Black Powder rifle for noobs,**NOT** modern inline rifles

[petew]

Here is a peek at a Southern Mountain Rifle I am working on. It is a 45cal flintlock, 42" long barrel, 13/16 across the flats. It will be steel trimmed, and browned. The stock is a grade 4 curly maple , treated with Aqua Fortis, and it's first coat of Tru Oil.

[Snakeneil]

Wow, beautiful wood, it will make an outstanding rifle.

[spinN'flyfish]

CAme across this... SOunds neat, Im no hunter but it looks pretty fascinating. The muzzle loading guns like the matchlock muskets our forefathers used ,kept them going for hundreds of years of huntin' and those same guns are still being used today.... Thats really good that the first few invented guns are not completely forgotten and replaced by modern guns. These guns are part of our heritage..... just thought to bring this stuff up about guns. By the way, they look like they work really well according to the pictures, eh? Just slower loadin'

[petew]

Here it is all ready for powder and ball. 42" barrel, GR4 Curly maple stock, Steel / Iron trim and Browned except for the lock which will get browned later on.

[recce43]

any hints for a new guy shooting muzzleloder. i bought a hawkin 50.cal i want to cast my own round balls and bullets i get lead for free..
what is a good book about blackpowder shooting ?

[blackpowderrlw]

I have an older lyman that has lots of info in it

[recce43]

any chance you want to give up that book or let me borrow it?

[icehunter]

First...make sure its pure lead and not ww material...Second,you could always join the ABPA...Alberta Black Powder Assossciation...Lots of helpful ppl in that club with members all across Alberta. There is a book out there ,by Sam Fadela..it was titled...gun digest-Black powder loading manual. A google search or even hitting Cabelas or whole sale sports should help you out.

Or you can ask questions in here also...we can do our best for ya..

[recce43]

Originally Posted by icehunter

First...make sure its pure lead and not ww material...Second,you could always join the ABPA...Alberta Black Powder Assossciation...Lots of helpful ppl in that club with members all across Alberta. There is a book out there ,by Sam Fadela..it was titled...gun digest-Black powder loading manual. A google search or even hitting Cabelas or whole sale sports should help you out.

Or you can ask questions in here also...we can do our best for ya..

is wheel weight lead to hard of lead for conicals? or can i add pure lead to it to soften it up?
where can i get pure lead at in the calgary area or alberta ?

[recce43]

this muzzleloader had alot of rust on outside of barrel and the brass was corroded bad . i wet sanded the barrel and did a cold bluing on it and lots of elbow grease audsol metal cleaner on the brass. iam pretty happy how it turned out . cannot seem to upload pic

[petew]

recce: Wheel weights are far to hard to cast conical's with. It is almost impossible to get them down a clean bore. You can use it for target roundballs.

[icehunter]

What I found was that even for round ball,ww material was 2 hard and always casted bigger. With a .490 ball out of ww...and a 15 thou patch..i couldn't get it down the barrel. I didnt even try it with a maxi slug. You can find pure lead at a plumbing supply shop. Its usually in 50 pound sheets and sells for around 2 bucks a pound. If you buy pure lead like this...you wont have a problem down the road and it sure saves a lot of head aches..

[recce43]

well took my hawkin 50.cal shooting it for the first time .... Iam hooked

[hal53]

Originally Posted by recce43

well took my hawkin 50.cal shooting it for the first time .... Iam hooked

"like"

[xterratitan]

Originally Posted by DiannJPearson

Before using a black powder gun you should first check for the rules and regulation of your state. Some states only allow certain types of muzzleloaders during their primitive seasons.

Someones trying to get that 30 post
count to sell some ****

We don't have states in Canada eh

[icehunter]

We don't have any common sense gun laws up here either!! An we don't all live in igloos and get around with dog teams and sled...

[Tactical Lever]

Originally Posted by NW Tradegunner

Sometime in your experience with BP rifles, you'll get a dry ball experience that will just about drive you crazy. You forget to put the powder in and ram that tight patched ball down the bore and when it hits bottom; crap! So you pull out your ball puller and proceed to screw it into the ball. In most cases the pure lead ball allows the screw to thread into it. On a rare ocassion, the ball is too hard; maybe the person that cast the balls used wheel weights ( heaven forbid) and it won't screw into it. Or the screw is too blunt and basically drills right through the ball! What now? If your gun has a bolster or a drum, you can unscrew the nipple and put a little FFFFG in there, screw the nipple back in. Put on a percussion cap and fire it in a safe direction. With a flintlock, dribbling FFFFG into the touch hole may send it out upon firing; but I doubt it. Usually a long whistling flame comes out of the touchhole and you're back to square one.
The only alternative is to pull the breech plug. About 35 years ago this fellow black powder shooter, that's dead now, told me how. When you get home, take the barrel off the gun, turn the barrel so you can see where the breech plug and the barrel match on the bottom of the barrel, turn the barrel so the sights are facing downward. Take a cold chisel and strike a mark that shows a line on both the breech plug and the barrel. This is your reference mark when reassembling the breech to the barrel. Pad the jaws of your vise with copper sheet so nothing get marred. Put the breech plug/tang in the vise jaws. Rest the front sight end on something solid. Now the barrel is horizontal and held up on both ends, front and back. You'll need a piece of rope at least 6 feet long. Take masking tape and tape one end of the rope to the barrel by the front sight. Take the other end of the rope and tape it to the breech end. About 3 or 4 wraps of tape will hold it. Now wrap the rope around the barrel in counterclockwise manner. Now insert a sturdy stick, a hockey stick will do, I use a stout piece of maple. Now turn the stick and as the rope tightens things start to happen. The stick shouldn't marr the barrel and the barrel should litterly pop loose off the breechplug. Unscrew it and knock out the ball and fowling. Put the breechplug back in and using the rope wrap it clockwise and proceed with the stick until the reference chisel marks line up. Whew! Won't do that again! I've done quite a few over my years of shooting BP and the shooters I did it for are ever grateful and tend to be a little more cautious.

I think a grease zerk adapted to fit would probably work especially paired with a pneumatic grease gun. I don't want to try it, though!

Originally Posted by recce43

any hints for a new guy shooting muzzleloder. i bought a hawkin 50.cal i want to cast my own round balls and bullets i get lead for free..
what is a good book about blackpowder shooting ?

Lyman if you are still looking. I don't know if the old are any better than the new...

[icehunter]

Originally Posted by recce43

any hints for a new guy shooting muzzleloder. i bought a hawkin 50.cal i want to cast my own round balls and bullets i get lead for free..
what is a good book about blackpowder shooting ?

Sam Fadela has a book out there that covers all aspects of BP shooting..

[icehunter]

Originally Posted by Tactical Lever

I think a grease zerk adapted to fit would probably work especially paired with a pneumatic grease gun. I don't want to try it, though!



Lyman if you are still looking. I don't know if the old are any better than the new...

If you read up above..I made a ball puller that works every time. Only cost 3 bucks to make...Fits under the foam in your rifle case..why make life difficult??

[chillyviolin]

Originally Posted by petew

Good Idea for a range puller. The little comercial pullers are handy in the possible bag, for pulling your balls in the woods,but they are also hard on Ram Rods, and can pull the end off the rod if it is not pined in place and glued.

I had that exact thing happen to me with my Lyman Trade rifle. After my very first shoot ever with it and first time shooting a Muzzleloader, I set about cleaning my rifle. I got my wire cleaner attached to my ramrod (I did not have another rod then), I got my ramrod buried in the the barrel and was giving it a good brush, when I went to pull out of the barrel the ramrod came out, but the brass end and brush stayed buried in the bottom of the barrel. It took me days to get it out. eventually I took a 3 foot aluminum air blow gun, cut the bent end off, and put it down the hole (it was a perfect fit for my 50 cal). I then tapped it down over the wire brush with a rubber mallet, and then pulled everything out. By that time I had a bad taste in my mouth for the hole muzzle loading thing, but I persevered, I "Glued and pinned" the brass end back on my ramrod and now use it only for seating bullets, bought myself a better rod for cleaning, and keep on shooting. Morale of the story, if the end of your ramrod is not "pinned and glued" make sure to have it done. I simply glued mine back on, drilled a small hole through, then glued a roll pin in place, and ground it down smooth.

[Tactical Lever]

Originally Posted by icehunter

If you read up above..I made a ball puller that works every time. Only cost 3 bucks to make...Fits under the foam in your rifle case..why make life difficult??

You neglected to give a solution for pulling a saboted bullet/slug that's copper jacketed. Just filling some holes! Life can be difficult; and thank your lucky stars that it is, or it would end up boring and unfulfilling.

How about some tips on running a hot (quick) reload?

Although you illustrated the right way, you did not mention that you should not tamp the load with your hand directly over the muzzle. And actually advocated using the heel of you hand.

[recce43]

so I plan to hunt using my muzzleloader ball and cap for the first time . any hints for using this in the winter late season moose

Thanks
Shawn

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by icehunter

If you read up above..I made a ball puller that works every time. Only cost 3 bucks to make...Fits under the foam in your rifle case..why make life difficult??

I've always been able to fire mine out by pulling the nipple and feeding powder down the hole, if you really shoved the ball in deep you might need to do this in a couple stages. Feed what you can down the hole, put the nipple on and fire it, which should push the ball forward enough that you can get a decent amount of powder behind it. Pull the nipple again, feed in more powder, seat the ball on the charge and shoot her out.

How's that for not making life difficult?

[icehunter]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

I've always been able to fire mine out by pulling the nipple and feeding powder down the hole, if you really shoved the ball in deep you might need to do this in a couple stages. Feed what you can down the hole, put the nipple on and fire it, which should push the ball forward enough that you can get a decent amount of powder behind it. Pull the nipple again, feed in more powder, seat the ball on the charge and shoot her out.

How's that for not making life difficult?

By the time you feed a few grains of powder in,waste a cap,fire it,do this say 3 times...I just grabbed a puller and shot 3 shots off. ..Making life wayyy simpler..

[JCart]

Originally Posted by recce43

so I plan to hunt using my muzzleloader ball and cap for the first time . any hints for using this in the winter late season moose

Thanks
Shawn

Hope you got your moose..... For next season practise shooting at different distances and/or head to a local BP shot they are good humour. Most BP shooters are really helpful with all things BP. Other thing I did was make a small possibles bag that hangs on a waste belt rather than a purse over shoulder type. Find the former style much easier to hike with. To clean my Lyman Great Plains in 50 cal I use hot water and dish soap. Disassemble leave the nipple in stand up in a small bucket (windshield washer jug with top cut off) nipple down. With cotton patches over your cleaning jag draw the soap solution up through the barrel using a pumping action. Change cotton often, then take out nipple and continue. Once you're happy how clean it is rinse with boiling hot water by pouring it down the barrel. Dry the inside right away with more cotton patches over the cleaning jag and run a few patches with good quality synthetic oil. Re-assemble. Give external a good coat of synthetic oil. I also use a quality anti-seize paste like copper coat on the nipple threads. I use a 15 thousandths thickness patch. Head to your local sewing supply store with your micrometer and buy a few different thicknesses, get 100% cotton only. To make patches I just cut strips then squares, so my patches are square not round.... Way more accurate then round ones, least that's what I tell all my BP friends...

Happy shooting, keep your powder and caps dry....

jrc

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by icehunter

By the time you feed a few grains of powder in,waste a cap,fire it,do this say 3 times...I just grabbed a puller and shot 3 shots off. ..Making life wayyy simpler..

3 times is generally not needed, usually happens in one go. Having used pullers I've stripped out balls on occasion, luckily I never poked a hole right through or I would have been in trouble. I prefer to shoot mine out and avoid this whole possibility, that's a nifty puller you made but theres no need to be a Nazi about it.

[Jack Hardin]

Originally Posted by icehunter

We don't have any common sense gun laws up here either!! An we don't all live in igloos and get around with dog teams and sled...

Alberta allows .45 cal and up for hunting with a muzzleloader.

[coyoteman]

Used a 54 cal hawken for years--target-and hunting.For hunting pre loads were made,and carried in containers for that purpose.For big game 120grs ffg wasused,With R E A L bullets[rifleing engaged at time of loading]With iron sites,I didnt shoot at game much over 100m,and found the large bullet very effective.I shot two caribou over 100m,they dropped immediate.On the range gong ringing was fun-for safety purposes I used a stainless steel rod with bore protector.The gun over all excellant, and surpriseingly accurate.The hot water and soap cleaning method worked fine,and was used after every outing.

[coyoteman]

Originally Posted by JCart

Hope you got your moose..... For next season practise shooting at different distances and/or head to a local BP shot they are good humour. Most BP shooters are really helpful with all things BP. Other thing I did was make a small possibles bag that hangs on a waste belt rather than a purse over shoulder type. Find the former style much easier to hike with. To clean my Lyman Great Plains in 50 cal I use hot water and dish soap. Disassemble leave the nipple in stand up in a small bucket (windshield washer jug with top cut off) nipple down. With cotton patches over your cleaning jag draw the soap solution up through the barrel using a pumping action. Change cotton often, then take out nipple and continue. Once you're happy how clean it is rinse with boiling hot water by pouring it down the barrel. Dry the inside right away with more cotton patches over the cleaning jag and run a few patches with good quality synthetic oil. Re-assemble. Give external a good coat of synthetic oil. I also use a quality anti-seize paste like copper coat on the nipple threads. I use a 15 thousandths thickness patch. Head to your local sewing supply store with your micrometer and buy a few different thicknesses, get 100% cotton only. To make patches I just cut strips then squares, so my patches are square not round.... Way more accurate then round ones, least that's what I tell all my BP friends...

Happy shooting, keep your powder and caps dry....

jrc

For moose,I wouldnt use,a round ball,I would go with a heavy hunting bullet--The REAL bullet[rifle engraved at time of loading}works fine.Of course we are talking about a regular muzzle loader,not online.with iron sites.A 8 inch gong at 100m works good for practice,and shot at from different positions--standing kneeling etc.Of course you have to realize the limitation,of the gun,and get close enough for one killing shot.Watch the loud click,when cocking the hammer,if you are useing a Hawken--Those big old moose got big old ears----

[partsman]

Can anyone recommend a good replacement rod, I have an old cva mountain rifle in 50 cal have not used it much since bc did away with black powder season, but I think if my eyes heal up so I can shoot again I would like to get away from a wood ramrod, I hear how they can break or ends pull off.
So any idea on where to get a good one?