My thoughts exactly! Looks like you're done. Are you throwing your powder or weighing it? If you're shooting volume only, with grouping like that, you may try weighing three or four loads, taking the average, and weighing that amount to see if that's tightens you up more. I usually shoot my first shot at a rock to just get out any first shot flinch that sometimes rears its ugly head. That's a great group, even with the fliers, and you should be only 3-4" at 300 yards. Easily minute of deer vitals. Nice shooting.RoJo..………. I'd like to make a suggestion if that's ok...…..
I'd like to suggest that with the combo you shot the group with in the photo that you just posted, that you settle on it and just shoot more.
It appears that you're trying to obtain knowledge, maybe at to fast a pace. Not being critical of your wanting to learn. Those of us who have been at this for years, even many decades, still learn. We learn from others, trials, from our own and/or other's mistakes. It never ends. And what may work for one, might not for another.
Don't put yourself in a task saturation position, it'll come to you.
Throw that first shot out and the next 5 gave you a great group.
I spent some time measuring by both methods before I filled my range tubes. I wasn’t very tidy when doing by volume- mostly because I was pouring too fast. I practiced the technique BuckDoeHunter showed me, but instead of mounding or leveling with the brass tip I leveled with a single edge blade. Tedious, but when I weighed those volume measures I was usually within .1 - .2 of each other. The charges I used at the range were precisely 70 gr. by weight. When I sight a scope in I guess I get a bit unorthodox and anal. I just try to squeeze out every possible hiccup so I know exactly what the gun, scope, and ammo can do. I’m not sure which method I’ll eventually stick with. As for measuring by volume, I did notice that accuracy was more consistent when I avoided tapping, flicking, or any unnecessary agitation while I was measuring. Twenty-six years in the military gave me the mindset that “close” wasn’t good enough when I had the means to be precise. That’s just me.My thoughts exactly! Looks like you're done. Are you throwing your powder or weighing it? If you're shooting volume only, with grouping like that, you may try weighing three or four loads, taking the average, and weighing that amount to see if that's tightens you up more. I usually shoot my first shot at a rock to just get out any first shot flinch that sometimes rears its ugly head. That's a great group, even with the fliers, and you should be only 3-4" at 300 yards. Easily minute of deer vitals. Nice shooting.
The muzzle of my Accura has the bullet-guiding feature. I don’t know if that would prevent a measure or not. With the Barnes & Hornady sabots doing well so far I’m not sure it matters if I know or not. I’ll check with the machine shop downtown and call the guru of muzzleloaders in the nearby town. Thanks.Any machine shop should have a set of very good pin gauges if you want a good measurement of the lands. You can probably buy a few if you really wanted instead of a whole set.
If you run a dry patch it will remove the majority of the fouling but still leaves some. The other mix for a slightly damp patch is....
50/50
91% rubbing alcohol or ISO-HEET...its 99% isopropyl and cheap
Hoppes #9
I would say your finished. Lots of guys don’t get that with a center fire...Wow, that's crazy. Did you ever find an explanation to explain why the smooth sabot performed that way? With so many choices of bullets and sabots out there what influenced you to select the Speer? Like I mentioned, what seems to be working for me so far is the TEZ and the SST. I have to get to the point that I shoot enough of them to settle on a sabot, to at least get me to the opening of ML season. From there I can experiment with more combos.
The attached photo is from the 100-yard target at which I fired the six smooth sabots from Harvester. I'm not sure what caused the flier to the left of my group but it was my first shot fired. The other five rounds are in the group. The bullet hole at the bottom right is from a 240 gr. PT that Ron dropped in with my black sabots. I had just one round so I shot it to see where it would strike. I picked up a pack of 260 gr. PT Gold from Cabela's. I'm taking them to the range this week.
I understand from some readings on MM site that the terminal performance of the 250 gr. TEZ is pretty good. I tried the smooth sabot because I thought the blue sabot was a bit loose. I'm not good enough yet to know how loose is "too loose." Although the black, smooth sabots added some resistance I believe it's possible to handle some additional tightness, just not sure which sabot would give me that without going "too tight," or I can just leave well enough alone. What I don't know yet is the effect a loose load would have when hitting a deer compared to a tighter fitting load that generates more compression.
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