And the Quest goes on and on and on but that part of the fun for me always seeking a little bit better group. Shave off a tenth here and shave of a tenth there and pretty soon you have a winning combination. I have been experimenting with the 2FF Olde Enysford myself and it seems to be a very consistent and accurate powder. Keep up the good work and I look forward to more reports!

RB

oooooohhhhh....Is that 60 yd?  ?.

Good!

Nice progress.  You're doing your due diligence and will reap the rewards at matches!

I need to do some of this with my "new" .50.  I can never seem to get time, but the times I've shot it, I know it is still cutting patches a little and throwing shots.

I found, after trying 3 different powders, and 2F and 3 F in each, that powder type only mattered slightly in my rifle. Amount of the powder charge made much more difference.

Changing to a proper thickness Teflon patch made the groups more consistant than any other variable. However, the Teflon patches required careful cleaning between shots.

Re cutting the barrel crown also made the groups tighter. Since I made this rifle with a used barrel, it's possible the crown was damaged or worn.

Finding a mold, and molding bullets instead of using the swagged bullets, also helped. Also, getting an accurate scale and weighing bullets and powder to eliminate another variable helped reduce fliers.

Changing my front sight to a pin and tube, along with using a spotter with the correct size center dot and black circle to fit the pin and tube, helped me aim more consistently.

All these things combine to shrink my groups from about 3" to less than 1" at 60 yards.

I'll still try and fine tune my powder charge and also work out a load with Swiss powder to see if that works better than Old Eynsford. Finally, I'll have to work on my hold and follow through to shoot those small groups in competition as well as practice.

Sometimes teflon seems to work better just because it is tougher.  Might be interesting to see how denim compares after the barrel work.

I found teflon made a minor improvement over denim and canvas in my .40, but needed 3x as much cleaning between shots, so I didn't follow up and use Teflon.  I then found that denim worked pretty much the same as teflon as long as I was very consistent with amount of lube on patch.  I guess teflon is inherently easier to stay consistent, but I was concerned it would build up over time and require different cleaning technique.

Also, teflon in a flintlock just seems wrong, though I may use it .

This IS FUN! But the acid test comes when the match if ON! And ten shot groups, I don't know how many great one hole groups that I have shot when nobody is around and I have the range to my self, take all the time in the world and make every shot perfect. But when shooting a match with lots of people around, added distractions, range officer hollering out commands and a time clock going off in your head things change fast and usually not for the better. But that is the challenge of it after you do your home work as Okawbow is doing.

I read above where some people are getting good results with denim but for myself that has never happened and I don't really find any build up of Teflon as reported and some local guys say that they have a Teflon build up too? Maybe I clean better than most? I don't but it works for me.  I have had really good success with the Army Canvas Duck and a ballistol and water mix applied and let dry almost as good as Teflon, mighty close but I would still bet on Teflon on a real important match.  

RB

I use a 6-1 water to balistol mix, wet on heavy denim for most of my offhand matches. I don't clean between shots on woods walks or most offhand matches, and the wet patches go down good.

I don't make them soppy wet, and try and get them the same each time. Sometimes I pre wet a strip, and use it through out the match, so all patches have the same amount of mix on them.

The thick, wet patches seem to work best in my deep groove barrels. I've used them in my chunk gun, and sometimes have 1 hole groups for several shots, but always seem to get fliers that ruin the string.

I have used ballistol and water wet and it shoots OK maybe for offhand shooting but I have never been able to make it shoot as well and the dry patch or Teflon.

RB

     Fred Stutzenberger had an article in the May/June 2011 issue of Muzzleloader called taming of the sprue.
He said got tighter groups by rolling balls between two thick glass plates to roll the sprue back into the body of
the ball. He called it tumbling the balls the pictures with the article showed tighter groups with the tumbled balls.

I rolled some .395 balls for my 40 cal. rifle and used them at the Indiana state table shoot my group was tighter
don't know if it was the balls or I was just seeing better that day need to shoot more groups to tell. Any one trying
for better groups give tumbled balls a try report back and tell if it helped.
Dick
 

     I would think metal would work as well as glass but the glass might be smoother.

Dick