Then on to the .50 sharps where I started at 100 yards. Got to admit that my eyes are struggling to see the proper sight picture on these sights. Half way through the shooting I put on my reading glasses and things got a lot more fun. Generally the groups with this rifle, which shoots a 435 grain bullet behind 58 grains of fffg and lit off by musket cap, run about three inches at one hundred yards. The guy next to me came over as I was shooting and was talking and I could tell he wanted to shoot it so I loaded it up and passed it to him. He shot at a white piece of target paper above the targets and hit high but really liked the rifle. My next shot as he was watching the loading process was a direct hit on the paper and it blew over the berm. This 1863 has been modified by having tool steel powder cases made which I load the powder in and seal with a cork. I load the bullet to the rifling, insert one of the cases, seal the chamber and prime the nipple and let loose.
Once I got the glasses on and the wind calmed down a bit, the groups closed in. Below is my last 6 shot group at 100 yards.
my loading set up for this rifle::
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anyway, loving this rifle and couldn't be happier with its performance
blessings[/img]