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  1. Canute Rex

    Wonder Wads

    If you have a pair of felt liner type boots, eventually the bottoms of the liners get pounded down and you have to get new ones. The old ones make fantastic wads, cut with an arch punch. I melt 2/3 beeswax, 1/3 olive oil and drop them in and fish them out with a fork. If they are too thick you...
  2. Canute Rex

    Radioactive frizzen?

    After reading this I have to say that using lead acetate in slow match seems like less of a problem.
  3. Canute Rex

    slow match

    I got some from Dixie a while back and it was too small. Maybe 1/4" in diameter. You really want something 3/8" at least, and 1/2" isn't too large. If the match is well made it will burn into a large red cone on the end. Making your own match is not too difficult. I have posted a set of...
  4. Canute Rex

    Woods walks

    The main problem I run into at woods walks is the variety of ranges. I'd recommend you try a horizontal line target. Use masking tape and spray paint to make a 1" horizontal line on some pieces of white cardboard. Use a dead center hold, right on the line, at 50 yards, 25 yards, 10 yards, and...
  5. Canute Rex

    Leather wads in a cap and ball?

    I have used orange hand cleaner as a patch lube and it makes the bore easy to clean at the end of the day. It dries quickly, so only as a lube for range shooting. Also a bit acidic with the orange terpenes in it, so rinse well after using. I make my own over-powder wads out of old wool liners...
  6. Canute Rex

    Crucible Steel

    Yes, Doc Ivory. Bessemer's process was to blow heated air through molten iron. The issue was that, as originally smelted, cast iron had far too much carbon in it. Maybe 2-3%. Usable tool steel is below 1.25% and mostly below 1%. Blowing the air through oxidized away the carbon. At first they...
  7. Canute Rex

    How to create more interest in traditional muzzleloading.

    A few thoughts. Muzzleloading is always going to be a niche pastime. We can't expect to be the most popular kid in school. That said... There are a lot of routes into a hobby. If we want more participation we need to keep all those routes open and welcoming. Some people are history buffs. Some...
  8. Canute Rex

    Cold! Still Shoot?

    I've been doing the primitive biathlons in Vermont and New Hampshire for a number of years. That's a timed snowshoe run with gong targets. A hit knocks five minutes off your time. Great fun, quite popular, and, of course, a winter sport. They are always in January/February and it's always cold...
  9. Canute Rex

    Explosive Cannonballs

    To expand on Smoothshooter's post: Years ago, divers in a Vermont pond found boxes of dozens of explosive shells from the Civil war sitting on the bottom. Apparently they had been given to the Vermont militia after the war and then disposed of in the pond. They were sealed and still live...
  10. Canute Rex

    Brown bess questions

    Abbl, I would recommend that you do as little as possible to this antique. The point is not to make it look new - it has a history, and that should show. Do what you need to stabilize it, to prevent further corrosion or damage to the wood. Don't polish anything. If you put a new frizzen on it...
  11. Canute Rex

    Any Good Matchlocks?

    Echoing Flint62, anything Brian Anderson makes you will balance perfectly and shoulder perfectly. He can make you a museum quality copy or a graceful pastiche of an original firearm. I own one of his guns and have fired or shouldered a number. They all feel "just so."
  12. Canute Rex

    rifle name

    I don't generally name my guns, but Brian Anderson made me a Brescian style wheellock that is so elegant I felt I had to. She is La Donnina (con la Voce Forte). That is, "The Little Woman (with the Loud Voice).
  13. Canute Rex

    Matchlock on the range and safety

    These days I have a match case I made from a 6" long piece of 1-1/2" copper pipe with caps soldered on the ends. I drilled a bunch of 1/8" holes in one side and the bottom and a 1/2" hole in the top. I have it slung on a cord on my left hip. The edge of the 1/2" hole is sharpened a bit so it...
  14. Canute Rex

    Real or Replica?

    Squanch is on to it. Look at the high "tail" on the ****. It would hit the frizzen before the flint. The frizzen itself it a bent piece of flat steel that doesn't fit the pan. The frizzen spring doesn't look functional. The lock is entirely decorative.
  15. Canute Rex

    Tasty tasty Hardtack?!

    The hexagonal shape of the biscuit makes perfect sense. Less likely to lose a corner than a square biscuit, and yet the hexagonal shapes can be cut from a sheet of dough without any waste. That illustration of the man "Riding the Break" to knead the dough is exactly what a few noodle makers in...
  16. Canute Rex

    Does a RB travel with constant rotation, or accelerate?

    I'll keep all this in mind when I do a drive by shooting on the Roundheads with my matchlock out the window of my carriage. I'll have my driver whipping the horses to a gallop, so it will be tricky. Maybe I should use a ribaldequin or volley gun. Joking aside, this discussion points out that we...
  17. Canute Rex

    Tasty tasty Hardtack?!

    If you want to get something fairly close to hardtack but much more palatable, try "Vermont Common Crackers." They were first made in Vermont in 1828, and are still made by the Orton family today with the same 19th century machinery. They look much the same and were made to last a year in a...
  18. Canute Rex

    Does a RB travel with constant rotation, or accelerate?

    Going from Zonie's calculation of 350 rotations per second, a 50 caliber ball would have a surface velocity relative to the air of 45.8 feet per second. That is, rotationally, or perpendicular to the direction of travel. Not much compared to 1000-1800 fps forward. (note: 45.8 fps at the...
  19. Canute Rex

    For the matchlock fans...

    WARNING...WARNING...WARNING The Vikingsword link that Pukka offered up is dangerous: My browser (Firefox) warned that the site was trying to put malware on my computer for cryptocurrency generation. That is, a remote site hijacks your computing power to make money. If you clicked on that link...
  20. Canute Rex

    Early 17th Century Scandinavian Lock

    The top of the trigger must have been just barely fitted under the angle of the sear. If it fit just under the chisel edge it could pull the sear in enough before it hit. The frizzen pivoted to one side as a safety. Brian Anderson told me that it was common on these Scandinavian locks...
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