50-90 paper?

[Gunner500]

200 yards sounds plenty good enough to get started to me Kurt, that will give me a moa baseline to adjust on up to the 500 yard gong, having the dirt to stretch these old rifles out is purely accident, was born and worked on a farm all my life, as a kid splitting 6 foot lengths cut from cedar trees for fence posts with sledge hammer and wedge, I swore if I ever make it outta this slave encampment alive i'll never set foot on a farm again!

But, what did I rush out to buy as a young adult? LOL, and you bet Sir, anytime You're traveling to or from a match and have time, running I-40 through eastern Oklahoma, or 59/71 North or South, give me a call or send a PM, I'd love for you to stop in and splat some lead on that gong.

I emailed welder bud from other friends laptop, he's going to cut me a 36 inch gong today, told him in need two holes burned in at 10:30 and 1:30 for chain hanging with S hooks, i'll pick it up when I get back home, you Men like them painted white, black or red?

I hope the Swiss 1F or OE 2F shoots good in this rifle, although, the rifle also came with a case and a half of 'standard?' Goex 1F, I hear Goex Express is now from the planet Unobtainum, congrats on the new Axtell too, and no worries, I have to make it to 80 years old first, whether 'i' could shoot a 50-90 then or not is of no concern, I think You're doing a hell of a job as is Sir.

[Don McDowell]

I like to have the gongs painted black, with a white aiming point for the most part. Sometimes all white makes them easier to see depending on the time of the year. Tried red once and it was an abject failure.
Don't sell that standard 1f Goex short with the right compression it works well, just doesn't shoot with as much velocity and a bit more fouling than other powders. If you could find some Cartridge works well in the 50-90. Haven't tried any of the OE 1f in the 50's, but as well as it works in other scoop shove at a time sized cartridges can't help but think it would work great in the 50's.

[Kurt]

I like the black and white spot also.

We split a lot of Cottonwood and maple logs also but we drove a wedges in first to make a crack and filled the crack with blasting powder stuffed hemp stalks over the powder and lit the fuse That would lay them open in fine shape. When they were split several times then we could handle them on the buzz saw mounted on the old WD Allise and cut them for firewood.
For fence posts we used hedge limbs.
Yes those were hard but good days.

[Gunner500]

Don, white on black it will be, good to hear about the red as that's the color of the bullseye on my 500 yard gong, I need to get to the store and get some white paint, Thanks for tip on the old Goex 1F, i'll keep it around, thinking i'lll be between 100 and 105 gr of OE 2F under Kurt's prescribed 1.500 bullet for around 1285 fps at 706 grains, that may be a winner for me.

Kurt, headed home now, i'll catch a few hours of rest then head to the casting pot and load shop as soon as I get up tomorrow, I'll load two separate five round test loads with each powder and use the different thicknesses of grease cookies I have, will keep velocities around 1285 fps for both, I already know it's going to take 120gr Swiss 1F to push that 705 grain bullet 1285.

Dang, no wonder you shoot black powder, been watching stuff blow since you were a pup ; ]
And yessir, hard work built a lot of good men out of overgrown boys, I wouldn't change a thing.[/align]

[Kurt]

Don't worry about the 1285, 1285 is just the range where my rifle settled down with the powder I used. You don't need speed, you want accuracy and some place down the line both will come together. OE and Swiss will shoot just fine with minimal compression and also there is a point where heavy compression comes back into the accuracy range. You will just have to do some ladder loads of one or two grain increases from .050" too heavy. Three rounds each first is enough and when you see a tight group load 5 of that load and see if it holds.

[Gunner500]

10-4 Thanks Kurt, 120gr Swiss 1F will run 1285, i'll leave that be and check it for now, if 100gr of OE 2F will run the same, and fouls softer than Swiss that may be a win/win, I guess ideally I need to be looking for moa or less groups at all ranges?

For example, if a five round group at 400 yards is less than 4 inches across and 4 inches deep, it has potential?

[Gunner500]

Yes, on the compression too, I have an old Sagebrush drop tube I use to load BPCR, with only a quarter inch of bullets in the case I should have plenty of working room in the Starline brass, especially if I can get by with only 100 grains OE2F, cant wait to see.

Checked weather out for tomorrow, cool, 45 degrees for a high, winds out of the N/NW 5 to 8 mph, I shoot dew North on the gongs, should be a great load development day.

[Kurt]

For example, if a five round group at 400 yards is less than 4 inches across and 4 inches deep, it has potential?

Yup, But I seen a 2 MOA win matches

[Gunner500]

For example, if a five round group at 400 yards is less than 4 inches across and 4 inches deep, it has potential?

Yup, But I seen a 2 MOA win matches

Great! that's definitely something to shoot for, I remember Don saying something about to much vertical, but i don't know how much was too much, so moa or less vertical is fine too, good deal.
I remember how sharp the gongs looked the last time I looked through that Hoke sight, I really couldn't believe how clean everything looked, I'm going to bear down hard on them tomorrow, a little recipe recording and chronographing, then to the bench it will be!

[Kurt]

A lot of vertical starts with barrel harmonics, light and head/tail winds, bullet release from the case mouth, Inside case volume that will change the compression that changes the powder burn.
Find the vibration null on your barrel and mark that spot with something that won't leave a mark. I use a rubber band that is tight. You can find the null by holding the rifle at it's balance point and slap the barrel with two fingers or a rubber mallet something that won't hurt the barrel. You don't need to hit it hard. You will feel a vibration in your hand holding the rifle. Tap the barrel front to back or the other way till you find the location where you don't feel a vibration when you tap the barrel, this is your null point and mark and measure this point for future reference.
This will eliminate some vertical. Horizontal can start with the guy behind the butt plate fat fingering the rifle, improper cheek weld, this also will effect the vertical. Seating depth of the bullet in the case can also cause horizontal strings as well as wind.
Uneven wood to barrel contact can throw verticals as well as oblique strings. I had bad vertical problems with one of my rifles so I bedded the whole forearm with acraglass and that solved that problem a whole bunch.
Free floating a falling block rifle is not an option.

Forgot an important point and that is holding the sight straight without canting it. A 10 degree cant will throw the shot from the X ring to the 9 depending the left or right hand twist in the direction it will travel at extended ranges.