Some offhand shooting today

[William]

Went to the local range this morning with my .54 Trade Rifle to practice loading and shooting from my bag.  My TR has a 1:48 ROT and I was using .530 RB, 2f Goex and either pre-cut, pre-lubed .020 patches or pillow ticking soaked in olive oil and cut at the barrel.  The distance was 30 yards and I used either a 55 or 75 grain charge shooting off-hand, standing.  Grouping was very good and it was hitting high, no surprise at that range, the only real difference I found was in the amount of fouling I had depending on the type of patch used.  OO seemed to have less fouling than the store bought but I did not test it against my OO/beeswax mix.  Recovered pillow ticking patches looked like they could be used again.  Looking forward to the hog hunt in November.

[Wyoming Mike]

The patch and ball combination can make a lot of difference.  I spit patch and can usually shoot target loads all day without cleaning.  My old Mountain Rifle was the excecption.  If I didn't clean after five shots or so it would get hard to load and accuracy would go in the toilet.  I was using a .490 ball and a .018 ticking patch.  I recently changed to a .495 ball and a .023 ticking patch.  It still loads with a on the short starter.  The rifle will shoot all day now without cleaning and keep its old accuracy.  I took it to a Pie shoot in August and came away with a pie and lots of quarters.