What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

To the range today to try shooting conicals for the first time. Using my Uberti Remington 1858 for trial shots. I know it shoots well. Bullets to be used ordered from Track of the Wolf .450 200 grain cast lead:
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/130/1/ball-450-200
and using 25 gr 3F and a felt wad over powder since the bullets were specced as .450. I pre-lubed the bullets and I also made some combistible cartridges with lubed bullets glued onto closed cartridges containing same load and wad.

Results were totally unsatisfactory. I found these conicals to be almost impossible to seat and ram, whether in a cartridge or just loose loaded, because they're not perfectly round at the base:



This was a total bust. I only got off TWO shots, and only because I removed the cylinder and pounded the bullets into a chamber with a mallet and a starter to get them seated.

I hope this is not representative of cast conical bullets available for .44 cal cap 'n ball revolvers, but I'll try to see what other sources may be available and hope to order some more from another vendor for another test.

First time TOW has let me down.

WALT53 said:

Gee wiz and here I thought I was gonna inherit a 36 cal oh well better luck next time .Good shooting young fella maybe you just need shoot more hmmmm .

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Ha! I switched over to some targets I could actually see! Made all the difference.

TDM said:

Hell Walt, I can’t even see with peep sights!

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I have a tough time with this too. I'm ornery and can't find my way past a certain stubbornness that keeps me shooting the typical sight ser up. I did adapt an adjustable rear sight to a peep.with a file, a washer and solder. I.used it a bit on.a GPR and an '85 win. It's helpful but I think it would be better if the peep diameter is reduced and the sight moved close to the breech. The orneriness stopped me.

Here's an idea more fitting to my attitude. Remove the rear sight and learn to shoot with the front sight only!! Lots of smoothie shooters do it so why not with rifle?

wiscoaster said:

To the range today to try shooting conicals for the first time. Using my Uberti Remington 1858 for trial shots. I know it shoots well. Bullets to be used ordered from Track of the Wolf .450 200 grain cast lead:
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/130/1/ball-450-200
and using 25 gr 3F and a felt wad over powder since the bullets were specced as .450. I pre-lubed the bullets and I also made some combistible cartridges with lubed bullets glued onto closed cartridges containing same load and wad.

Results were totally unsatisfactory. I found these conicals to be almost impossible to seat and ram, whether in a cartridge or just loose loaded, because they're not perfectly round at the base:

View attachment 362350

This was a total bust. I only got off TWO shots, and only because I removed the cylinder and pounded the bullets into a chamber with a mallet and a starter to get them seated.

I hope this is not representative of cast conical bullets available for .44 cal cap 'n ball revolvers, but I'll try to see what other sources may be available and hope to order some more from another vendor for another test.

First time TOW has let me down.

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Just the other day I cast some of those up for my 1860. Mine have nice clean round bases but just fiddling with them and the gun in the shop made it clear that they won't load very well. I think they need to.have a slight taper for starting and then maybe cut a very tiny ring of lead up front. Or maybe just squeeze down. I'm not even going to bother trying to shoot them in the revolver.

I went straight to my tc 45 and tested the fit. Looks like they might be a perfect fit paper patched.

Seems to me that a bullet with a base like yours should be eligible for a return and refund.

TDM said:

Had better results today shooting my .36 SMR. I worked the load back down to 30 grains of Swiss 3F and after a couple of sight adjustments I’m happy with it. Still used the .350 cast balls, .022 linen patches, 1:4 Dawn:water lube, and Goex 4F prime. I swabbed the barrel after about 15 shots but it wasn’t too bad. I was surprised at the impact rise at 35 yards but just a slight change in point of aim took care of it. But I doubt I’ll make many shots past 25 yards on squirrels. Picked up a few patches and they were all good.

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Nicely done @TDM. That is a looooong barrel! You could poke the little blighters off the lower branches with that!

Cheers, Pete

In the woods with the GPR. Let’s see what the day brings!

Continuing with the the renegade/Hawken re stock. I can’t work on this more than an hour at a time. Get frustrated and need to step away and think about it. This is the stocking of some Renegade and some Hawken parts into a Pecatonica Hawken/Renegade stock. It's a good stock and alignment and size of the inletting is pretty good. Still requires following the steps of any build in the correct order to get it right.

Oddly, the ramrod hole was drilled a bit small in my opinion. It also runs off to one side but to no ill effect. The ramrod hole is just fine for a 5/16" rod but this will be mostly used with a 58 so I'm wanting a fit to a 3/8" rod.

I don’t have a long drill to size it up so my redneck solution is to tap the end of a steel rod wider and then file the edges sharp for use as a scraper. After three resizings of the rod tip it now accommodates a 3/8" rod.

I took some pictures of this but since then I've had to replace my phone and those seem to be gone.

aussie pete said:

...That is a looooong barrel! You could poke the little blighters off the lower branches with that!

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Optics can create illusions, but you're right, @aussie pete , they aren't called longrifles for nothing!

longcruise said:

Here's an idea more fitting to my attitude. Remove the rear sight and learn to shoot with the front sight only!! Lots of smoothie shooters do it so why not with rifle?

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I've actually done this, although not really on purpose.
While re-habbing a spring air rifle, many test shots and disassembly, re-assembly, I got tired of putting the rear sight on and off so I just started shooting it with front sight only.
I was quite surprised how quickly I could learn the sight picture to shoot it accurately.

Have plenty with percussion over the years but got my first deer with a flintlock this morning. Kibler colonial .50

jiedgar said:

Have plenty with percussion over the years but got my first deer with a flintlock this morning. Kibler colonial .50

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Congratulations! That would be a milestone in my hunting history!!

So I know this isn’t a muzzloder….but my 13 year old son brought down his second 8 piont buck with my lever action 30-30 with peep sights!! Forgive a proud father!

Got ball stuck in my 32 smr. I couldn't find my ball puller so ordered another on from kibler. Always nerve racking when i dru ball one especially in a flintlock. Now back up and shooting.

longcruise said:

....

Seems to me that a bullet with a base like yours should be eligible for a return and refund.

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Thanks, I'm sure you're right, but for the time and hassle and return postage it's hardly worth it.

I ordered some Kerr conicals from Paper Cartridges LLC:

https://papercartridges.com/shop/ols/products/box-of-50-kerr-44-cal-conicals-for-cap-and-ball

We'll see how those work out.

If not, I'll try the Johnston & Dow conicals:

https://papercartridges.com/shop/ols/products/box-of-50-johnston-dow-44-conicals-for-cap-ball

Range time. 50 cal traditions Kentucky flintlock kit build with kns cross hair front sight and marbles bullseye rear. 90 grains fffg. .490 ball, .015 patch. 100 yards.

Well, I worked on the .45 golden age 1970s gun I mentioned in a previous post. The lock is a Russ Hamm lock, no builders mark and no makers mark on the barrel. It is extremely pretty but confusing for me. I wasn't shooting it, I was cleaning it and working on the lock.
I pulled the lock, pulled the pins and removed the barrel. No real rust in or under the barrel and the lock is clean.
Here's the oddities: a tiny flash hole, odd lock geometry that needs the shortest flint to halt it from keeping the frizzen off the pan at half cock( the top of the cock almost hits the frizzen so i may need to file that back), about a 20 pound trigger (well maybe 18) and extremely shallow and fast twist rifling. By eye, it may be somewhere around 3 rotations over the 42 inch barrel!
It is cleaned, well lubed, figured out a flint, am getting good spark, but it is extremely hard on trigger pull. While a beautiful piece, I may need to spend some money and have the barrel drilled and tapped for a liner, the lock worked on by someone with more knowledge than I to make it more functional, and (if patched ball won't work with accuracy) get Boby Hoyt to rework the barrel.
I'm having the chance to learn a bit on this gun, but the main spring on this Russ Hamm lock is giant!

Took my old .40 caliber flintlock to the range today for the first time in about a year. Wanted to check load/sights for turkey shoot we are having next Saturday. Shooting right on at 25 & 50 yards using 55 gr Swiss 3f, .400 ball, oiled felt overpowder wad and #40 cotton drill patch lubed with Ballistol/water. Upped powder to 65 gr and shot to point of aim at 75 & 100 yds. Looking forward to Saturday!

jiedgar said:

Have plenty with percussion over the years but got my first deer with a flintlock this morning. Kibler colonial .50

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good shooting bud congrats

Loja man said:

So I know this isn’t a muzzloder….but my 13 year old son brought down his second 8 piont buck with my lever action 30-30 with peep sights!! Forgive a proud father!

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congrats to your son from me. nice buck. it's good to see young people in the woods.You are raising him right. hats off to you

Today, just shooting

Worked on my Kibler 20g Fowler, got the first coat of oil finish. Shot my newer Uberti 2nd model Dragoon after fixing the dropping loading lever problem. Worked out great with a 50gr charge of 3f goex. Wife made a killer pot of Italian soup with home made bread. A good day.