Noticed the other day that after a full clean the first shot is a little wild. Sometimes 4 or 5 inches at 100 yards. The second, third and fourth shot after a wet patch and a dry patch after each shot without thaking the breech plug out are right where it should be. 1 to 2 inches at 100 yards. I am still confused. Any insight would be appreciated

Mark

What is your projectile? Conical, sabot, or ball?

I am shooting a 375 gr. barnes sabot, 52 cal and using 130 grains of loose powder. It is very accurate after the first shot.

Thanks

I have found that the first shot from a clean barrel is always a little "off". To minimize this, I make sure the barrel is cleaned of all oils before the first shot (I use a Windex patch followed by a dry one) and then pop a cap with the rifle unloaded. It seems to work fairly well for me, but your mileage could vary.

Thanks Larry, I have not been firing the primer for some reason. I am going on a elk hunt in NM and am wondering if I should clean the gun before I hunt but fire one shot through it then wet patch it and dry patch it before I go out.

Mark

A little more information to think about and hopefully share thoughts and help. First of all the gun is very accurate 2nd 3rd and 4th shots like I said earlier. However I am concerned about the sabot preformance. The petals are coming off downrange about 20 yards and I believe they are supposed to remain attached. I have been shooting this gun for almost two years now, 1500 rounds and it has always done this. It does not matter whether I shoot 90 grains or a max load. I am sure Knight told me in the beginning that this is what is supposed to happen however I spoke with them yesterday and they said if the gun is accurate dont worry about it. Barnes also said the same thing. FYI--I have a friend that has the same gun and he has shot it a bunch as well and it does the exact same thing as mine....I have looked at the petals on numerous occasions and there is no evidence of heat or tearing, just rifling. Not sure and since it is accurate maybe I should just let it be..

8863, I wouldn't worry one whit about the petals on the sabot coming off. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not--don't sweat it.

Larry S gives a good tip, I've found that the popping the primer thing on a pristine clean barrel does the trick, mine isn't as far off after a thorough cleaning as yours, but the 1 1/2" difference pissed me off, after just trying a few different methods, I started popping a primer on the super clean barrel, and it put my first round back into the POI of the folowing several.

Good shooting--Don