As Ray Charles says: "Just a Little Bit of Soule Now."

At most matches I would chase my tail a bit on the sighting in.  My groups are large enough that if a shot is say, left and low, I don't know if that's truly a sighting correction needed or it was just that particular shot out of whack.  It isn't so bad when sighting in the rifle, because I can shoot groups of 3 or 5 rounds and get a good general center.  Where it becomes a problem is during a scored session.  The temptation is always there to react to an off shot and I can end up over-correcting, or even going the wrong way.  What makes this worse is that my rear sight is a bit "wiggly" and I'm always second guessing the repeatability.  It is the cheapest Pedersoli you can get and it just doesn't stand up straight and firm on the spring like it should.  Also, the hinge is a bit floppy side to side. 
So, with money no object, I went and bought a new Lee Shaver Soule style sight.  The mounting holes are exactly the same at 1.52" so it bolted right on.  You can see it here, mounted, next to the old one I removed:

Not only is it nice and rigid, it has threaded windage adjustment (the old one was a simple slider) and a true vernier scale for elevation.  I'm not sure how many people still know how to use a vernier anymore, now that the slide rule is dead.  I won't teach you here.  You can learn on the all-knowing-interweb.  I'll just say it rocks.  Two other nice features are an easy adjustment for tilt of the ladder and an eyepiece with various selectable apertures.
Did it help my scores?  Yeah, a bit.  The biggest change was that any adjustment seemed to have a very direct and proportional change in impact.  This was a new and pleasant experience.  I liked it enough that I added the Lee Shaver site to my links list.

My current cost per shot is $3.29.
Current percent shipping is 8.56%

Getting the lead out.

I usually find discussions of cleaning techniques as pretty dull conversation.  Black powder is water soluble.  Bullet lube is oil soluble.  Alternate soapy water and a solvent until everything is clean.  Simple, right?

I normally run 3 wet patches and one dry between each volley in competition.  This is about 10 rounds, though I just did 20 earlier today with no ill effects.  By the third patch the barrel feels smooth and all the "crust" has been removed.  When I get home, I run a number of wet and then some solvent such as Hoppes#9.  Again everything is smooth and clean.  I had heard of the horrors of lead accumulation, and bought some JB paste.  it seemed abrasive, which ooged me out a bit, but I tried it.  The patches certainly come out black, but I'm not sure they did much to the barrel.   Then one day, inspiration struck.

I had done my normal scrub out and was looking to do something "more".  I grabbed a can of what I call "contact cleaner" which is used to clean electrical points on old crusty motorcycles.  It is a powerful solvent.  The stuff I actually grabbed was "brake cleaner" to clean brake components, but I'm convinced they're the same thing and I use them interchangeably.  I'm pretty sure the stuff will take off varnish wood and maybe blue off steel, so be careful.  A little blast down the bore and a bit on a patch and give it a try.  The patch felt "crusty" in what had just been a smooth bore.  When I pulled it out - sparklies.  Like this:

These look a little dirtier than normal, but you get the idea.  Within 2 patches with brake cleaner the patches run smooth again and come out clean.  Be sure to oil well afterward.  The solvent takes all the protective oil off.  Also, I usually drop a patch in the chamber to absorb any dribble so the action doesn't get stripped of oils.

The stuff I've used is shown here:

The Shooters Choice in the middle claims to clean lead, but I don't find it does anything at all to anything.  Smokeless shooters may like it, but I'm not convinced they need to clean their guns at all.

Anyway, take it with a grain of salt, try it yourself, whatever, but I was surprised how much crud it drew out of a "clean" barrel.


Current $ per shot = $3.64
% of money as shipping = 8.57%