- Joined
- Jul 30, 2021
- Messages
- 167
- Reaction score
- 354
Hello all,
I bought this .34 caliber percussion rifle from an experienced outdoorsman and muzzleloader in PA a while back. The stock finish was poor and not original, so I did not hesitate to refinish it. Stripping the almost paint like crud and refinishing exposed the beautiful walnut grain. I rubbed the Tru-Oil back and kept it thin to eliminate any buildup and gloss. I know that Tru-Oil is not in everyone's vocabulary but in my opinion it worked here.
I scoped the bore and concluded that it was toast but it unbreeched easily and I was able to clean the bore and rifling to very good condition. Lesson learned; a high-quality borescope can give an exaggerated view of bore condition.
It took a while to get to the woods for a test firing, several months in fact. Since my only previous experience with muzzleloading is my .50 Renegade I was surprised by the complete lack of recoil and almost no muzzle report from this small-bore rifle. At the first shot I thought only the cap went off with no main charge ignition.
The rifle did function though, and the target picture below is the first three shots at around 25 yards. The large group is probably due to my aging eyes and the poor balance of the rifle. I will get used to that and am hoping for squirrel hunting accuracy, time will tell.
It's a very simple rifle and nothing to get excited about but I did. I intend to keep it going for a while shooting only light loads to respect it 150 or so year history. To the PA gentleman that sold it to me, thank you for getting me re-started in muzzleloading and I still owe you those Virginia peanuts.
Jeff
I bought this .34 caliber percussion rifle from an experienced outdoorsman and muzzleloader in PA a while back. The stock finish was poor and not original, so I did not hesitate to refinish it. Stripping the almost paint like crud and refinishing exposed the beautiful walnut grain. I rubbed the Tru-Oil back and kept it thin to eliminate any buildup and gloss. I know that Tru-Oil is not in everyone's vocabulary but in my opinion it worked here.
I scoped the bore and concluded that it was toast but it unbreeched easily and I was able to clean the bore and rifling to very good condition. Lesson learned; a high-quality borescope can give an exaggerated view of bore condition.
It took a while to get to the woods for a test firing, several months in fact. Since my only previous experience with muzzleloading is my .50 Renegade I was surprised by the complete lack of recoil and almost no muzzle report from this small-bore rifle. At the first shot I thought only the cap went off with no main charge ignition.
The rifle did function though, and the target picture below is the first three shots at around 25 yards. The large group is probably due to my aging eyes and the poor balance of the rifle. I will get used to that and am hoping for squirrel hunting accuracy, time will tell.
It's a very simple rifle and nothing to get excited about but I did. I intend to keep it going for a while shooting only light loads to respect it 150 or so year history. To the PA gentleman that sold it to me, thank you for getting me re-started in muzzleloading and I still owe you those Virginia peanuts.
Jeff
