Gentlemen:

I am trying to obtain less than 1" groups at 50 yards with my Blue Ridge rifle in .32 caliber. I have obtained 1/2" groups at 25 yards on two ocassions, but I have not been able to repeat the results! Obviously I don't know what I did that was right nor what I've done since that was wrong. What worked twice was: 15 gr. of Hodgdon 777, a wonder wad, Pillow-ticking patch pre-lubed with wonder lube and .320 RB.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thank you,

Terry

Have you taken a look at the fired patch? that .320" ball seems on the large side, and while that wonder wad will keep a patch from burning out, it won't keep a too tight loading from cutting the patch. May try a thinner/tougher (tighter weave) material.

My vary the powder charge....try other powders...try a different patch thickness...change the lube on the patch.

Shoot a full length (39") fint .32. Nicely made rifle, the only marking is on the lock for Garret Arms. Well made rifle, but it's "ticky" about what it shoots. For this one, it doesn't much care if the powder charge is between 10 and 18gr.of FFFG or equal volumes of Pyrodex P, but it requires a .310 ball,pillow ticking patch lubed with rubbed in Crisco. Know the crisco doesn't do much for fouling, so it will need to wipe every three rounds (not a full cleaning...just a patch run in and out). If I'm going to keep it loaded for any length of time, need a wad between the patch and the powder. IF at the range and will shoot within a minute or two of loading, can ignore it.

Now for the heritic information....I've given up on round patches and been using square ones for the last 20years. A lot easier to cut, wastes less fabric, and I cannot tell any accuracy change. Can still center them to the muzzle, still covers all sides of the ball, and works just as well....they fall off sooner.

Thanks for the reply. I have attached a pix of two patches that I recovered. The load was either 10, 15, or 20 grs. of Hodgdon 777. It seems to me that your suggestion was correct of the patch material being either too thick or not sturdy enough. Would you please look a the picture of the patches and give me your opinion?

Sorry..not getting any link to a pix. Could try topost them in a PM (but be warned...running a super-safe system and the machine has been told to ignore anything over 50KB).

Been using Triple Seven in percussion revolvers (less fouling is a big help there) and only a few loads in rifles so far. Stuff does seem to burn "hot"; more velocioty per weight than FFFG...about the same as FFFFg. Have no way of reading pressure, but with percussions, have the cap fragments to give a general guide...usually the cap fragments with FFFFg or tripple seven, just gets mangled/flattened with FFFg, so would guess the pressure is higher.

That isn't a total condemnation...gets the little .31 pocket guns up off their knees.

Can't use it in the .32Flinter (OK...could use enough FFFg to cover the vent and the rest of the charge as Tripple Seven or Pyro...but that's a pain). Figure so long as I'm tied to black in the pan, makes no sense to use something else as a charge.

I am attempting to attach the photo of the picture of the pathces. If it makes it, please tell me what you think.

Thanks.

Those are pretty ragged..not burned out, but frayed. May not be easy to find a tighter/stronger patch in that diameter (looks like pillow ticking).
Take a patch and see if you can pull the fibers on the edge apart with your fingers...shouldn't be able to pick it apart.

Couple of questions:
What lube?
How hard is it to load that ball/patch combination?

The lube is TC's borebutter. The combination is not difficult to load.

Eureka! I got the results I was hoping for. The load that works for me is; .319 Round ball; .010" Ox-Yoke pre-lubed patch; 15grs. Hodgdon 777 and a .32 wonder wad between powder and ball. I ran a dry patch between shots. I shot three targets similar to the one shown. I know that better results have been obtained by others, but I am pleased with these. Thanks ribbonstone for your comments, they were part of making this a success.

[
G'Day Terry, just scrolled down and looked at your patch. My daughter and I also shoot small cal M/L in .30 and .31 cal,
by the look of your patch it's clear they are much to coarse,
we use 12 thou patches and our own mix of patch lube as follows, 10 part disilled water-two part soluble oil- 1part "castile pure liquid soap". Either use a spray bottle or keep VERY wet patches in an old cap tin, I guess you must have been benching your rifle to get the results you did, If you were standing free rifle using only iron sights you would clean up all of us at my range. good luck.....Paladin

Thanks for the lube recipe and advice about the patches. You are right, when I changed from the patch pictured, I got good results and yes I was resting the rifle to get that group.

Thanks again.

Terry

Was that 2F or 3F of H777? I use 20 gr. of 3F with .32 cal conicals.1 hole at 25 yds.

Well....fell into a second .32 flinter. Even with barrel dimentions a close match between the two, each demands a different patch/ball combination to shoot their best. Both are RB rifles...one likes .315's and .01" patches (loads a bit stiff), the other likes .310" ball and .015" patches (loads smoothly).

A quick test of the little .31cal treated felt wads sold for .32 cap and ball revolvers shows good results. A lubed patch normally doesn't contact all that much fo the charge, but in the 32's case, that small amount is a pretty large percentage of the entire load....the little felt wads probably raise pressure a bit, but if not working with max. charges, they seem to be a help when the rifle is kept loaded for a few hours during a hunt.

Was that 2F or 3F of H777? I use 20 gr. of 3F with .32 cal conicals.1 hole at 25 yds.

I use 3f 777. Interesting to know of your good results with .32 conicals at 25 yards. What bullets are you using?

I use a 110 gr maxiball I bought online from:http://muzzleloader.biz/blackpowderbullets.htm
This are really accurate . I just lube with Borebutter atop 20gr of 3f Pyro or 777. I haven't hunted with these yet, too many other irons in the fire.

[QUOTE=sduve]I use a 110 gr maxiball I bought online from:http://muzzleloader.biz/blackpowderbullets.htm
This are really accurate . I just lube with Borebutter atop 20gr of 3f Pyro or 777. I haven't hunted with these yet, too many other irons in the fire

I tried those exact bullets in my rifle and I could not get them to shoot well at all. I used 20 grs. of Hodgdon 777 as you did. I talked to the owner of the company and he was very friendly and helpful both on the phone and via email and gave me some ideas to try. The bottom line for me was that I could only get the RB to shoot well in my Blue Ridge rifle.

I am glad that it worked out well for you, I am sure it wasn't the bullet itself, but that the bullet would not work well in my particular rifle.

Bruce was very helpful with me also. I couldn't get a RB to shoot good enough for squirrel hunting so I changed to his bullets. I was however using 3F Pyrodex on the RB, not the 777. Good shootin. sduve

no posts here :rolleyes: