Ready for the Muzzleloader Season

It has been a while since the last post. I was so caught up with my other hobby, such as fishing and archery, I could not find time to visit the range.

Tennessee muzzleloader season will start tomorrow, and I am ready. Even though I could not visit the range since I tried the 45g IMR SR4759, I am sure the group I make is sufficient for the hunting. Where I hunt, max range is around 50yrd.

This year, I purchased a camcorder and camera arm, so if I can get a good footage, I may put it on Youtube. I am excited to hunt with my Savage for the first time!

MOA as of 3/29/10

For a week I could not visit the range due to the rainy weather. Since there were some time in house, I deep cleaned my barrel for the first time since the first initiation clean. (Dry swabbing was done after each range session, as well as breech plug cleaning.) Shot 130 shots so far.
One pass of Hoppe's, wait 20 minutes, and swab swab swab. 10 swab dirty. 20 swab still dirty. Try Hoppe's again. Swab swab swab and after 40 swab, it finally became clean. Maybe I should clean it more often.

This time, I tried 44gr and 45gr of IMR SR4759. 
Here is the result.

First shot of the day went right into the bulls eye. (target#1) I thought, wow, but after that , it all shot upper side of the center. Maybe due to clean first shot vs fouled barrel shots?
Target#2, I adjusted the scope to shoot low. Shots came lower but the group was not what I wanted. Both target were shot with 44gr of IMR SR4759.
Target #3 was shot with 45gr pf IMR SR4759. Group became much better. 8 shot group was around 5inch MOA. Unfortunately, 3 shots did not group close to each other. 
It seems more powder I use, more accurate I get.
Next range session I would try 46gr and 47 gr powder and see if it can improve my group.
Shots made on Target#3, left lower corner were made by a kid who was shooting next seat not knowing where his shots were going. But his .22 may group better at 100 yard after few practice and that is sad!

MOA as of 3/16/10

Went to the range with the new set up.
Target #1 and #2 used 42gr of IMR SR4759, and 43gr for target #3 and #4.
All target shows a wide group, but few shots are shooting right next to each other. (Please ignore the 3 shots on right, target#4. I was aiming at the right bottom circle but I was loosing my concentration by the end and did not focus at all)
I do not know why, but once every 3 shots, shots goes to totally wrong direction. Can there be a reason? Is there anything I am not doing correct? I guess it's me, not the gun, since once in a while two shots are touching each other, and this could not happen if the gun is having a problem. I need more practice.
Next range session, I will try 44gr and 45gr powder and see how well it shoots. It seems 43gr setup has a smaller group, so maybe more powder may minimize the distance.
During this range session, I shot around 20shots. After checking the vent liner, I did see a lot of improvement compared to AA5744. Hole size was smaller than 0.032 (drill bit #67). It seems switching the powder was a good idea. Accuracy wise, I do not see any change so far. Not better, not worse.
When I removed the breech plug to clean, I am removing the rear action screw. Although I use Wheeler's fat wrench to have a constant torque to tighten, it makes me worry that it is changing the setting every time.
It seems adding 3rd pillar will preventing this concern, but should I go that far? I still haven't shot 1.5 MOA...

New load 3/16/10

New set up!

Powder - IMR SR 4759
Bullet - Hornady SST 250gr
Sabot - Harvester Red Crush Rib
Primer - Winchester 209

Decided to change the powder to IMR SR 4759 since AA5744 was eating up the vent liner too fast. I did thought about switching to slow burning powder such as H4198 and Reloader7, but my current goal is to shoot 1.5inch MOA, and it seems the FPS I will get with IMR SR 4759 would be sufficient. Result will be one the following post.

MOA as of 3/8/10

First time shooting this load with new bullet

• Powder - Accurate Arms 5744
• Bullet - Hornady SST 250gr
• Sabot - MMP sabot and Harvester Red Crush Rib Sabots
• Primer - Winchester 209

Tested MMP sabot and Harvester Red Crush Rib sabot, and it was shooting almost the same. However, when I was loading, Harvester gave me a consistent resistance compared to MMP sabot. MMP sabot sometimes slips in and became harder later. Since I wanted a consistent loading pressure for my 10ML-II, I will be using Harvester in the future.

Here is the result of the best group as of 3/8/10.
2 shots were right next to each other, but one shot were little off. this was done by 43gr of Accurate Arms 5744. 44gr was ok, but it seems 43gr shoots better in my gun.
I was happy to shoot closer to 1.5inch MOA, so I kept shooting, but all of the sudden, my 10ML-II started shooting like shotgun again.
After I went back home, I found my vent liner was worn again. Since I have changed to new one, I shot 60 shots. This time, hole was larger than 0.037 (#63 drill bit).
This is a problem for me because I usually shoot 20~25 shots in one range visit. If the vent liner will last only for 50~60shots, there will be a session that I need to shoot with worn vent liner most of the time. I do not want to take out the breech plug at the range to fix it.
To solve this, I could go for an after market vent liner, but I just purchased 5 vent liner from Savage along with hex head breech plug and I do not want to waste them, I will stick with factory vent liner for now.
Next thing I can do is to change the powder to less erosive one. I will consider this as my next project.

New Bullet

After the last range session, I was running out of the Hornady 300gr XTP. I have purchased 2box, 100 bullet and it was getting close to the end.I thought about purchasing another XTP, but I wanted to shoot something different this time

The range I go to has 200 yard range, but it requires the annual membership, so at this point, 100 yard will be the maximum distance I will be shooting.

Within this distance, 250gr bullet seems to have a better accuracy due to the smaller recoil.

The bullet I chose is Hornady SST 250gr. It is a 0.452 diameter bullet, and I will be using either MMP sabot or Harvester Red Crush Sabot. Original sabot that came with will not be used.

Next range session, I will see which sabot shoots better on my gun, and hopefully new 250gr SST will be shooting better group than 300gr XTP. Wait and see!

MOA as of 3/3/10

During the last range session, I have used 40gr and 41 gr of Accurate Arms 5744. 41gr has made the better group, so I decided to go for higher amount of powder.
Measured 42gr, 43gr, and 44gr using RCBS Charge Master 1500. This digital scale is easy to set up, and it cut my preparation time a lot compared to the Lee balance beam scale I had purchase previously.
Nothing was wrong with Lee balance beam. When I purchased the RCBS, I checked how accurate Lee was and it turn out to be only +,-0.2 grain of difference. It just takes longer.


Here is the picture of the range. I use bulls bag for the rest. I have been shooting with this setting and getting used to it. If there is anything I should change, please let me know.

Here is the result!

Getting better and better. Same load as before. Powder amount was 43gr. I could not shoot the 44gr because I was trying to group better at 43gr. Next time I will shoot some 44gr and see how well it will shoot.
One concern is the vent liner is already showing some wear. After cleaning the breech plug, I measured the vent liner and the #66 (0.033inch) was going through easily. I shot 36 since I changed to this vent liner. Is this normal? Do I need to consider changing the powder?

MOA as of 2/26/10

After changing the worn vent liner to a new one, I was able to shoot a better moa. The shot was going almost where I wanted. Compared to the previous MOA, it is definitely an improvement. I know it is not 1.5inch, but hey, I am happy because I know it is getting better and better.
Load was same as previous, Accurate Arms 5744,Hornady XTP 300gr Harvester Red Crush Rib Sabots, Winchester 209 primer.
During this visit, I am getting the hang of shooting 10ML-II. It is not only the gun that need the improvement. I myself need a lot of shooting practice in order to reach the 1.5 inch MOA. Practice, practice practice!

Worn vent liner

While I was cleaning my breech plug, I checked the vent liner hole size using the drill bit.

The #64 drill bit has gone through freely, which means hole size is bigger than 0.036.

I have seen people suggesting to change the vent liner with the hole bigger than 0.035 from Doug's Message Boards.

This Wikipedia site shows the drill bit size and its diameter.

This was shocking to me since I have shot only 50 shots with my ML-II so far. I know this because I just finished shooting a box of Hornady 300gr XTP.

I thought vent liner would last 100 shots, but I guess Accurate Arms 5744 powder worn vent liner faster.

New factory vent liner is installed. Hopefully this will cure my inaccurate shooting.

I checked the hole size of the new vent liner that came with the rifle, and it was #68 (0.031) with very tight fit.

Can't wait till next range session! 

Cooling rod

When shooting sabot, I need to wait until the barrel cools down since heat makes sabot to go loose.
The range I go to has 30 minutes session, and 10 minute cold time. You get 2 hours of shooting time per visit.
I wait at least 10 minutes between shot, which limit my shooting time.
To reduce this cooling time, I made the cooling rod.
Please visit Doug's Message Boards for more details about cooling rod.

Purchased an aluminum rod from Amazon to make the cooling rod.
I don't have the dremel, so I ended up filing the rod all the way.
It took me 3 days to complete the filing. I definitely do not recomend this method.
Cool thing about purchasing the rod from Amazon is the shipping was free if you purchase more than $25.00 of eligible product.
Copper rod is also available. I choose aluminum since it sounded easier to file.
Size I purchased is 1/2 inch.

Current MOA

This target is the result from last range session. Shot distance was 100 yard. As you can see, it is shooting like a shot gun. Please note I was aiming at the center circle!
Load was what I have mentioned, Powder - Accurate Arms 5744, Bullet - Hornady XTP 300gr, Sabot - MMP sabot and Harvester Red Crush Rib Sabots, Primer - Winchester 209.
Front scope base was filed to be clear from the recoil rug.
There must be something I am not doing right.

Resource

Here is the great resource for Savage 10ML-II.
Doug's Message Boards

I learned a lot of ideas and insight from this site.
Tips and hints section has all the info you need!

Scope base

Since front scope base was touching the recoil rug, I filed the edge.
Also, filed the base screw to prevent bottoming out.

Blued the part where I filed to prevent the rust. Blued both base and screw.
Product I used was Presto Gun Blue Pen.

As you can see on the picture, base is clear from the recoil rug.
Maybe I filed little too much.

Current load

Currently, I am using the Savage's book load.

Powder - Accurate Arms 5744
Bullet - Hornady XTP 300gr
Sabot - MMP sabot and Harvester Red Crush Rib Sabots
Primer - Winchester 209

Nothing special, but this should be a good starter.

Current setting

Here is the picture of my Savage.
It has Nikon Monarch 2.5-10x42, Warne base and ring.
Limbsaver Slip-On recoi pad is also added to minimize the shock.

My Savage

Savage I purchased has a SS barrel and Thumbhole stock. I will post the picture later.

Purpose

January 2010, I was able to purchase the famous smokeless muzzleloader, Savage 10ML-II.
Savage says it shoots 1.5 inch groups at 100 yards.
So far, NO. My shots are going everywhere.
Can it be better?
I would like to blog the progress of shooting 1 inch MOA.
Hope it will happen!