• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Search results

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
  1. Canute Rex

    Wheel Locks

    Hey Preflint, You can reach Leonard Day at 413-527-0184. I found him some rocket wire so he should be back in the wheellock making business fairly soon. He's a great guy and built me a well balanced 54 smoothbore matchlock. By random chance I just got my hands on an actual Bolek made wheellock...
  2. Canute Rex

    Wheel Locks

    You actually might consider buying one of the Loyalist Arms wheellock pistols and cannibalizing it for the lock. The whole thing costs about $650. You would undoubtedly have to tweak a few things to make it work, but all the parts would be there.
  3. Canute Rex

    Wheel Locks

    The short answer is no. Loyalist Arms sells an Indian made wheellock pistol, but I have read (here, maybe?) that the lock requires a partial rebuild to work reliably. Razpla/Bolek has a 2 year waiting list. Beautiful work if you are willing to wait. Leonard Day can make them, but he makes...
  4. Canute Rex

    Buttstock angle

    I have been looking at photos of wheellocks from the earlier part of the 17th century. There are, of course, cheek stock firearms, but also a variety with a regular shoulder stock. In some cases, a not-so-regular shoulder stock. With some French firearms in particular there is a tendency for...
  5. Canute Rex

    Cannon precision

    Nikke, if I was shooting a 37mm cannon (1.45" bore), I would either try casting a lead ball with maybe 1.5mm space either side (34mm) or find a similar ball bearing. Lead would make a good projectile because it is both uniform and soft - no chance of it getting stuck in the bore and making it a...
  6. Canute Rex

    Accuracy?

    For a while I was using felt wads punched out of worn out felt boot liners. I soaked them in a mix of melted beeswax/olive oil. I noted a sharper "snap" as the bullet went downrange and a higher impact point. At the time I was using a large-ish ball and a thin patch and the use of the wad tended...
  7. Canute Rex

    If you could change one thing about muzzleloading...

    I'd like to see more primitive biathlon type events. I see 100-200 people at some of them up here in little old Vermont. Here's one of the great mistakes of marketing: Selling to yourself. I see it all the time, especially in the tech startup field. "This is what is important to us, so we'll...
  8. Canute Rex

    Patch Punches?

    Look on eBay for "arch punch." Don't try to punch one layer of cloth at a time - you'll just end up frustrated. The technique that works for me is to cut strips a bit wider than the punch and then accordion fold the cloth till I get about 20 layers. Then I punch through all of them into a...
  9. Canute Rex

    Slow Match

    Here's my recipe: http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/287164/post/1379076/hl//fromsearch/1/#1379076 It works well. The ash/lye boil leaches out the lignin in the rope. Lignin gives strength, but also makes excessive ash when it burns, getting in between the glowing coal...
  10. Canute Rex

    1850 Robbins & Lawrence Windsor VT

    You might want to contact the American Precision Museum in Windsor VT (http://www.americanprecision.org/). It is housed in the old Robbins and Lawrence factory from that era. They have a collection of R&L firearms.
  11. Canute Rex

    rubber mulch bullet trap?

    Crazie, 24" might work *most* of the time. The problem is those occasional high shots where there might be less mulch, or a gap in the the mulch where you have been placing a lot of shots. I'd err on the side of too much depth. Rubber mulch is cheap.
  12. Canute Rex

    rubber mulch bullet trap?

    I found a description for a rubber mulch trap online and modified it a bit. I made a 1/2" plywood box 24"x24"x36" with 2x2 framing and a hinged lid. I put it on wheels made out of the sides of a cable spool (plus front legs) so I could roll it out to my range area like a garden cart. I made the...
  13. Canute Rex

    Matchlock Range test

    Beautiful job on that hacabuche! Now you can work up a load just like any other 62 smoothie. Recommendation, especially if the ground is dry: To keep from losing your match, tie the unlit end around your left forearm and hook the lit end between the pinkie and ring finger of your left hand...
  14. Canute Rex

    Looking for pictures of "trigger bar" style

    'ello Squire! Where did that photo come from? My Leonard Day matchlock looks almost exactly like the second one down. Any idea on the provenance? Thanks.
  15. Canute Rex

    Looking for pictures of "trigger bar" style

    For what little it is worth, I have a copy of a 17th century trigger bar style matchlock and the bar just protrudes from a slot in the wood.
  16. Canute Rex

    Paper Cartridges with #4 shot?

    Trying to hit anything with a Bess is a trial. They were made for durability and speed loading, so yes, the trigger pull is horrendous and the lock time is measured with a calendar. The approved method is to load it at home, **** it, pull the trigger, put it carefully in your car, drive to the...
  17. Canute Rex

    Matchlock Shooters?

    I'd recommend that you go to Leonard Day in Easthampton Mass. I have one of his matchlocks. It is simple but well made and well balanced. I have won a few competitions with it. It has a trigger rather than a lever, which I consider a great improvement. That Veteran's Arms matchlock you pictured...
  18. Canute Rex

    Permethrin

    I soak all my jeans in permethrin in the spring, along with some shirts and socks. Then again mid-summer. The soaking type treatment says it will last "six weeks or six washings," perhaps more if you keep the clothes in the dark in plastic bags. At a shoot a few weeks ago I noticed that the...
  19. Canute Rex

    Steam Cleaning Flintlock Rifle Barrel

    The OP didn't mention flash rust. I think he would have if it had occurred. I have seen a video demonstrating such a device and the dry patches came out white. Something about steam vapor as opposed to liquid water? Hmmm...
  20. Canute Rex

    Escopeta, anyone?

    I saw the gunmaker Brian Anderson at a shoot last week and he was using an Escopeta he had made using a Rifle Shoppe lock parts kit. He said that the parts were so poorly cast that he almost gave up on the project but then decided to do it as "a dare." He did it well and it seemed to work for...
Back
Top