I had a pleasant surprise at the range today. A year or more ago, I bought a Ballard 32-40 and until very recently have been totally frustrated in getting any accuracy out of the gun. First challenge was that the bore was .328" rather than the normal .321". I made an oversize mold to match the bore and opened the chamber to accept the oversize bullet but with black powder, I could barely hit the paper at 25 yards. I finally got desperate two days ago and loaded some shells with smokeless and with Pyrodex (while holding a crucifix in front of me :>) ). The gun shot fairly well with both powders. I decided that in order to recreate the bore conditions of smokeless, I should not only brush the bore with a bronze brush (which I always do with black powder loads) but also run a wet patch through the bore. Lo and behold, my group at 50 yards was about 1 1/2". Just for comparison I shot 6 more shots after brushing only between shots but no wet swab; back to the same old problem of shots all over the place.
In the first target scan, the shot was at 3 o'clock outside the black and was only a drying shot to clean a oily barrel. Two shots wen into one hole in the group at 6 o'clock ( 6 shots on paper plus the drying shot). The target below that is 50 yards and cleaning with a bronze brush between shots but no wet swab
cheers mooncoon
In the first target scan, the shot was at 3 o'clock outside the black and was only a drying shot to clean a oily barrel. Two shots wen into one hole in the group at 6 o'clock ( 6 shots on paper plus the drying shot). The target below that is 50 yards and cleaning with a bronze brush between shots but no wet swab
cheers mooncoon
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