That first shot

[Firelock]

I had my 20 ga TVM fowling piece out today, trying several different methods of patching/wadding round balls.

I noticed that every shot from a clean barrel landed about 6" low and 6" right from my shots with a fouled barrel.

It didn't seem to matter at all how I loaded the gun. These were the different methods used (all shot with 70 gr 2Fg Goex):

1. Powder, .58 cal pillow ticking patched round ball

2. Powder, 1/8-inch wool felt wad, .60 cal bare ball, folded brown paper top wad

3. Powder, folded brown paper wad, .60 cal bare ball, folded brown paper top wad

4. Powder, 1/8-inch wool felt wad, .60 cal bare ball, over shot card

I shot a five shot string using each method, and cleaned between each string.

The first shots of each string made a very distinct group, and all the other shots made a very distinct group. Both groups were in the 4-inch diameter neighborhood, which is decent for a smoothbore shot from 50 yards by me.

Kind of a bummer though, since the first shot is the most important when hunting.

Anyone else seeing this?

[Adam Wetherington]

Not me, same gun too.

[bob miller]

What powder weight ? Maybe try different charges. Also, try paper cartridges. My 10 bore likes them the best.

[AxelP]

The obvious "sorta" solution is to shoot a fouling shot and then hunt with the second shot.

Since the clean bore creates the flier, I wonder if you just need to use a thicker/tighter patch/ball combo to start with?

try a thicker patch, or a bigger ball.

K

_________________
I Hate Rabbits...

[Black Hand]

Try a 0.600 ball and 0.010-0.012 lubed patching. I shoot a similar load using 75-80gr FFFg.