What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

Going to a shoot tomorrow and taking grandson. He's going to shoot the Franken fifty that I put together for him for Christmas. I have a 50 TC barrel that I added a couple years ago. I shot it six times and haven't shot it since. We will both be shooting 50s so wi can shoot the same "stuff".

But this is about today! I only had a few 495 balls so I fired up the casting gear and did up 137 balls. Good session. Only had six rejects.

Psycho Mike said:

Well, these arrived today...JT from the UK. Nicley trimmed cutter too...should knock back the sprue well.

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Oooo thank for the picture. I've heard so much about those molds but never seen one. What handles fit it?

PathfinderNC said:

Since the previous thread was shut down (locked) by our new moderator, I thought I would start one up again, as per the suggestion.
So, let's get this thread going again, and share your muzzleloading related adventures of the day!

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Inlayed an oval piece of brass into an Indian made Jaeger that was missing it.

Shooting my new Frontier caplock .50 cal. Not all these hits are mine but 5 of them are. This was off hand at 100 yds, I could not believe how great this rifle is to shoot. The photo is just to show the size of the steel can. Very happy day of shooting today, even though I look angry in the pic....haha sun was bright.

Tim_IA said:

Picked up another gong, 8"x1/2" AR500. Painting it white.
View attachment 310573

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All my steel targets around here are white, I use upside down marking paint.

Loyalist Dave said:

So the daughter wants s proper veggie garden and kitchen herb garden this year, so we discussed what to grow so we can eat the veggies at fall ML events.

I may try growing some veggies in straw this year...

LD

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I grow my potatoes i my leaves i rack up, could grow them in straw i guess but leaves are free. do most raised beds,less water and weeds after couple of years weeding in the beds.

LANEY REECE said:

I grow my potatoes i my leaves i rack up, could grow them in straw i guess but leaves are free. do most raised beds,less water and weeds after couple of years weeding in the beds.

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we grew potatoes one year in straw. lift on layer and pick them! then the dang field mice found them. had perfect spuds with a hole eaten straight through them.
muzzleloading stuff i did today.
Polished another lock. This one was looking like it was recovered from a shipwreck. i stripped it down and tossed the parts, minus the tumbler, sear, and sear spring into a pin tumbler. added water and a touch of citric acid. tumbled one hour.
the citric acid puts a nice bluing on but is thin. wash with alcohol gently, then dried it with a heat gun at 450*
set the finish, then buffed LIGHTLY with oooo steel wool.
did same with other parts. woke this morning in a foul temper so the boss banned me to outdoor and shop activities. worked out ok!
made up a load of shot to try in the New Englander 50 cal i reamed to smooth bore .54
1.25 oz BB over 80g of ff seemed to do well enough for turkey. if i can find some #4's i will try that. Not enough bb"s to get the density at 25 yards for a red, white, and blue head.
3 more days to Turkey dinner!
the lock i tumble blued. closer to black before knocking it back with 4 ought wire.

longcruise said:

Oooo thank for the picture. I've heard so much about those molds but never seen one. What handles fit it?

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If you order the "starter kit" like I did, you get the mold to your specs, a casting spoon (might be the Lee...it's more spoon-like, but deeper than I expected....will definitely handle my mold volume but may not have as much "head" as a dipper), custom ground cutter (looks like it'll trim them nice and close) and a set of large handles (look like Lee multi-cavity / commercial handles).

The mold itself looks very well made. The locking ring encroaches on the sprue area a little bit...fine by me as that means less to cut through (as long as it doesn't cause any ill effects for pouring). I highly doubt it will be an issue...brass molds take longer to heat up and longer to cool down.

I really like that color @deerstalkert!

TDM said:

I really like that color @deerstalkert!

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surprised me when i pulled it out of the tumbler. i expected shine up in the white. the citric acid reacted somehow with the metal. even a blind hog finds a nut once in a while.
it hints at gray but is a smooth finish.

Made a cute little square like Bill Raby uses.
2.1/2" x 3.1/2"s

I re-cut my ram rod channel, it was 3/8" and just looked small for my 62 cal. [Short Virginia] made it 7/16". I also roughed in for the thimbles. Just made them a bit short.

Laying on the bench was a 7/16" ejector pin. [Hardened pin wit a head]
Ground the head to a sharp edge at .518" diameter and put a nub on the end to pry it out. Worked very nicely for cutting square ends.

also made the thimbles.

1/32 flat stock.

Stopped by Dixons today and found the measure with cap holder in the slide in the used ben. Very nicely made and I never seen one like it before. Had to have it even though I don't often use caps. Maybe I can put 4F in the cap compartment.

I moved this thing and I think I spun a main bearing in the process. Its an X-Ray counter weight. I have to cut the top part off to dump the lead block out. Then I may use the steel box as a new melting pot. It's free lead so the effort is worth it.

Frontstuffer070 said:

I moved this thing and I think I spun a main bearing in the process. Its an X-Ray counter weight. I have to cut the top part off to dump the lead block out. Then I may use the steel box as a new melting pot. It's free lead so the effort is worth it.

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Kinda hard to tell how big it is…. What’s the size of it?

Cut some tent poles for my wall tent. It’s been retired in a shed for 30 years, but when I pulled it out and unfolded it the other day, and it was in amazingly good shape. Kinda anxious to set it up and see if it stays together!..

I got ambitious and while I had the opportunity, cut more than I really needed.

Worked a little bit more on the brass for the WR yesterday after spending the day on a plant shopping spree with SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED, today will be a wash out as guess where those plant starts are going? but, after dinner I'm heading to the shop to start finishing a horn that I started 6 or so years ago, been a while since I snorted some horn dust!

Working on some shell and floral carving on my Chambers PA Fowler.

dkasprzak said:

Got a little range time in…..this target is a total of ten shots….five high right, four at the bullseye, one…uh…flinch, jerk, didn’t squeeze…I dunno. All in all, I was happy!View attachment 87272

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Superlative!

Terrier said:

Kinda hard to tell how big it is…. What’s the size of it?

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It's 17" X 6" X 4" It is filled up to 9.5" height with lead. I should get a good many a round ball out of that.