Doe Roller ….and The Skychief Load.

[Smo]

Not too take away from Frontier's thread here's a follow up on my testing the Skychief load.

My Tn made Tip Curtis 16 gauge was my retirement present too myself…

Nothing fancy , just a well built gun. This was in 2016.
I wanted a working mans gun too small game hunt and shoot does with… Thus the name" Doe Roller"..

Fast forward until the present and a rotator cuff surgery and dislocation of the opposite shoulder within the first two years and a half years of retirement and here we are……

The gun had always shot 4" low and a couple inches left thru my eyes since day one..

So I finally pulled the barrel off and "tweeted" it back in January of this year.

However I haven't shot it as much as I've wanted too..

Here she is…..

The target above was shot benched at 25 yards using Kentucky Windage… which I hate too have too do under normal conditions.

As I mentioned in the previous thread , I have found the soaking wads are not worth the hassle…
They do shoot a little denser patterns and maybe extend the killing range a yard or so farther it seems, but for my use the barely damp wads preform well enough.

Here's what I'm calling a wet wad.

This is the way Matt " Skychief " said he shot them.


I was always concerned that the heavy amount of oil could possibly leach thru and contaminate the powder charge when loaded for extended periods of time … like during deer or turkey hunting season.

That coupled with the mess in handling and carrying them in your shooting bag was too much.

So I started experimenting with different loads, shot & lubes.

I shot Hornadys One Shot Muzzleloading Lube & Protectant until they discontinued it.

It would keep fouling soft and clean up wasn't bad even shooting ffg.

Since then I've gone too using Shenandoah Valley Lube & Bore Cleaner on my patches and wads. Loads patched balls easily even fouled and clean up is about the same..

I typically do not need too swab the bore during a 20 shot woods walk. However final clean up is easier if I run a shooting patch down the bore ever 3 - 5 shots .


I place the wads in a tin and apply only a drop or two of lube too each wad or just enough too dampen all the precut homemade patches I shoot in a old cap tin.

I do still use Olive Oil from my hunting lube however.

As mentioned above, I tend too leave my gun loaded for days sometimes during hunting season and do not trust anything that I've found but olive oil as a lube.

So far I haven't experienced any rusting or problems with contaminated powder using this practice.

However I did feel a small tight spot once in my bore after leaving a gun loaded with the Hornadys lube & Protectant….
Right at the area the ball sat at..

I still may pull the barrel and tweak it some more, it's shoots close but…

Not quite where I want it, but close enough I think she'll do well this Fall and live up too her name… Doe Roller.



RIP Mr. Tip

 

[sun]

Have you ever considered putting some wax paper over the powder to protect it?

 

[Smo]

No Sir I haven't….

But I've shot brown paper grocery bags as a rolled cartridge….

They patterned ok at 20 yards..But sometimes would not separate from the paper and hit as one big hole in the target.."slug " but not necessarily where I was aiming.

I have however shot roundball with a paper patch…

Spence over on the MLF mentioned using hand rubbed brown paper.
Thin, brown paper bags like the old type Dollar Store bags were…

Cut into 1"x2" strips after they're rubbed soft..

I fold the patch in half and center the ball sprue up…
A .626 ball will thumb start in my .653 bore.
And it shot just as well as a cloth patched ball..

I have used wasp nest as a wad over the powder in the past too…of which I have no shortage.

This one showed up under the seat in my shooting house a couple years back..

I did collect it….

 

[Smo]

Here's a pic of the rolled cartridge, it was cut from a paper grocery bag. 3"x 4" long if I remember correctly..



I folded / crimped the bottom after forming around a dowel rod. I did not use any type of glue on these.

A 2 oz load of Daisy bbs makes a shot column around 3 " long….. They would be wicked on a coyote within 25 yards or so.

But they would slug occasionally just like the 6 shot did in the paper cartridge.

25 yard target shot with 2 oz load of bb's
8 hits in the tuna can 36 total
in the printer paper.

Note the burnt paper cartridges in the pic… another good reason not too shoot paper cartridges. In my opinion.