At one point in my life (10-12 years ago) I was pretty serious about testing muzzleloader's. I got tired of all the cleaning, and finding out which shots each individual muzzleloader shot well (IE, some shot great on 1-3, some 2-5, some 3 and 4) between cleaning's. At that time I went to a savage smokeless, and was very un impressed. So I got a different savage smokeless, and was very un impressed.
Fast forward to now. I got an arrowhead precision muzzleloader from Luke. It was built on a savage action, with brux barrel, and HS precision stock (that I have not gotten around to pillar beding yet).
A few days ago I shot 3 rounds at 200 yards with a generic load of 68 grains of H4198. The 3 rounds could barely be covered with a quarter. Thinking this had to be a fluke, I set out this morning trying to find that perfect accuracy node.
I’ve never quite seen this, and thought it was pretty cool. All shots are at 200 yards with 68, 68.5, 69, 69.5 grains of H4198. To me the interesting thing is look how little effect powder change has on elevation. Doing a ladder test with one of these would be completely pointless. One thing I did learn is, every single shot that would be considered a light flier, was a bullet that loaded easier. I would assume this is due to the barrel heating up, and expanding. But, elevation wise, there is about ½ MOA elevation change (hotter was actually lower) between 1.5 grains of powder which is a pretty big accuracy node, or I’m not in the node, and that’s a pretty gradual rise. If that is the rise, I don’t care if I find a node.
As I got hotter the loads opened up, that could be due to loads not being as accurate, but it is more likely due to me getting tired. Later today I’m doing the exact same test in reverse.
Fast forward to now. I got an arrowhead precision muzzleloader from Luke. It was built on a savage action, with brux barrel, and HS precision stock (that I have not gotten around to pillar beding yet).
A few days ago I shot 3 rounds at 200 yards with a generic load of 68 grains of H4198. The 3 rounds could barely be covered with a quarter. Thinking this had to be a fluke, I set out this morning trying to find that perfect accuracy node.
I’ve never quite seen this, and thought it was pretty cool. All shots are at 200 yards with 68, 68.5, 69, 69.5 grains of H4198. To me the interesting thing is look how little effect powder change has on elevation. Doing a ladder test with one of these would be completely pointless. One thing I did learn is, every single shot that would be considered a light flier, was a bullet that loaded easier. I would assume this is due to the barrel heating up, and expanding. But, elevation wise, there is about ½ MOA elevation change (hotter was actually lower) between 1.5 grains of powder which is a pretty big accuracy node, or I’m not in the node, and that’s a pretty gradual rise. If that is the rise, I don’t care if I find a node.
As I got hotter the loads opened up, that could be due to loads not being as accurate, but it is more likely due to me getting tired. Later today I’m doing the exact same test in reverse.