Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Help diagnose accuracy problems

Hey guys I've been having some accuracy troubles with my ML and I'm hoping that you might be able to help me diagnose them. I shoot a Thompson Center Omega X7 and have been trying BH209 and T7 with 250 Gr TC Shockwave, TC Mag Express, and Hornady SSTs with Winchester T7 primers for the T7 and Remington Kleanbore Muzzleloading Primers with the BH209. My problem is that I'm getting groups that are unacceptably large to me. Using the T7 i had groups up to 12'', averaging 4-5'' at 100 yards and with the BH207 I was in the 2''-3'' range most of the time. The wierd things is that I'd occasionally get holes that would touch and then have a flier 3-4 inches away. I don't think its my shooting, I'm using a good sandbag rest and I'm normally not a slouch in the shooting department. My goal is to get a load that I can confidently shoot an antelope at 200 yards with. Thoughts? Could the primers be the problem? Seating force? I've been seating them pretty hard. Any other ideas?

So I did some research and found that the Remington Kleanbore primers are specificly NOT recommended for use with BH209 so that could be part of my problem. I'll pick up some CCI or Federal primers tomorrow and give it a try and see if that solves my problem. If that doesn't work I think I might try swapping out the scope.

Ensure that your mounts and optics are secure!~ A loose mount got me once on a 7-mag. Also don't include your fowler shot in the 3-shot group. IE before you go into the woods with a cold barrel - have the fowler shot out of the way. I always do and I more confident about my shots.

Let us know where you end up with your primer swap.......gl

If your flyer is generally the third shot you are placing to much down (hand) pressure on the rifle forarm. Also make sure the front and rear rifle sling studs are NOT digging into the bags.

Just curious are you shooting both powders (T7& bh-209) at the same range session??? That can be another factor.

Doc

some good advice already mentioned, re. scope mounts tight etc. also check carbon build up in your breech plug.
One thing to check is the time you're waiting between shots, if the barrel heats up too much then the heat effects the plastic sabots try waiting a little longer between shots for things to cool down, another trick when shooting in these temps is to store sabots in a cooler on ice . It may or may not resolve your issues but it definately cannot hurt.
good luck.

i shoot regular win 209 primers with blackhorn 209 in my triumph

Thanks for all the advise. I was switching between T7 and BH209 with cleaning in between but i intend to shoot only BH209 next time I go out and I've cleaned the barrel very well to get any copper and plastic build up out. I'm planning on going back out to the range on Thursday to try it out again.

Well I got to shoot my ML again at the range this evening and I'm pleased to announce that I had great results! I gave my ML the best cleaning of its life over the last couple of days, using plenty of copper solvent and letting it sit over night and switched to CCI 209 primers. My first shot off the bags with 100 grains of BH209 and a TC 250gr Shockwave was a bit off but the next two with the barrel fouled touched and the third was about 3/4'' away from those two! Then I moved to 200 yards and shot a 3'' group in fairly high winds. I've got to say that I'm amazed by the turn around. I can't say which was the more important factor, the cleaning or the primers but the difference is night and day. I'm temped to try upping the charge level or some of the other bullets I have but this is working so well I'll probably just stick with this load. Thanks again for all of the advice.

Now you are ready for anything with "hair" on it.

Good shooting.

Doc

Well I went shooting again yesterday and had some of the same consistancy problems and my point of impact seemed to have changed by ~4 inches. I took off my Nikon Omega last night and swapped in my known good Leupold from my .30-06 to see if that makes a difference. At this point I actually hope I have a bag scope because this is getting really frustrating. I'm going to shoot again today but I'm running very low on BH209 and there isn't any available locally. I hope I can get this sorted out before my antelope hunt!

Use a proven scope, get rid of the muzzloading specific 209 primers and use a standard 209 (remington sts, ect.) Mark your seating debth on your ramrod with a clean bore and load and strive to seat the bullets to this debth every time. As you shoot for groups or to sight in clean between every shot with one wet patch and a couple of dry. Try the Barnes sabots for accuracy (TEZ or original expander) . Try a load of 100 or 150 grains of the original pyrodex pellets. Shoot some groups with different grain weights of the T7 or Blackhorn, 100,110,115.

You did not say if you tried diffferent charge weights with the bullets and powders-are you loading max charges every time?

I've been shooting pretty much straight 100gr load of the BH209 so not a max load. It shot really well last weekend and i didn't change anything which is why I'm so confused. I tried to put on my VX-III from my deer rifle but the scope ran out of internal adjustment going up. I couldn't even get it high enough for 100 yards. I did take off the scope, mounts and base, cleaned them up a bit and will put them back on. I'm also considering getting some different rings to try or maybe a shim so my leupold will work.

You may have to shim the rear baae. I have hasd to do that to 2 of my Encore rifles. One Leopold shim which Leopold will send you at N/C will suffice.

Doc