I found my .50 caliber flintlock rifle's accuracy improved when I began using the circumference of the "ball" on the end of my short starter to knock the rifle ball down below the top edge of the barrel with the patch material under the ball in a strip... then I cut the patch at the muzzle with a very sharp knife.
By NOT putting the ball so far down the muzzle, there's less patching material left out in front of the rifle ball when you cut the patch off at the rifle's muzzle when the rifle ball is just BARELY below the rifle's muzzle. In fact, as I now do it, there's a small round part of the face of the rifle ball where I can still see the lead after I cut off the patching material (.016 denim with a .490" rifle ball).
My theory is/was that this extra patching material out in front of the rifle ball tended to "bunch-up" as the ball traveled up the barrel which resulted in that extra "bunched-up" patch material tending to "tip" the ball slightly as it left the muzzle... much the same as a "bad" muzzle crown would do.
Then, too... I
never "trusted" the factory to add the correct amount of lube to the patch and, as pointed out by others here, that lube gets old as the pre-lubed patch sits on the shelf... and who knows how long it's been sitting there? For those reasons alone, I lube my own patches in a strip and cut off the patch at the muzzle.
A great many BP shooters each have their own "special formula" for patch lubrication... talk to 100 of 'em and you'll find there's 80 or 90 different recommendations for a lube. The pioneers and mountain men probably used saliva most of the time and a good many modern BP shooters still use it. I've heard "good" and "bad" about Bore Butter as well as 'most other standard factory lubes. Some swear by 'em and some swear
AT 'em.
Generally, I've found that BP shooters are some of the most opinionated people on earth and each is sure HIS or HER way is the ONLY way to do it right!!! That's not a condemnation of BP shooters 'cause the vast majority of 'em are wonderfully honest, helpful people... but they sure hold STRONG convictions!
But like many of the others here, I'd recommend you find a good lube that others have had good luck with and give it a try. I'd also recommend you use ONLY "cut-at-the-muzzle" patches. For a .54 caliber, I'd leave the strips of patch cloth 2-inches wide so that there's never any doubt you have plenty of width to work with so that if you happen to get the rifle ball a little off the center of the patch material or the bore, there's still enough material to insure a "good" patch that fully encompasses the ball.
If it's hard to push your patched ball down a CLEAN barrel, I'd recommend you go to a slightly (.001" or .002") thinner patching material. The patched ball should NOT go down the barrel EASILY, but it shouldn't take a great amount of force to push the patched ball down a CLEAN or almost clean barrel.
If you've got a new barrel, it may take a few hundred shots to break in that new barrel. Some say it will take "500 shots", some say "100 shots"... I dunno, but there generally IS a "break-in" period.
I use FFFg Swiss black powder for my "target" load... can't use triple 7 in a flinter, so I can't comment on whether or not the 777 shoots "dirty". As previously suggested, you might try giving your rifle's bore a quick cleaning after EACH shot... or after every TWO shots... or after every THREE shots... or whatever. A great deal depends on the individual rifle's barrel.
You might even try regular black powder... Goex or Swiss... they may not "crud" your rifle's bore up as bad as 777...
IF 777 is causing a crudy-bore problem.
For a "target" load in your .54 caliber, I'd start at 50 grains of
Swiss or 55 grains of
Goex and work up from there in 2 or 3 grain increments. The "Rule-of-Thumb" when using Goex and/or Swiss black powder is to reduce your Goex load by 10% for similar results with a Swiss powder load. I've found that 5 grain increments are sometimes a bit too big an increment and you can by-pass "THE" perfect load without ever shooting it. Shoot 3-shots at the target, cleaning your bore after
EACH shot and then, increase the amount of powder used to the next higher increment. If you put all three rifle balls on top of one another in the target, then shoot a 5 shot group using the
same powder charge. If they also make a nice, tight little group, you've "found" your "target" load.
WRITE IT DOWN!!!When you eventually find "THE" most accurate load, then stop cleaning after EACH shot and see what happens to your accuracy. You may find you can shoot 5 shots before cleaning... or even 10 shots. But you may also find you need to clean the bore after EACH shot... or each TWO shots. Your rifle will "tell" you what it wants!
Velocity isn't as important as accuracy, especially if you're shooting "paper" targets. However, you need enough velocity to make a good kill on game animals. But, again, placing the shot in the "kill zone" is essential and so, accuracy is still "king" with velocity coming in 2nd place.
Besides that, a round rifle ball sheds velocity very quickly... and so, a rifle ball that starts out at 1900 fps will be down on half of that velocity within a short distance (possibly 50 yards)... so don't sacrifice accuracy for velocity. You will find that your rifle will give you TWO "accuracy zones"... one at a lower velocity for shooting paper and one at a higher velocity for shooting game. Once you find BOTH of those loads, you have your "target" load and your "hunting" load.
Again... your rifle will "tell" you when you've found those loads because it will put all your rifle balls in one small area of the target.
Now... if you go through all of this and you're still not getting good accuracy... there's two possibilities left... either your barrel has a problem (bad crown, etc.) or YOU have a problem (flinching, etc.)... but don't forget that too thick or too thin a patch... or too much or too little lube... or lube your rifle's barrel doesn't like can ALL cause inaccuracy. You just have to figure out which of all these items is the culrpit !
As you see, I am just like everyone else... I have my own "opinions" and I'm
sure they're right!!! Hahahahahahaha...
Ok... 'nuff said... have fun and make good smoke !!!
Strength & Honor...
Ron T.
