Olde Eynsford over the Chrono

[frontier gander]

Got the 58 Hawken out today on the range and testing Olde Eynsford over my new Chrony Beta Master. Love that thing already and figured out how to work the buttons!

110gr Olde Eynsford

.570" round ball

.020" patch lubed with moose milk

Each load was pressed down firmly, no swabbing between shots and not cool down.

Chrony was set up at 15 feet.

1627

1598

1569

ES- 57.59

SD- 29.00

Now The group wasn't great AT ALL. I did keep it on paper but when its 90* in the shade, its heating the barrel up extremely fast after each shot.

I decided to get 2 more loads and test them on a fouled, but cool to the touch barrel, Aprox 8 minutes in between shots.

1581

1591

The group size on these 2 shots is EASILY seen.



This evening when its cooler I am going to do  a few things, #1 clean the gun - #2 change to the factory nipple & #3 use my range rod with the charge height indicator so I can seat the ball at the same depth each time. I will also again do the 8 minutes between shots or at least until the barrel feels cool to the touch.

[hanshi]

Thanks for the post.  This is the kind of information shooters need.  As it comes trickling in from various tests, a much better picture will emerge for this new powder.

[ironwolf]

  I think a hotter charge would tighten your group.  The old standard of 1/2 the ball weight would be a good place to start.  The Bevel bros. once wrote of the 5 most common mistakes that ML shooters make.  I don't remember them all, but three are:  1)too light a charge,  2)balls are to small,  3) patch too thin.
  Looking at your numbers I'd be changing all three If it were my gun,  just my opinion.

     Kevin

[frontier gander]

1 to 1 1/2" @ 100 yards is normal for this gun, how much tighter can i expect?! 

One thing i found this evening, I think my moose milk patch lube is contaminating my charge and giving me some issues with velocity. I noticed on my last shot the rifle was a dull thud boom rather than the sharp crack it normally makes. I found the patch and it was pitch black on the powder side.

[frontier gander]

Allrighty, got back out to the range again this evening and did a velocity test, I do feel the patch lube is contaminating my powder and wetting it as you will see in the pictures. Wasn't an accuracy test but at 100 yards, my first 2 shots had me smiling from ear to ear. Extremely consistent with this powder. I wasn't holding 6 o clock on the bulls eye like i normally do so its only fair to blame the shooter for that higher shot, but check out how in line it is with the other. No error with powder, just me not aiming how I normally aim due to the chrono being in front of me.

1583
1533
1515  On this shot I was able to see the patch go way up into the air and land in the middle of my range. I picked it up and this is how I figured out that the lube most likely is the issue with my velocity being here and then way down here. I will make some olive oil - beeswax lube tonight and lube a few patches for testing tomorrow and see if that fixes it. I don't want to use wads as its just another thing to buy and then carry around with me. With the olive oil - beeswax, I have never seen that nasty thick black spot ever.



3 shots to the far left. Closest 2 were my first 2 shots. I wasnt shooting for accuracy but you know how it feels something like that happens. They were 1 1/2" apart without trying to hard with aiming.

[mbush50]

The patch looks just fine to me but, you state no cleaning between shots, so is it possible the black on the patch is the left over fouling from the previous shots being picked up by the damp patch when seating the ball?

Michael

[frontier gander]

yes very true as well. I have some new patches lubed for the test tomorrow, we'll see how that does.

Moose milk is very watery so you most likely are right about it swabbing the bore clean while on the way down.

[hanshi]

Have you tried putting something between the powder and the prb to prevent contamination?

[PPatch]

If the three far left hits are first shot at the top and last on the bottom they correspond perfectly with the chronograph readings dropping as you shot. I.E.:

1583 = top
1533 = middle
1515 = bottom

Interesting.

dave

[smylee grouch]

If you were to wipe with a damp not wet patch between shots and shoot more shots ( like 10 ) , you might get a better picture of how your load is stacking up. IMHO

[ironwolf]

  You could use a measured amt. of corn meal as an over powder filler.

             K

[frontier gander]

i'll give it a try this evening with the new patch lube. Its horrible hot today so im sure i will be out around 7pm doing the testing. Heat is so bad that you get itchy as soon as you step outside.

The 3 shots to the left were my 3 shots from yesterday evening, #3 impacted high, but again, i wasnt really concentrating on the target. Much more worried about the new chronograph 

Havent tried putting anything between the powder yet. I have some bulk patch material and will try that later on.

[doulos]

Those chromo figures are very close to what i achieved from my .58 Stith Hawken with 110 grains regular Goex FFG. With that load I averaged 1592-1618 fps. With 100 grains Swiss FFg I was consistently in the 1680- 1710 range