Strange shot

Tristate · Aug 3, 2014

Howdy. I am new to muzzleloading and I have been practicing for a few weeks now. Today I went and shot and was actually shooting the best pattern I have ever shot with the weapon. On my fifth shot I slung an outlier basically 5 inches directly north of my pattern. The shot had felt fine and it seemed strange. When I removed the primer from the breech it was chared black all around the sides of the primer. I cleaned and reloaded and shot again in my usual order and routine. The sixth shot went right back to my pattern and the primer this time was clean again. Was there an issue with an individual primer and can that cause an outlier like this?

elkassassin · Aug 3, 2014

Coulda been a Primer?

You sure you didn't throw an extra 50 Grains of Powder in?

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FrontierGander · Aug 3, 2014

Clogged up breech plug flash channel or loose " headspace" against the primer cause the black soot.

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Tristate · Aug 3, 2014

I am reasonably sure it was 100 grains of powder. Recoil felt no different.

So some type of tiny alteration in primer ignition can completely change flight path? Is there something I can do to prevent this from happening in the field? I have been a complete clean freak with this weapon. Barrel is cleaned between every shot and every six shots weapon has been completely stripped and cleaned including breach port. Sorry just trying to keep risk knocked down. Got a really good tag and I am out of my element.

Doubless · Aug 3, 2014

A lot of variables that you don't address:

Which rifle are you using?

Which primer? A #11, musket cap, or a 209?

Powder or pellets?

Which bullet are you shooting? Saboted or conical...

Where is POI on the first shot? In other words, does the rifle require fouling to shoot well, or is it dead on out of a clean barrel?

Tristate · Aug 4, 2014

LAST EDITED ON Aug-04-14 AT 06:37AM (MST)[p]"A lot of variables that you don't address:

Which rifle are you using?"

TC .50 Triumph

"Which primer? A #11, musket cap, or a 209?"

209

"Powder or pellets?"

777 pellets 100 grains

"Which bullet are you shooting? Saboted or conical..."

Sabot Barnes 250 grain

"Where is POI on the first shot? In other words, does the rifle require fouling to shoot well, or is it dead on out of a clean barrel?"

First shot landed 1.5 inches high and .5 inches right of bull. Amazingly first shots out of rifle after complete clean seem to be highly accurate which is different than all of my center fire rifles.

sjhgraysage · Aug 4, 2014

While primers are fairly uniform it is not uncommon for them to vary in length and in diameter. You may have gotten shorter or smaller diameter one that did not seal up in your breech plug.
In my bare primer Knight breech plug I have found about 50 or so out of a hundred that fit nice and tight and the rest slightly looser. Your mileage may vary.

Doubless · Aug 4, 2014

I am wondering if somehow you got a different powder charge. It is not uncommon at all for pellets to act strange. I don't shoot them, for that very reason. They are very kind in the field as far as loading, but in my experience are harder to light and sometimes are just flat inconsistent. And in my experience, most rifles don't need a shotshell primer to ignite loose powder. In fact, that much brisance can actually open up a group...

I would recommend you try some loose powder. I shoot T7 in my Whites and it is amazingly consistent. I would go with 100 grains and see if your group is the same, then if it is, I would get some TC Speed Loaders (or whatever they are called), load four or five and put them in your pocket when you head out. They work very well...

Tristate · Aug 4, 2014

Thanks for the info guys. I purchased some of the regular granulated powder yesterday evening to try. I think it is Blackhorn Brand. Was planning on trying that on an accuracy tip from a friend. I will also start paying attention to my primer consistency regarding length and diameter.