[vzenmn]

I took my TC Hawking out today and it just did not want to group worth a damn. The first 3 shot group was at 50 yards and was about 1 1/2, but at a 100 yards the rounds wouldn't even keep on a piece of typing paper. I tried different powder charges, projectiles, Patches, cleaning the bore after each shot, letting the bore foul, cleaning the bore completely and swabing TC bore butter in it, and putting on a shoulder pad and using dud caps to see if I was flinching which I wasn't. From what I can tell the bore is in good shape and I clean it well after a range outing.
I had the thing since I was 12 and it is usually a good shooter and have gotten many ragged holes at 100 yards.

Any tips or advice? I am as confused as a baby in a topless bar.:confused:

[mykeal]

I worked a CVA Hawken for two days one time, doing much the same thing - found out the rear sight was loose in the dovetail. You might check both sights to be sure they haven't worked loose. I can't think of anything else you haven't tried.

[Pancho]

Like mykeal says sometimes the problem is too obvious to see. I've had days like yours. What I do is go home clean the hell out of the gun. Breech scraper, brass brush, the works and try it another day starting with a known load for that gun.

[arcticap]

None of my guns will shoot groups at 100 yards, so I just shoot at more hittable distances. While it's fun to try once in a while, I like to hit closer to where I'm aiming at, and I've accepted the fact that most carbine length rifles just won't group consistantly out at 100 yards.
Whether it's the barrel length, barrel twist rate, the length of the sighting plane or whatever else, there's nothing magic about 100 yards that I feel a need for my guns to group out there for.
Having said that, let me add that many competitive roundball shooters load with extremely tight bore size balls that most people would need a mallet to load into their bore. And it works in those chunk guns (often having deep cut rifling), but they are heavyweight rifles built for competition and not the average shorter barreled rifle built for hunting.
If the most common effective hunting range for most traditional muzzle loaders is 65 - 75 yards, then why not just move the target closer and be happy shooting at the edge of the good grouping range of most factory production rifles?
I've also heard great things about the accuracy of Green Mountain barrels, but they're longer and heavier and require an additional investment. :)

[RockRifle]

I have seen patches of different thicknesses throw a rifle off. I had been shooting 777 in my GPR consistantly for almost a year when it got erratic like yours in the middle of a shoot. I pulled out my old standby can of Goex, and never had another bit of trouble... needless to say, I only shoot black now.

Try a different batch of powder, Pyrodex doesn't handle moisture well.