When the hunt is calling, your Black Powder Rifle demands you answer with the best supplies in the field. When the load becomes that tight and you have to pound the ball out of shape to seat it your groups will begin to open up again. Hi Cliff. Soak one strip of your best thickness of patching material in this mixture, squeeze the excess out of the fabric back into the jar. It will not dry out if the load sits in the barrel during a long hunt or while waiting to take your shot on the range. The most humorous example of this sifting effect I have witnessed was when a friend who shoots with me in rendezvous matches was trying to diagnose the reason his rifle was printing groups higher and higher on successive targets over a three day shoot. This is also one of the ingredients in moose milk recipes so you will need to have some on hand. I prefer to get my cleaning patches from the same source to insure constant size and thickness. Unfortunately such information concerning black powder and muzzleloading firearms is not as widely known or circulated. No wonder then that an accurate load for one rifle barrel may not shoot well in another apparently identical barrel. Fast on the heels of the best AR style .22lr rifle is the related question of what the best .22lr AR upper is. On the other hand, you will not see shooters at organized competitions loading their rifles in this fashion. Allowing the fabric to air dry lets the water evaporate away leaving only the oil in the material. Usually I use CCI or RWS caps. They will load from a new container which has not yet been exposed to the humid air. The manufacturing techniques are top tier and the history is there. That ball with lower velocity will not strike the target in the same place as the others. The bottom of the groves might be square or rounded. Lay it out to dry and mark it 6-1. Until some testing is performed I can only suggest that you get a good ballistic chronograph and try to sort it out to your own satisfaction. Do not bounce the ram rod or hammer on it to seat the ball. It’s best to use a metal, range type ramrod of brass or steel with a muzzle guide when loading for bench shooting. Unlike grease or straight oils, you can precisely control how much lubricant is applied to every patch. Though it’s not quite as commonly available as Pyrodex or Triple Se7en, it’s still pretty common and is much easier to obtain than true black powder. Are you pounding it down the barrel? Some smoothbore guns have also shown improvements using this method. Black powder measures more consistently by volume. For these reasons American Pioneer Powder and Jim Shockey powder are the choice of many cowboy shooters. Use the best powder charge from your previous range session, the balls you sorted by weight, and the same lube. When you have worked through the complete system your rifle should be shooting impressive groups. For some time I kept my understanding of this approach largely to myself sharing knowledge of it verbally within a circle of fellow shooters who confirmed my results are sound. That is a result of the ball slipping out of the patching under the pressures of the burning gases and you need thicker patching material. Just like the name suggests, instead of a cylindrical shape like a typical pellet, this propellent is formed in the shape of a star. ‘Ballistol’ is an easy to obtain oil of this type and is available in smaller quantities. Regardless of which method you finally decide upon, your bench rest shooting and load development work should be done with balls that weigh within one tenth of a grain from each other. Do that by setting your scales to one and a half grains lighter than the heaviest ball. Any load data posted on this site is safe in my guns. The feature set is extensive, the looks are excellent, and the materials are beyond reproach. Go to your local fabric store and buy about a eighth or a quarter yard. Regardless, sorting those balls by weight will remove any disadvantage when competing. Neither is conducive to accuracy. You may find that your rifle is most accurate with a combination of a smaller ball with a thicker patch or a larger ball with a thinner patch. It will not leave a built up layer of crud in your bore like some of the concoctions of lip balm, waxes and grease. Cut some strips out of each sample of fabric and mark them on the end with the measurements. Take your micrometer to the fabric store and look for materials that when compressed, measure a thousandth inch thicker than what you were shooting. Then add another measure of water to the mix and soak another strip. For more in-depth information about air rifle calibers and their technical specifications see: Ai r Gun – Calibers . I simply learned what the ballistic variables of muzzleloading rifles are and applied the same logical method of isolating and testing them that I used in the process of hand loading accurate ammunition for modern centerfire rifles. The only downside with cast balls is that you have the sprue to contend with. The members of this club are extremely knowledgeable in the loading and workings of their muzzleloading rifles. If the patching material is too thin or too light the ball will jump clear of the patch before it exits the muzzle or the hot gasses will burn through the patch, past the ball, and push it off course as it exits the muzzle. Rate of twist in the rifling is expressed in the number of inches a ball must move through the barrel in order to complete one full revolution. At this point I am ready to adjust my sights to move those groups into the X ring. A good rule of thumb is to measure black powder loads using a volumetric device (like the powder flask and spout that came with your Uberti) and smokeless powder by actual weight using a scale. Also consider that barrel groves made on the same machines will vary slightly in the depth of the groves as the tooling wears down. You can purchase cleaning patches or make your own from cotton flannel fabric and cut it to size with a rotary cutter. The mid weight groups are fine for hunting or shooting metallic gongs in competition. I use a one ounce measuring cup similar to those used to measure a dose of liquid medicine. Are you resting the barrel in contact with your front rest for some shots and then on the wood of the fore stock for other shots? Patch knife. Doing so causes the powder to settle and compact making it near impossible to achieve consistency with the amount of powder in the measure. Most shooters agree that hand cast balls are more consistent in size and weight than swaged balls. Set your powder measure at 50 grains. Black powder revolvers. Read the label on the bolt, a lot of denim and lately even some ticking contains polyester. It will require some time and effort to complete. (Two grains for pistols and small caliber rifles)  Do not change any other component of the load. For our 50 caliber rifle that translates to 50 grains of black powder. I know of shooters who, once they open a can of powder to shoot a match, will not use the remaining powder in that container to shoot another match the next day or at times even latter on the same day. Simply put another shot on target or post a fresh target and shoot those five shots over again. If needed move the sights until your shots are on the target. One ounce of Lestoil concentrated liquid detergent, Sixteen ounces of distilled or filtered water. Black powder is produced in several different grades of increasing grain size (coarseness): FFFFg, FFFg FFg, and Fg. While this post covers choosing the right muzzleloader propellant, that’s only part of the equation when hunting with a muzzleloader. If possible try to shoot your test targets on a calm, overcast day. Of all the propellants safe to use in muzzleloaders, black powder is also the easiest to ignite, which makes it the most popular propellant used in flintlock and caplock muzzleloaders. Pyrodex P is roughly equivilent to FFFg black powder and is designed for use in muzzleloading rifles and pistols smaller than .45 caliber. If you are interested in extending the distance from which you can effectively take game with your muzzleloading rifle or desire to place among the top shooters in muzzleloader shooting matches, continue reading as I explain each of the variables involved and how to go about testing them to find the most accurate load for your rifle. The load he had his rifle sighted in for was with 2-F granulation. Continue to add one measure of water and soak one strip for a 7-1 mix and so forth until you reach a solution of 9-1. Over the course of several years he just topped it off after every event. If you can’t afford the best guns here, but really want to, take a look at the Black Powder rifles on … A black powder substitute is a replacement for black powder used in muzzleloading and cartridge firearms.Black powder substitutes offer a number of advantages over black powder, primarily including reduced sensitivity as an explosive and increased efficiency as a propellant powder. I make no claims of being the first person to discover any aspect of this method. The best we can do as shooters is to consider whether we intend to use our rifle for hunting and the higher velocity loads necessary for that or for match target shooting with slower, lighter loads and order the appropriate twist in a custom barrel. But if this is the case you need to reread all the information I have given you, start over, and follow the system in its entirety. The first variable we need to get control of is the weight of the round balls. Set your target at 25 yards and fire a shot or two to see if you are hitting on paper. Best 14 cheap Black Powder - Traditional Rifles & Shotguns Top 10 Cheapest Black Powder - Loading Accessories Best 29 Black Powder - Sabots, Bullets & Round Balls for the money Mixing more water into the oil causes the fabric to absorb more water and less oil so less oil remains in the material after the water has evaporated.