New TMA Smoothbore Match (Trial Run)

[Uncle Russ]

Whoooeee!!! Looks like you been savin that up fer a while.

Yep Hank...my first 'outing' in several months.
Normally, by this time of the year, I will have shot 2, maybe even 3 cans of powder, but not this year. It has been a rough time around my house.
As you well know, I have been a "stay at home" kind of guy for sometime now, and all for good reason.....My wife has now got her "mend" on and doing sooo much better!

With my daughter Kathy staying home today from work, I took advantage of that and went shooting.
Jan says to tell ya Hi from her, and let you know you left at about the right time...it has been triple  digit temperatures for over six weeks now, wildfires are all over the place, with the biggest one being in British Columbia involving thousands of acres of prime forest, leaving about 35,000 people homeless, according to last nights news..

Prevailing winds has brought a good majority of the smoke and ash from that fire to us here in the Columbia Basin, and with our high temperatures it just seem to hang in the air...ugly times indeed!
When I went to the Range this morning I took a picture of Ephrata, or what you could see of Ephrata for all the smoke hanging in the air.....You can't see the town at all, and you can just barley make out the mountains in the background! 
 

Thank you Maven!
I contribute a lot of what we see in that target to two things.
1)  A lot of luck!
2) The new L&R Lock, and a few other things I did to that Renegade platform.

I have a JT Mold that throws .551, and with a OP Card, and a 0.0010 Patched RB over 70 / 75gr Goex FFFg, the rifle has always shot really well, remarkably well in fact, but today I honestly believe that Lock made a really BIG difference.

It took me years to learn to trust my wobbles, and learn to correctly call my shot as soon as it broke, if everything was 'just right' from stance to breathing, I could bank on that call.

Today I found myself "chasing" the front sight because the break was somehow different.
It took several shots before I realized this lock is a lot  faster...I would have never believed it until I witnessed it myself.

Chasing that front sight will drive a young man stark raving mad, that is if they've never learned to trust their wobble with correct follow through. Ignition plays a major role in follow through and impact, much more than most folks realize, and today I got another wake-up call to that fact.

Uncle Russ...

[RobD]

"tweaked" the jackie .62 smoothie yesterday by pulling the barrel and breech yet again, then rat tailed a shard of metal left from tapping the touch hole liner, then took the parallel trough cut into the breech plug's face and used a dremel with small stone to knock down those sharp edges and flare that trough channel wider as it got to the edge of the plug, where it would line up with the touch hole.  shudda taken a picture but was strapped for time, though i'm sure i'll be taking it all apart yet again.  also drilled out the "fake white lightning" touch hole from .062" to .078".   

this wednesday i'll give 'er another go at the smoothbore target.  can't let russ cover my slacking, i gotta get a score in!  heck, a point or two would be better than a DNF!       

[Ohio Joe]

That is some NICE shooting Russ! 

Looking forward to seeing those Silly-wet targets. Wow! talk about making a run - you're doing fantastic!

[amm1851]

Great shooting,  Uncle Russ!  I am glad to hear your wife is feeling better and you got to get out to the range. It has been hot and smoky here too. I  am looking forward to cooler temps this fall. 

[Two Steps]

Great shootin' there Russ  Reckon I'll have to try my .56 next time out...I'll show it a picture of your target before I start, just to get it's head straight 

[Hank in WV]

Yep, Jan sure got that right. Time to get out of Dodge when the temps get that high . This old man can't take too much of that any more. Hey to Jan and Kathy. Glad she's feeling better. Sounds like you might be too. Seems like I remember the name Ephrata from my earlier trip out there. Either passed it or saw a sign for it on our trip up to Coulee Dam.

[RobD]

well, i got the jackie .62 to fire reliably today at the range.  it worked darned good.  off the bench i was making a huge wide hole with those .595 patched balls.  out of the bag was a diff'rent story (who hasn't been there with offhand shooting?  not me!) and at least i got 5 holes in the smoothbore postal target face.   the load that worked best for me was 60 grains of swiss 3f under a .015 grease patched .595 lead ball.  over this past weekend i pulled the breech plug and with a stone wheel on a dremel i smoothed and flared out that narrow 3/16" trough/channel in the plug's flat face, then reamed the .062" vent to .078".  she goes off fast and easy, and loading is still thumb started and easy pushing down to the chamber where bouncing the rod homes the ball for a compressed load.  anyhoo, great day at the range, as always. 

[Uncle Russ]

Yeaaaa Haw!  Good on you Rob!

I have to tell you Rob, that is as good as I can do with any of my smothbores, except for the .56.
In fact, that is much better than I can do with my .69....and about on par for my .62.
With both of these guns I have just never got the "hang of it" try as hard as I might, even though the .69 does have a rear sight.
It just ain't there for me, or at best, I just haven't found it....I wish that was not the case, but it is.

I'm glad you're on to something there.
There's nothing, in my mind, that's any more elating than knocking the fire out of the black when ya got things working for you.

Congratulations!
 

Uncle Russ...

[Ohio Joe]

Nice shooting Rob. One of these days I'm going to get out to the Range and continue load testing with my NWTG I picked up from Rondo, however it won't be until after mid-month...  Grandson and I still have some fishing to do before he heads back to school next week. 

[RobD]

it'd have been nice shootin' if them holes had drifted a bit eastward on that target face.    

oh well, it's a challenge to improve, and that's half the fun of these smokepoles! 

love the smoothbores - a real challenge with only a front sight blade!  i think if *had* to have only one muzzleloader, it'd be a .62 smoothie for sure. 

[Two Steps]

Nice target Rob    Did you try closing your frizzen before you load up to see if you were pushing powder into the pan?  I have one long gun that I can do that with...self priming saves me a step in the loading process.  It's not for a perfectionist (maybe different grains in the pan each load) but with my old eyes and hands...it's close enough 
Al

[RobD]

al, i run in and leave a short piece of .053 phosphor-bronze round-wound acoustic guitar string wire into the touch hole before dumping down the powder.  after the patched ball is seated, pulling out the round-wound wire loads the inner cone of the touch hole and dribbles a few kernals into the pan, which gets some added grains for priming.  ignition is fast and sure.  what really helped this gun was smoothing and flaring the trough/trench/channel in the face of the breech plug, and a 5/64" drill bit ddn't hurt that touch hole liner, either!  now this gun is a bona fide shooter at last.  amen to that. 

[greyhunter]

Well Uncle Russ and Rob, with those targets you two have chased "all the kids off the block!" including this one! Whipped before I even primed the pan! Maybe I can hit paper if I use buck..................

[rollingb]

Well Uncle Russ and Rob, with those targets you two have chased "all the kids off the block!" including this one! Whipped before I even primed the pan! Maybe I can hit paper if I use buck..................

Lynn,... I was thinkin' the same thing. 

[Uncle Russ]

Well Uncle Russ and Rob, with those targets you two have chased "all the kids off the block!" including this one! Whipped before I even primed the pan! Maybe I can hit paper if I use buck..................

Greyhunter, you and I both know there was a tremendous amount of luck in that target I shot.

Still yet, when it comes to that .56 cal Renegade, their accuracy is just one of the reasons they are 'outlawed' at many smoothbore matches...they also have an adjustable rear rifle sight and they are, by all rights, a Smoothbore Rifle....

I said earlier they are "Sinfully Accurate", and indeed they are.
With the proper load they truly shine, still yet they are very forgiving, no matter what load you are shooting.
Plus, I regularly shoot 1.25oz shot in front of 70 / 75 grains of Goex FFFg....the Renegade has just never received the popularity it so rightfully deserves.

Just ask any Renegade .56 owner, it's the same story no matter where you go.

I have been bragging about this rifle for years on end now, and when Joe permitted them in this "trail match" it was the perfect chance to show what these things are capable of, although it was even more than I had anticipated, but simply put....."there ain't no fleas on this dog, it will hunt!"


Uncle Russ...