Sounds good, Mike! Might help protect the case mouth a bit, too.
Steve
Sounds good, Mike! Might help protect the case mouth a bit, too.
Steve
Steve Sheldon
Commander
4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor
I did another load workup today with the Pietta Smith. Since the first load workup I have gotten this back from Larry Flees who cut the chamber a bit deeper and put in a new lead.
This time I did 10 shots each of 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34 grains 3F Goex. I shot 5 shots on 2 targets for each charge group.
The cartridges used the black tubes, with brass grommets installed in the touch holes. I put a .5" cardboard wad over the powder, and cream of wheat filler between the wad and the bullet. The bullet is the Eras Gone Smith, cast in pure lead. Bullets were weighed and anything outside of one standard deviation was discarded. Lube is 50/50 beeswax/Crisco.
Full-size pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/MKVTmme
Here is how the data turned out:
Based on the data, it looks like 32 grains 3F Goex gives the best group.
Last edited by Maillemaker; 08-05-2020 at 07:38 PM.
Steve Sheldon
Commander
4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor
Steve Sheldon
Commander
4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor
Steve Sheldon
Commander
4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor
Steve Sheldon
Commander
4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor
Steve Sheldon
Commander
4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor
Steve,
I must not be understanding what you mean by mean group size. Some of the numbers (Like .467" for 32 grains) are smaller than a bullet and the pics of the targets (Assuming the black is roughly 4") look more like 2" groups to me (Which is pretty good in my book). Are those scoring rings the same as or similar to regular N-SSA targets? Are we talking average distance from group center or ......? I'm confused.
Good question, Hal,
I'll have to go re-check the data now.
The way the software works is, you draw a line on the target and tell it how long it is. This gives it a sense of scale of the target. So I draw a line across the black, which is 4" in diameter.
Then, as you input bullet holes, it calculates the mean group diameter. It's hard to see in these pictures, but if you go look at the full-size pictures, you can see the mean circle.
But, looking at it now in relation to the 10-ring, which is 2" in diameter, I believe what the software is reporting as Mean is the radius of the circle! Which means the number for group sizes should all be doubled.
Good catch. I'm going to confirm with the author of the software.
Steve
Steve Sheldon
Commander
4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor
Hey Hal, you are right!
The Mean given is the Mean Radius!
Here is the corrected (doubled) data:
Steve
Steve Sheldon
Commander
4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor
Steve,
Are you using the "on target" software or something different for your scoring and measurements?
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