The shootability of a smoothbore?

[mark davidson]

biliff, Now that is an honest answer. Thanks! Five shots on a sheet of typing paper at 50 yards is a worthy goal to start with. That is what new fellers like me need to know....a bar to begin with....a "first" goal or norm of sorts to use as a control group or measuring stick for our progress. Thanks again!

[IronDawg]

Well fellers. I may owe some of yall an apology. I'm not going to delete what I typed earlier, because at the time it's what I felt. I have went back and tried to read it with a fresher mind and different approach (slept on it) And to an extent came up with some slightly different points of view.

I would have to go back and check to ensure I have the right poster but I do believe the fella said to "NOT take his post as sarcasm,  rudeness offense, or something along those lines" And I pretty much did exactly that.

Itsa thing with me. I've gotten it all my life. I will be the first to admitt when "I don't know" the first to admit "I am wrong" the first admit "I am new to this." But still in the same sense get a shade defensive when I feel I'm being viewed as someone  who's all keyboard and never hunted or spent any true range time learning and shooting and honing skills.

With these traditional muzzleloaders?? yup! rookie here. thats why all the questions. Shooting, siting,  hunting?? No where near my first rodeo.

Thing is fellas. These things are no where near what anyone would consider CHEAP in fact you can pretty much buy a fine centerfire for what a KIT cost. And as I am a bit new to this I merely try and get a notion of likes dislikes, simularities and what can be expected from which weapon before considering to fork over that kind of cash for one. See some of you guys have been at this longer than I've been alive. And during that time you've managed to aquire almost every type, buy some, sell some, swap some, trade some, and sit back and think, "dang I wish I woulda never bought that!" or, "dadgum I wish I would have never got rid of that gun." I'm asking because if it's possible I don't want to go "heck I sure as fire wish i would NOT have bought this."  And even if I do get that feling after buying one?? I won't be able to use the excuse "well I should have asked more questions or researched it some more."

Again I would like to thank all of those who gave me informative posts and answers. And again I would like to apologize if there was any misunderstanding as well as sort of going off in my last post. It's hard to see someones face through these keyboards sometimes, and even harder to read emotion in to them.

If no offense was meant?? I apologize for taking offense anyway. And now take none.

[mark davidson]

Irondawg, Good post. The folks here are great folks to learn from and discuss with. We all get on eachother's toes from time to time; we simply are not all at the same place yet. I feel your pain on the economics. I have spent far more money on these custom MLers than I ever thought about spending on any other custom gun project. It gets in your blood. It takes thick skin to play on any forum whether you are an old head or a newbie like me(us). I think we could all be a bit more polite and patient with eachother as we learn and grow together. It's a journey man....one shrouded in black smoke!!!! :-)

[waksupi]

I have noticed over the years, the more you shoot your smooth bore, the longer your effective range becomes.

[pathfinder]

And the longer ya shoot yer rilfle,the further up the barrel the rear sight goes!!!!! Which I'm guessing is why us old farts love our trade guns.

[Captchee]

And the longer ya shoot yer rilfle,the further up the barrel the rear sight goes!!!!!  Which I'm guessing is why us old farts love our trade guns.

that and the bigger ball makes a bigger hole LOL  

I have noticed over the years, the more you shoot your smooth bore, the longer your effective range becomes.
 

 yep . possibly because  we dont  rely so much on the rear sight  but on the hold .

 as i have stated before  in other posts . there is no reason why a smooth bore will not hold a single hole at 25 yards and a sub 6 inch pattern at 75 .

 In not sure if this was  lost  with the site clean up so ill post it again

  Last summer I built a Type D fusil for a customer . He had never shot smoothbore and  never shot flintlock .
 So when I delivered  it was in a place we could do some shooting .
 For a load  we simply started out with  80 grains of 3 F .  a wad over the powder , the ball , then an over the shot card to hold it all in place . NO patches were used .
 The first  3 shots where from the bench at 25 yards . Here is his target



 I did alittle barrel bending to bring the  POA center and we filed the front blade a little. Tell such time as he was shooting  just alittle high at 25 .
 We then went to shooting off hand at 50 and 75 yards
 Here is his 50 and 75 yard target
 


  Now the top  ink dot is his 50 yard  shooting . As you can see the pattern is  under 4 inches . Infact if you discount the fliers , its under  2 inches .

 The main bull is his 75 yard target . As you can see the 7 shots are under 6 inches . With one shot  he did not follow through , which dropped to the bottom of the target ..

 Now again he was a new shooter to both flintlock and smoothbore . But a long time shooter of caplock .
 As such with practice and a proper worked up load , there is no reason in my mind that  his groups will not tighten up more