Good eye on finishes. Originally, the stock was stained with Fiebing's leather dye, and finished with Birchwood Casey's True Oil. Yes, it is a glossy finish, and hand wear and ultraviolet light left their marks. The new stain is tannic acid and ferric nitrate, and you need to use steel wool or sandpaper to damage the colour. Tung oil yields a more satin finish and it is practically indestructible.
On April 14th, after cutting the butt to 13 7/8" lop, and replacing the butt plate, I had Daryl shoot the rifle from a bench rest at 50 yards. He shot these two targets using .595" Lyman mold cast pure lead balls (BHN 5), .022" old blue jean denim and spit. The charge was 85 gr. 2Fg GOEX.
Mr. Hugh Toenjes, who makes superlative barrels, cautioned me on cutting the barrel at the muzzle, for fear of destroying the inherent accuracy of the barrel. But my client could not handle the 12 1/2" pound rifle, especially with that weight out on the muzzle. I did not relish cutting the barrel at the breech because of the huge extra work of filling dovetails, threading for the plug, having the makier's name in the wrong place between the plug and the rear sight, etc. So with my sphincter pinched tight, I cut five inches off the muzzle removing 1 1/2 pounds. I re-crowned and polished the muzzle in the lathe, cut a new front sight dovetail, and finished the rifle.
Yesterday, the moment of truth, Daryl and I took the rifle to the range again, and again shot it at 50 yards from the same bench rest. Daryl did all the shooting because my right eye needs a new lens (May 28th yippeee!), and I did all the loading. Daryl had his usual collection of interesting pre-cut patches, some big and some small, some clean and others having been soaked previously in neatsfoot oil. After shooting the rifle for a time to get used to it's idiocycracies, we collected the fired patches. We found that the smaller ones were blowing out along the edges and most likely causing flyers. We loaded two diameters of balls - .590" from a Rapine mold, and .595" from a Lyman mold. The patch material was what Daryl called 14 oz. denim - measured .034" compressed. All the groups shot and pictured here were shot with these re-claimed used patches, some shot three and four times. Mr. Flintlock was used for lubricant, and it is some slippery stuff.
Hugh rifled the barrel with a 1:66" twist, and IIRC .018" deep round bottomed 9 groove rifling. We upped the charge as noted on the targets to 110 gr. 2Fg GOEX and 125 gr. 2Fg GOEX, and shot these targets...
During the shooting, we filed the front sight to remove a sharpened top edge and produce a flat more visible top edge. We also moved to a 3" bull from the 4" bull. Daryl says the 3" bull gave him a better sight picture, but I see his best group was on the 4". Loading, especially with the .590" ball was so easy we laughed, and I said I was disappointed that the rod's weight alone would not seat the ball. The .595" ball was only marginally more difficult to load. The combination of the dead soft lead, the very thick patches, and the excellent lubricant, made for incredibly easy loading. Daryl shot close to fifty rounds from the bench yesterday, with those hunting loads, and at lunch, commented that his shoulder was tender.
We stopped shooting as my powder horn was getting low, and we discovered that somehow, a quantity of # 7 1/2 shot had made its way into the horn.....?? How this may have effected the shooting is a mystery.
