Some fired patches..Opinions ??

[Razor]

I recovered these from my last serious sighting session (which quickly degenerated into a fun shooting session.. )
Whaddya think ??
Too thick, thin, whatever...??
See any problems ??
Any suggestions ??
I think they look pretty good..but I'd like to hear any input you fellers have...
These are all 'fire' side

[old salt]

Razor
The patches look good, I don't see any tearing or burn threw on any
of them, As for the thickness it is hard to tell. Are you getting good
groups with them? If you are then I would not change any thing, if
not then you may have to play with the thickness of the patches or even
powder charge. That is all I can tell you from just looking at patches

[Razor]

The first 2 rounds were low and left...4" low, 'bout 7 o'clock..
the next 4 were 4" low at 6 o'clock..actually 1 large ragged hole..
cleaned the bore after 5th rd ?
1 rd low and left, next 3 or 4  low at 6 o'clock.
Cleaned the bore
1 rd low and left
next few rds low and center..
I'm thinkin' thats acceptable (leastways till I file the front sight to bring my POI up some.)
Thanks for the confirmation there OS

[Ironwood]

Number 3 from the left looks like it might have a little burn through or torn spot at 6 o'clock.  Other than that they all look OK to me.  I don't know if it makes any difference, accuracy wise, at all but I try to cut my patches as uniform as I can.  It would also be interesting to know what powder charge you are using?   Is this your new .50 caliber?   And I guess this would still be at 50 yards.  Looks like you were getting some pretty good groupings.  I like that 4 shots in one ragged hole. :)

[old salt]

If this is a new rifle I would shoot a 50 to 100 rounds before I would take
a file to it, and see if the rounds stay in a tight patern. I would also try a
few thicker patches if the patern is not staying tight. Remember you can
always take some of the frount sight later, but it is dammed hard to put it
back on. For me filing the frount sight is a last resort.

[Hanshi]

You got a better look at the patches than we did even though the photos are very good.  As long as there are no tears or burning the patches have done what they should do.  You can experiment with different thicknesses, etc. as and accuracy experiment but that's a different criterion.  Just a thought. 

[Razor]

Thanks for the insights fellers..
The powder charge was 50 gr fff   

[Stumblin Wolf]

50 grains in a .50? They look a little light colored to me, maybe try bumping up to 60 grains and see what happens. I'm thinking it will bring your group up a little bit.

[Razor]

I fired 'bout 50 rds  with 50 grs at 50 ft to see where she'd print.  roundball o'course.
filed my front sight to dead-on at 50 ft.
Then tried 50, 55, 60, 65 & 70 gr at 50 YDS...5 rds each.
50 grs at 50yds wuz 'bout 8" low.
70 grs 3f at 50 yds is dead-on again...
The 50, 55gr, etc. loads naturally shot low..kept adding powder an' they kept movin' up...
Shore am happy wiff her ...

[Stumblin Wolf]

  way to go! My .50 likes 65 grains 3f up to about 80 yards, then I boost 'er up to 75 for longer shots.

[pathfinder]

Patch's look good. I know the bullet really doesn't care what's in front of it in the barrel,but for some reason I can't use square patches,doesn't seem right and that doesn't make sense. I also wasn't a fan of changing powder charges,just raising the barrel for longer distance's,until I went to a 200yd silhouette shoot(NMLRA sanctioned)with my .58 Hawkin. 1 1/8" at the breech and 70 grs 3F. got some coaching and bumped it up to 115grs 3F for the 175 & 200 targets and nailed all 4 bears! Still aimed a little high with the rear sight raised, but it made me a believer that even a blind pig gets an acorn now and then!

[Wyoming Mike]

Great shooting Pathfinder!  Hitting all the bears at 200 yards offhand is worth the brag.  The most I have gotten is three and that was with my Santa Fe.  Our silhouettes rest on the ground and you need to hit the bears in the upper half to knock them down even with a .58.

I shoot two loads in my rifles - a light load for 25 and 50 yards and a stouter load that prints at the same place at 100 yards.  That's the load I use for hunting.  For the buffaloes, turkeys and bears I raise the front sight in the notch.  For the buffs I give it about a quarter sight, for the turkeys about a three quarter sight.  For the bears, if I have the bottom of the front sight even with the top of the rear, the rifle will hit dead on at 200 yards.

I haven't got my .58 dialed in yet for the bears.  I do alright giving it more front sight on the buffs and turkeys but am still falling short on the bears.  Need to play with it some more the next time we have a silhouette shoot.

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The patches look good.  I would go with the load that gives the best groups.  If you are getting one ragged hole at 50 yards that is good with open iron sights.  I have three .50s.  Two take 50 grains for 25 and 50 yards.  The other takes 55.  I up the load for 100 yards until the rifle is printing with the same POA/POI at 100 yards.  For the three .50s that is one at 75 grains, one at 65 grains and the other at 70 grains.  Every rifle seems to like what it likes for powder/patch/ball for best groups.