Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Traditions ML trouble

My buddy SuperCore sold son #2 his Traditions ML. A number of years ago, SuperCore had bypass surgery. When he went to test out his ML for the season, he couldn't get it to group. It had been a 2MOA rifle up until that point. He went out and bought another one. I looked at the bullets he was shooting cast Lee R.E.A.L -- same as me. I noticed hit bullets were all mishapen. I told him that was probably why he wasn't grouping well. He was still a little rocky from the surgery and I figured that was the cause of it all.

Moose, #2 son, now has the old ML. We got together a few weeks ago and cast up some R.E.A.L for ourselves. Moose is having about as much trouble as SuperCore. It's printing all over the place at 100 yards-- used to be a tack driver for SuperCore.

One thing I've noticed: The first foot or so of barrel is very tough to get a ball down. From there, it gets easier-- about what you'd normally expect. That's odd. I've seen bulged barrels, but not one that got tighter.

Any ideas?

50 strokes with some JB bore paste, using an old bronze brush wrapped tightly with some cleaning patches to start.
Get all the lead out, that’s a good start. And it should polish it up some.
Be generous with the paste. Change patches often.

could be the lead used in the bullets. If they shoot good one year and the next they are hard to load, the lead is swelling up because its not pure.

What would cause a metal alloy to "swell?"

I would be using JB bore paste. Maybe even some mild scotch brite on a jag.
I had similar issues with plastic sabots, used shotgun wad cleaner spray and it resolved that issue.
Good luck

hardens, excuse me.

I'll give that a shot. Thanks!

Sounds like it may be corrosion. The JB may help. If not it may be time for a new rifle.