Failure

Yesterday was my second day in a competition.  I went there carrying 2 different loads.  One was my tried and true 530 grain bullet.  The other was a more risky 405 grain hollow base.  I new the hollow base setup wasn't as good, yet there was an emotional attachment as I had cast these myself.  Sure enough, I made the emotional choice and ended up with a poor score.  I should know from motorcycle racing you compete with the best proven setup.   Testing is relegated to practice days.

On the plus side, I'm certain my hold and stability were improved by the cheek piece and hand grip addition.  I managed to improve my score in the offhand segment despite my poor ammo choices.  Next month will bring improvment again, I'm sure of it.

My current shooting cost is $4.42 per shot, with 10.6% being shipping costs.

All it takes is a little money.

I've taken the unfortunate step of recording every penny I've spent on shooting this rifle.  This is usually a bad idea for any project and is proving especially bad for this one.  I knew it would be a bit spendy.  New ammo in the box runs over a dollar shot, but it was fairly amazing how quickly it all added up. 
To try and make some sense of things, I created two calculated numbers.  One is the average cost per shot of every shot I've fired.  Right now that is running right at $6.44 per shot.  At times in the past it was as high as $9 and I'm expecting it to drop below $5 the next time I go to the range.  Understand that this cost isn't just ammo.  It includes range fees, tools, and anything specifically needed in the shooting of this gun.    Obviously, the major flaw in this calculation is the fact that reloading supplies are generally bought in bulk.  I have components to make about 700 rounds of ammo.  The only problem is, if I'm not happy with the ammo I'm making now, then 700 rounds of the same won't help me.  All it takes to make me happy is a little more money.
The second calculated number is a rato between shipping costs and actual parts.  That number is currently running at 12.1%.  This is a huge number.  I can admit, a bit of it is due to heavy "haz mat" charges for powder and such, but most of it is just the fee for ordering small little parts from various vendors.  I've started to be more aware of these costs when judging the local gun shop's prices.  Sometimes it really does pay to support the small retailer.

An example of some silly expenditures?  Here's three:

The aperture sight to give crystal clear sight picture was $110 and $14 shipping
The leather comb riser to give repeatable cheek location was $30 and $9 shipping
The bolt on pistol grip to give me repeatable trigger pull with rock solid follow through was $55 and $12 shipping.
Worth every penny I tell myself, but it adds up to $230, of which 15% was shipping.  I'm not sure my groups will improve $230 dollars worth.  I'm off to the range in a couple days, so we'll see.

Victory!

Yesterday I went to the local "Tri County Gun Club" and shot my first competitive rifle match.  200 yard sihouettes with black powder single shot cartridge rifles.  I had set up my sights per the book at 100 yards to be on at 200 and sure enough, they came out about right.  I needed a little fiddle faddling, but within 20 minutes of the 1 hour practice session I was dialed in.

As you can see from the picture below, I had a built in excuse if I did poorly.

The flag would whip from forwards to backwards, right to left.  Randomness was the code for the day.

The really good guys were shooting perfect 10s, while I would struggle to hit 3, eventually improving to 6 on the "hog".  Not that I'm complaining.  The rifle has come a long way in a month and I have great expectations that it will improve further still.  The group was very friendly and had tons of advice.   I think they were glad to see a new face in the crowd.

To answer your impertinent question: yes, there was only one person in my grouping.  Just like little league softball, to participate is to win.

Another day at the range.

A day at the range can't be all bad can it?  No, not all bad, just some.  It turns out my home cast 405 grain hollow base bullets that were supposed to be the cat's meow were pretty useless.  I haven't 100% given up hope, but they don't seem too promising.  The load with 60 grains of 777 shot a whopping 24 high  X 11 wide.  The load with 65 grains shot worse at 22 high x 24 wide.  The only ray of sunshine in all this is the fact that the 2 groups vary by quite a bit due to the load.  There's the potential I could find a "sweet spot" somewhere.  There was one keyhole, which distresses me because I'm accosomed to either all or none.  It is interesting that I could hear it.  Quite a buzz. 

One thing I've been muddling over is the fact that the 777 is slightly peppier than black powder, so I use a tad less to correct.  A typical load is 70 grains BP, where I use 60 of 777.  Because of this, I'm not getting as much compression as most people recommend.  I don't know that they don't just want "all that will fit" or if it really matters, but I think my next step is a load of real black powder so I can get some compression of the powder.

When I came home, what do I find on my doorstep but the bullets I ordered from Mt. Baldy.  this was horrible timing in 2 ways.  First, I couldn't try their 405 grain hollowbase bullets, and second, I couldn't shoot my 500 grain rounds because I need them for a competition Sunday and I had no bullets to reload. 

When I crack the boxes, I do find that the Mt. Baldy bullets are slightly different than mine.  Take a look.

The one on the left is Mt Baldy, the one on the right is mine (Lee mold).  The base of the baldy is bigger diameter and rounded in a sort of parabola shape.  I think it will deform to the bore much easier.  Alloy is supposed to be 20:1, same as mine.
Here's a side shot:

Again, Mt. Baldy on the left.  The Baldy's are sized, so that gives it a different appearance to the lands.  They're pretty similar otherwise.  You may wonder how I get them to stand up like that.  Sunday is the first day of spring, the Vernal Equinox.  Fresh eggs and bullets are easy to balance on that day.  In fact, if you leave some loose on a table Saturday night, some will be standing on Sunday morning.  Try it.

So what was good about the day?  Two things.  
First, my aperture sight and globe front that I got From Dixie Gun Works is awesome.  Everything is clear and steady and visible.  Two thumbs up. 
Second, I seem to have gotten my sabots working a lot better.  If you remember last time I shot them with a smokeless load of 12gr SR4759 and they were weak and all over the target.  They also left a lot of powder unburned.  I transitioned into 30 gr 777.  With the black powder substitute I could just press the sabot clear into the case and not crimp it.  It holds quite firm in a sized case.  The pattern was 5 wide by 3.25 high for 10 rounds.  This is pretty much equivalent to my best 500gr lead bullet round.  I tried a load with 40 grains 777.  It was similar at 4 wide x 5 high.  It is looking interesting anyway.  The bore had a bit more fouling, but that's to be expected with the light bullet and load.

What does a bell shaped curve look like?

Well, like this I guess.  It is a little lopsided, but you get the idea.
The first thing you'll notice is that the column on the right, where it has the number 11 written, has 12 bullets in it.  Lead poisoning affects math ability.

I decided to throw some bullets up on the triple beam to see what sort of consistency I was getting.  It turns out my "500 grain" bullets run from 519 to 532 grains.  I bought these lubed, so I'm including lube weight in this measure.  This is over 2% variation, which seems like it could matter.  Sorting brings me to about .35%, which I can't imagine is noticeable.  Testing will tell the tale.   I had expected that the ordeal of weighing each bullet would turn me off of this project, but when you're just trying to sort into a 2 grain range it goes fairly quickly.

The first handloads.

Every step of the way requires a fiddle and adjustment.  Right out of the box I find my decapper won’t work because I don’t want to resize the cases and the die does these two steps at once.  I get a new decap only die and it works like a charm.  Why not resize?   It isn’t necessary if I always use the same rifle, may be more accurate, and may make the little press last longer.

After decap, I drill out the flash hole to .096 as the Wolfe book says is a MUST.  Then I clean, dry and recap with magnum primers. 

Now to pick my loads.  I have 2 types of lead bullets.  One is 405 grains, the other 500 grains.  Both are copies of the original bullets for this gun, except the 405 is a flat base where the original was a hollow base.  I have sourced some hollow base bullets and they should be here any day.  I do a smokeless and a black powder load for each at about 60 grains equivalent.  I have some copper jacketed sabots too.  These are 200 grains, which is a bit off the mark, except I’ve seen loads that use 220 grain pistol bullets for practice rounds, so I figure I’ll give it a shot. 

Time to head back to the range.

A day at the range is fun, but I always feel like I'm just wasting ammo and time if I'm not trying to improve something, even if it is just me.  This day I had 10 rounds each of 5 different loads, plus some duplicates of loads I thought had promise.  The surprising thing was how really bad the bad loads were.  One of the loads was measureably better than any purchased ammo, but some of them made gigantic patterns and went through the paper sideways.


The loser was anything with a 405 grain flat base.  The pattern was either narrow and tall (like 12 inches tall) or completely shotgunned allover the place.  Black powder, smokeless, it didn't matter.


The winner was a 500 grain flat base with 60 grains by volume of 777 blackpowder replica.  It shot 6 inches wide and 5 inches high at 100 yards.  I was using a blade front sight with an aperture rear, so I think I can make some of that go away with my aiming.

The "interesting" round was the sabot.  These rounds were very lightly loaded to mimic the "gallery" round from the Wolf book.  I almost laughed out loud at how soft and quiet it was.  I was using smokeless powder (12 gr SR4759) and it left a lot unburned in the bore.  The group was 13 high by 15 wide, which is awful, but all the rounds went through straight.  I found a spent sabot and it looked like it took the rifling.  I think it may be time to play with stepping up the load on these.

Here's a photo of a new sabot/bullet and the spent sabot.

My next step is to get my hands on those hollow base 405 grain bullets.  They seem to be more elusive than I thought.  I also need to mount a globe sight on the front so I can get that nice "circle in a circle in a circle" picture. 

Fiddle and fuss with sights.

About a week ago I went out to the local range and watched a black powder rifle competition.  Everyone was using what looked like a falling block action, but a trapdoor will fit right in.  I got to shoot one and I was very impressed with the sight picture from the aperture (peep) sight.  So, naturally, I felt I needed to spend money.
One of my concerns is that I don't want to modify the rifle in any permanent way.  The photo below is my solution.

The brass plate attaches to 2 screws that hold the action together.  It wraps up and around the stock without actually touching.  There are still a few swirl marks to polish out, but it is looking pretty good even so.

Above is the plate at the halfway point.  It is a 1/4" backing plate to a commercial doorknob mount.  I had to work around a few screw holes to get it to fit.

This shows the right hand side.  The plate is a bit higher than I'd like.  I'm sure a better craftsman could do a better job.  Next step is a trip to the range for some testing.