Frank, aka "Preacher," hails from Draper, Virginia-- and here are some of his tips on muzzleloading accuracy:
Randy
Try to control the laughter, but this works for me.
I have a Bighorn that has been modified to shoot black powder benchrest. 1/4 inch at 100 yards happens. 1/2 inch at 100 yards is the outside limit. Here are some tricks that I use with it that can work with any muzzleloader.
I weigh my primers and sort them into target/hunting and plinking. I weigh the sabots(always Knight high pressure) and sort them into target/hunting and plinking. I weigh the bullets(Hornady 300 gr XTP, 45 cal) and am very critical. Benchrest= 1/10 grain. Hunting =1/2 grain. When shooting bench rest, I match heavy bullets with light sabots and heavy sabots with light bullets. Remember, we are talking a max of 1/10 grain.
I weigh my powder charges and work up in 2 grain increments. I know this is SUPPOSED to be useless/unnecessary, but it helps get those 1/4 inch groups.
Now, for my big secret that I have shared with a few people (actually anyone that would listen). Look at your sabot. It has 4 large petals. Now look at the muzzle. Find and mark any land, something like nail polish or Sharpie. When loading, align that land with the exact center of a petal on your sabot. This gives you the same land alignment and bite for each shot. Works pretty good for squeezing out that last little 1/100 inch.
When I go hunting, I have primers, sabots, bullets, and powder charges that are very exactly matched to each other. I clean between each shot so the barrel is the same for each shot. This may be worthless to most. With this, I can get exceptional accuracy. Without this, I can usually get 2 inches or better. 2 inches will drop a deer or hog at 200 yards if the horsepower is still there.
