Lyman Mustang Range report w/pic

DONDALINGER

I bought the Lyman inline I had inquired about a few weeks back. I took it to the range and sighted it in. It turned out some decent groups at 100 yards. The load I finally settled on is 80 gr. of 777 using the 777 primers. I tried some 240 gr. .44 mag bullets using Hornady sabots, but the grouping was poor (I have owned 4 muzzleloaders and have never had good, consistent accuracy using sabots). This gun prefers conicals for sure. It grouped the Maxiballs better than the Maxihunters. I have a fixed power 4X44 scope with Millet angle-locs. It has a 3 pound trigger from the factory, but has some creep before it breaks. The wood is nice (even though the "Ultra Grain" is actually a fake woodgrain). The metal fit and finish is very good and the lock up is tight. I have shot the gun 40 times and experienced no misfires or problems of any kind. The magnetized breech plug is a nice feature. Clean up was about average. Overall, I really like this gun. I got it at Midway for $329 after shipping. I would definitely reccomend it. Here is a 6 shot group at 100 yards. The first shot was high and a little to the right. I fired another w/o making any adjustments just to see the grouping. Then I went down about 8 clicks and left 3 then fired 4 more shots. Not too bad of a group. I'm sure I can tighten the groups if I experimented with different load combinations.

allen griggs

That is pretty good shooting for the first time out. A three inch group is acceptable hunting accuracy. That is a very powerful load you are shooting. You are loaded for bear, at least, for black bear.
The first two shots were quite close together. It is possible you could tighten up groups by swabbing between shots.

DONDALINGER

Allen, I did put one patch through the bore between each shot, but did not use any solvent. I was trying to keep the pressure from shot to shot as close as possible to get a feel for what kind of accuracy this gun can do. If I had used a blackpowder solvent between shots, it probably would have tightened the groups. I'll keep fiddling with it. I should have it ready by November.[8D]