Muzzleloading Free-Hand Accuracy

What's you guys most accurate free-hand distance with a 50 caliber iron sight?
I do OK at 50yd and can get all of my 295 gr shots on the paper but at 100yd I get about 1 out of 10 shots on the paper.
Should I practice more at 100yd or just work on the shorter distance and my stalking skills?

Thanks

Personally, if I can't keep five out of five shots inside 6" at 100yds, I would NEVER consider shooting at an animal. At 50 yards they should be at or under two inches. Assuming you are shooting an accurate load, you need to shoot only from a rest or whatever it takes to know your shot will hit where you aim when shooting at an animal. Just learn your own personal range limit and hold yourself to it and you should be fine. Bill

what are you shooting like off a good solid rest?? i agree with dalmar. if you are only hitting the paper 1 out of 10 times at 100....you need to only shoot at an animal at 50 yds. a stronger bit of advice might be to upgrade sights to a rear peep/new front post setup and maybe some shooting sticks or a bipod or something. keep shooting, maybe mess around with your powder amount/bullet size and see what works best. IMO you need to be shooting a hell of a lot better groups than where you're at now in order to plan on shooting at something +50 yards. get to the point where you know the gun is shooting right by shooting off a bench/rest.

Shooting offhand is a difficult skill to master (or at least for me it is).

Personally I think you should be able to put 10 out of 10 shots in the black from whatever distance and whatever position you are shooting from.

If given the choice I always take a rest even if I'm in close. Usually the only times I need to shoot offhand is when I jump an animal at 10 or 20 yards....in which case I am pretty accurate.

Thanks guys; now I am confirmed that it is just me and I need more practice. I am shooting a 295grn Power Belt with 3 Tripple 7 pellets.

Josh, I didn't know there are better sights than the original that came with the Knight Bighorn. What do you recommend for the best sights?

For now I am determined to do what ever it takes to shoot well offhand. Lets see how far I can go with this but I'll never shoot at an animal if I don't feel confident to kill it.

Thanks

ironhead...check this out:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templa...0004&hasJS=true

wow does that work?? it's a tru-glow universal muzz peep set up.
I will also send you a pm.

Hey Josh, thanks for the link. That looks real nice. You know if that type of sight is legal in WA?

I have a bighorn, I shoot two 50 grain pellets (100 total). And a powerblet 348. At fifty off a rest I have hooked 2 together, but for some reason I pull the third about a inch.

I think that the max load for that gun was 120 grains. I am not sure but thats what I remember. I would like to try 150 grains but haven't done so yet.

Knight dosen't recommend powerbelts. I called and asked. But the gun shoots them so good I am not willing to switch.

I would drop to two 777 pellets. See how that works. I have better luck with the Pyrodex pellets then 777. And when I use three 50 grains, it causes my groups to fly apart. I get three shot groups under five inches with 295 or 348 grain powerbelts at 100 yards. I can reach two hundred yards without a problem and groups are ten inches. Sometimes have a flyer though. 200 yard groups are always with a solid rest. As for getting better groups. Pratice Practice Practice. Changes loads if nothing works. Change bullets if nothing works. Unjacketed sabots are legal in this state and I have seen some guys get great groups.

I put a Williams Peep site on my gun and get very good accuracy with Hornady Great Plains bullets.

Ok… gonna throw my $0.02 worth in here…

Note to imply anything and don’t know your history… several things to consider… I shoot a traditional smoke pole, Lyman Great Plains. When I got it and knew that I was going to hunt with it, I started lifting weights, daily, 10lb dumbbells, do a lot of forward lifts (standing dumbbells held in front of thighs and lift arms straight up to in front of chest, hold for a count of 5 and then slow let down) and side lifts… and anything else that will help build the shoulders and arms. Remember it is the hold not the lift that you will be doing when hunting. You don’t want to have to raise and lower you rifle several time while waiting for the target to move into the open.

The next thing is try and figure out your shooting/hunting condition and practice that, remember that your heart beat and lung expansion in those stressful situations will cause your muzzle to bounce and move during the shooting situation. So, what I have done in the past and try and do is… go on a scouting trip, take the smoke pole, find a practice place, load and then jog around in circles for a while then stop take aim and shoot, while the heart rate is still up. This can help you get the muzzle control issue practiced. Now this is all after you have bench sited you rifle, to assure there isn’t something with the rifle. Also, remember that you need to only count the 1st shoot that counts, once the barrel warms things change… so… practice field conditions.

Lastly, I will second (third or forth) what the others have said about shooting distance. If you can’t put 3 rounds in a space smaller than 6 inch diameter, move closer and then never shoot longer that that distance.

Stepping down off the box now… good luck and shoot straight.

wabowhunter
(aka Shawn)

The Bighorn is rated for up to 150 grains.

Ive heard of guys getting good axccuracy with 150 grains.But I only tried it a couple times and wasnt happy.I'm better off around 110 or 120 depending on bullet

The guys at Bobs in Longview told me the Knight pros said that 150 grain loads leave about 20% of the powder unburnt.So they recommended satying 120 or less.

I think pellet powder loads are not legal for big Game in WA. I could be wrong?! - check the regs, then get some triple 7 powder and get going again. The 295 power belt is not a good lead for my Remington Model 700 blk powder rifle. I experienced increased accuracy with Thompson/Center Maxi Hunter conical lead projectiles. w/ their 275 gr . giving best results over their 350 gr. their 255 gr. has also been very accurate.
check it out below - https://secure.tcarms.com/store/index.ph.../prevstart/108/
The power belt lead is a good concept but accuracy was a huge disappointment.