Ok so today was a good day. I took my Armisports CS Richmond to the range and for once had no failures to fire. I have had this rifle for about 18 months and every time I have taken her to the range I could get 3 to 4 shots out and FTF. I would take her down clean out the flash hole reprime and boom, two more rounds same thing. Today I shot 20 rounds without an issue. What I did different; I used SPG instead of Wonder lube, and I did a little work to the flash hole. Now I don’t recommend people try this as I have heard it could result in excess pressure, but I very carefully opened my flash hole by about 1/32 of an inch using a drill bit. I am not sure which remedy had more effect but no FTF and good performance is a good thing.
One difference I noted using the SPG lube was my rifle was a little harder to clean (could have been the higher round count).
I like this rifle it appears to be well made and it is accurate. Today I shot OS Minnie balls on 55 gr of Goex FFG. I shot at 75 yards on a steel plate (6 x8) and that got old quick- boom/ding. So I moved back to 120 yards on the same plate kneeling, and was able to get two out of four hits. I then moved to an eight by ten paper target and shooting from the kneeling was able to keep about 75 % of my shots on paper. My misses were all right of the target, but close to level with the bulls eye. I attribute this to the heavy trigger pull, heat, and the need for more practice.
One issue I ran into was while trying to shoot patched ball. I was trying to load a .570 ball with .015 patch, and could not get it to load easily. The patches I was using were the OX Lube prelubed patches. I thought it might need more lube so I threw on some Wonder Lube and forced the ball down the barrel. Got it about half was and the ball slide down very easy- like magic. As it turned out the magic was the patch stuck and the ball slid by. Fired the charge and hit the berm/ missed the target entirely. How much force should it take to properly load patched ball? My Richmond is a 58 cal and the patch and ball I used is the recommended size and thickness. Afterwards I thought maybe my barrel was too dirty for the ball and patch to load. Is there a recommended cleaning interval when shooting patched ball? Any other tips you guys would like to offer regarding shooting patched ball would be appreciated.
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