Search results

Some of the comments above suggest boring out the barrel, getting additional small brushes, etc. I would suggest the OP take a look at an earlier post of mine when a fellow was inquiring about a patent breech and read my answer to it. You'll find it at the link below...

I have one Traditions flinter. It's their Pennsylvania Longrifle before they shortened the barrel and overall length. The barrel on my is 40¼" in length. It's a straight tapered octagon, highly decorated, and has that Roman Nose of a stock. Traditions also puts very small locks on their...

Back in 1969 when I bought my first muzzle-loader, a Pedersoli percussion Kentucky pistol, I initially had a problem with flinching. My Grandfather said, you don't want to dry fire it because it will flatten the cone of the nipple and your caps with either get stuck on, or you won't be able to...

I don't hunt or do live-shoots with 2F powder in the pan. I use 3f for everything. HOWEVER, I have used 2f literally thousands of times over the last 20-years in reenactments. I will typically file 100 or more blank charges (just powder, no ball) at a weekend reenactment. That's typically two...

YES! Virtually all longrifle barrels were swamped in the 1700's and early 1800's. It was about 1838 when Remington designed a long hollow drill that would shoot oil down the center of the bit shaft to come out the tip to keep it from overheating and melting as it drilled through solid steel...

Thanks LRB!. I was wondering why with all the folding it didn't show the patterns when ground.

They definitely had some well made and very nice knives in the 1700's. However, trade knives were not among those. They were the "cheap" knives of the era and were first used to trade with the native Indians. However, they were still serviceable knives and a lot of folks ended up with them...

I can understand why you'd think that but the riflemen that got into the various rifle companies during the Revolutionary War (primarily from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia) were not normally "poor as dirt". Reason for that is that most of them had been longhunters, especially the ones in...

Back in the first decade of 2000, I used to arrange trips to Africa for wingshooting. They would typically come into the Cape and spend a few days there and then travel up to Johannesburg. If they were $$ heavy, they'd take the Blue Train from Cape up to Joburg on an overnight run. It's a very...

Yes I do. It's my Early Lancaster Longrifle built by a fellow who used to be on here who went by the screen name of "tg". It has a 44½" swamped barrel and an L&R Queen Anne lock. It's beautifully done and lighter by almost 2-lbs than my previous Traditions Longrifle is. It sits above our...

I actually take 3 wool blankets with me on reenactments. I have an all-white one that I think was my Dad's Navy blanket from WWII, a red one with a stripe that my wife got for me years ago, and then one of those olive army blankets that is "mostly wool" (75% I think). I also have a number of...

My first black powder bag I made out of an old black shoulder purse that was a lot like a field bag with a snap to keep the top fastened. It worked very well for my unmentionable BP rifle and I used it at first for hunting once I got a longrifle. I was very proud of the fact I had removed some...

One of the safety checks we do at Reenactments is "Spring Rammers". That has to be done on all rifles, muskets, fowlers, etc. before you can participate in the reenactment. It's a simple test. Pull your ramrod out and put the flared end or jag end down the barrel. Most ramrods will have...

If you liked the old Altoids box (I use for my patch lube) order some mints from Amazon (might be Amazon Fresh). It's the same box as the Altoids was before they started embossing Altoids into the lid.

I keep mine in a round tin box. It's a lot like the round tin containers that expensive pipe tobacco would come in. Got it from Townsends.us back when they were James Townsend & Son. They were available in a number of sizes back then. Looks like they only have the 4" size now. The first one...

Well done! That obsidian knife has a nice, thin, blade. That takes skill! Usually if done by someone less skilled, the middle of the blade will look pretty fat. Be very careful with that though. One of my bosses at work probably 20-years ago was given a beautiful obsidian knife with about...

That's what is known as a "Patent Breech". There are a bunch of variations of it from about the 1840's on, but they all basically do the same thing and offer the same cleaning challenges. The patent breech does not go into the side of the barrel like a "normal" flash hole does. Rather it goes...

That center can - DuPont, red and white can, was what I was buying in 1968 and later. That third can has to be a transition can before Gearhart-Owens came up with the brand name of GOEX for Gearhart-Owens Explosives. I'd guess the logo on that can is for Gearhart-Owend Industries. Very cool...

Thank Heavens! I thought we'd lost him. He has contributed a LOT to this forum.

Dupont was still making Black Powder in 1972 in the Belin Works in Moosic, PA. That plant was built in 1908 and came into production in 1912. That brought their BP factories to three - the other two were in Wapwallopen, PA and Wilmington, Delaware. After WWII the Belin plant was able to supply...