Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Advice for sighting in?

I'm kind of a neophyte to muzzloading and want to get a start on the season now so I actually know my rifle before the season starts--for a change.

Judging from some of the posts, this is gonna be a bit more complicated than anything I'm accustomed to so far. What I'd like to know is, are there any rules of thumb with regard to how many loads I can run through the barrel before the ballistics start changing? Do I even need to be concerned about this? Are there other factors that I should be considering?

I'll be using a cheapie Lyman 50 cal inline with triple seven and powerbelts, until I get a better handle on the process. Where I'm at, a 150 yard shot would be about the max.

Any pearls of wisdom (other than getting a better rifle) would be appreciated.

thx

Scott

The rifle is fine. The procedure would not change by spending more money. Swab at least every three shots. The best way I have found is to secure the rifle as best you can to a rest. You can use your own imagination to accomplish this. Shoot the dang thing, (at 20 yards)and adjust the crosshairs to the hole. Move to 50. Repeat, but sight it about 2" high. Move to 100, repeat, and sight it about 1" high. This should put you right on about at 130, and maybe 4" low at 150. Practice at those ranges to educate yourself. Ballistics charts and the real world sometimes are at odds. With this sighting in range, you can hold pretty much where you want to hit out to about 140, and adjust a little for 150. You have to be aware that if you are too high at closer shots, you may booger it up....Sight in to the most common shot, not the furthest.

Thanks Benchman, that sounds like a plan. You have no idea of my talents for boogering things up tho.

You may have to experiment with different powder and loads and bullets. I had no luck at all with Powerbelts but did get a good load with T/C sabot bullets. It is fun experimenting as they are fun to shoot. Benchman has good info also.

Good luck

I use a Lyman a lot an my load is 80 gr of 3ffg 7 an a sabot with a hornaday 45 long colt bullet a 209 primer works great at a 100 yards . My advice is sight right on at 100 yards then raise to back bone when out futher workd every time

Savage62, since you use a Lyman as well, I wonder if you feel your bore is a bit oversized. I can easily slide my bullets down the bore with one hand, heck, with 2 or 3 fingers even. It's the same with powerbelts or saboted Hornady bullets. I see my buddies with TC, Knight or CVAs practically bust a gut to load theirs. Makes me wonder if that's part of my problem, but I can't imagine the manufacturer got that wrong.

Wrap your bullets with teflon tape(pipe thread sealant tape) once or twice before putting in sabot & loading. Should be able to tell a difference of how hard sabot/bullet goes down barrel. May help groups. If it does improve groups you'll probably want a different sabot.

A zero at 100 gets you from 0 to 125 holding dead on. My drop is typically 7" at 150. Do your "final" sight in right before your hunt and set your zero from a cold clean barrel. My two cents, keep your gun squeaky clean and dry and don't neglect your breechpug. Definitely do not let your gun condensate and freeze.

I no longer shoot Triple 7 but 7-8 shots gummed the hell out of the breechplug. I patched vigorously after every shot to remove the crud ring. The stuff cleans up really well with soap and water. After patching the barrel bone dry I would leave it "as is" during hunting season. If your max range is around 150, magnum charges are pointless (unless you really like the extra recoil).