Poor groups and pillow ticking patch size

[Davemuzz]

I went to the range today. I won't post all the pic's but I began with a .535 ball and 20-T mink lubed pillow ticking. At first I began with 80gr. FF. The first two shots were promising, then the next two were in another planet. Next was 85gr. and pretty much the same. Up-ed to 90gr. and again, two good and two bad.....but "less bad" than 80\85. I skipped the 95 and 100 as in previous shooting the 100gr. was not a good grouping. (BTW.....took 4 shots with each load tried.)

So, I went straight to 120gr. FF with the .535 RB and same 20-T patch. Not a good grouping at all. So then I dropped back to 110gr. FF same ball and patch and hey.....I got a 'decent" group. At 100 yards it was a 7.5" 4 shot group.

Then I figured that the rifle liked 110gr. of FF. So, just for kicks I took 4 shots with a .530 RB and the 20-T mink lubed pillow ticking. The 4 shots grouped at 4.5" at 100 yards.    So, I think I've "found" my load!!  The four .530 RB shots were my last because at that time I was pretty tired.

I do thank all of you for your post and letting me use you as a sounding board.

Dave

Edit: If I could find a bullet caster that did the Lee Real bullet with a hollow base, I'd buy 'em just to see how good\bad they would work.

[Jose Gordo]

Congratulations Davemuzz! I'm glad I don't need 110 grains. My .54 kicks hard enough at 90 grains. I'm strictly a hunter, so I'd find a 4.5 inch group at 100 yards acceptable. I have never actually shot that far in the field. My shots are usually 40-70 yards.

One thing I forgot to mention - my rifle is also sensitive to powder. It likes Goex and Swiss, but doesn't shoot well at all with Olde Eynsford. I've never tried 3F, but a lot of folks use it, so maybe that's something else for you to try.

[MuskratMike]

Try the Goex 3F I use it in my .54 pistol and rifle. Works great and 70 grains of 3F gives the same velocity as 92 of 2F. Shoot all day and never swab the barrel. Give it a try.

[Maven]

Very happy for you, Dave!  Also, a hollow base Lee R.E.A.L. doesn't exist, but they offer Minie Ball moulds, which do have a hollow base.  Whether they'll work in a slow twist RB barrel is another matter.  If you obtain a few of them, you'll need to drop the powder charge to 60 - 70gr. FFg.  (Btw, they didn't group well for me in a fast twist Green Mountain bbl.)

[Daryl]

I found when shooting hollow based bullets in a .58 BilL Large bl. (60" twist, I think) I had to use a lot of powder to get decent accuracy.
With a lot of powder, the skirts had to be thickened up to handle it. Light "civil war-type" loads with stock HB bullets show very poorly and
 of course heavy loads needed to get the speed up so they'd shoot in a slow twist, blew the skirts just as Lyman found & published in their book.

This was in the late 70's so I was somewhat using their data, however I did have my own chronograph at that time (since about 1973). The thickened
 skirts shot just fine, however I was using 140gr. 2F GOEX up to 165gr. 2F GOEX with bullets to 675gr., the modified #57730(570gr. nominal- 675 modified)
 After a while, the recoil with the hooked butt plate kinda got me down. The rifle weighed 11 1/2/12 pounds with the 34" 1 1/8" straight octagonal bl.
The velocity with the 675gr. bullet & 165GR. 2f was 1,325fps and with a mere 150gr., was 1,250fps.  I still have that data along with the RB data.

[Joe S.]

Always a treat seeing the historically correct bell bottom trousers as well

[Daryl]

Yeah - who is that skinny guy with those huge "burns"?