Hello craigd,

Thanks for the reply.

Most of the "shot-out" barrels that I have seen, have been those that were not properly and thoroughly "cleaned" after black powder use, and left to corrode. And then sometime later, "scrubbed" to death after the damage was done.

I think the vertical stringing of my group is from my failure to use a "V" notch rear sight effectively. I always have difficulty with any rear "open" sight. I do much better with an apeature rear sight, or best of course with a scope. Neither of which I will be adding to this rifle.

Its also worth mentioning that the rings on the target shown are 3/4" spacing. The target was a Schuetzen target. I'm very happy with 1" be it vertical or not.