I finally had the time to take the little .36 squirrel rifle out to the gun club this past Saturday. As you may recall, my step-father had given it to me a month or two ago. I had given it to my Mother as a Christmas present back in like 1978 or '79.
I figured I'd just take it out and see what it would and would not do. I cast up a bunch of .350 balls and headed out to the Columbus Muzzle Loading Gun Club.
All I had handy was 2F powder...it worked okay. I'm sure 3F will burn a bit cleaner in it though. I was using 20 grains of powder. The first shot hit the 10 ring! After that it was all downhill....but that was me, not the rifle. I have not shot a percussion gun in 25+ years. Not sure I like Remington #11 caps any better now than I did in the '70's. I noticed several weak ones (not due to any lock malfunctions). Gonna get some CCI caps this week.
I decided to not swab between shots....just to see how many shots I could get before (A) it got hard to load and/or (B) it started misfiring. (A) Well, I was using a 5/16" steel rod to load with, .350 cast balls and .015 ox-yoke treated patches. It never got the least bit hard to load. Each ball seated as easily as the one before it. Cool. (B) After about 25 shots, it began to misfire. The patent breech started to clog. I was amazed that it took so long to gum up.
NOTE: I wasn't much concerned this time out with hitting anything. I wanted to make sure the gun still functioned properly and determine what I could and could not do with it. I'll get some 3F this week and then spend some time with it to get some groupings. Although the sights still seemed to be fairly well on, so it should not be a chore to get it hitting on-target.
Lessons learned: Swab to keep junk from building up in the breech. Use 3F powder. Try other caps besides Remington. Although in all fairness, it was extremely humid...one cap just mushed itself into the nipple like paste.
The good news: this thing is sweet to shoot. It's light, handy, holds nicely, still gives a satisfying report and good BP smoke cloud, doesn't smack my shoulder, loads easily and is inexpensive to shoot. At 20 grains per shot, powder cost is minimal and I can get a hundred .350 balls from a pound of lead. Caps are the most expensive part of it!
I'll shoot this for awhile. If I continue to enjoy .36 caliber, I will probably buy a Blue Ridge rifles in .36 flintlock. I did miss the pan charge going off when shooting the Mowrey.....I still prefer flintlocks over caplocks.
Jack
I figured I'd just take it out and see what it would and would not do. I cast up a bunch of .350 balls and headed out to the Columbus Muzzle Loading Gun Club.
All I had handy was 2F powder...it worked okay. I'm sure 3F will burn a bit cleaner in it though. I was using 20 grains of powder. The first shot hit the 10 ring! After that it was all downhill....but that was me, not the rifle. I have not shot a percussion gun in 25+ years. Not sure I like Remington #11 caps any better now than I did in the '70's. I noticed several weak ones (not due to any lock malfunctions). Gonna get some CCI caps this week.
I decided to not swab between shots....just to see how many shots I could get before (A) it got hard to load and/or (B) it started misfiring. (A) Well, I was using a 5/16" steel rod to load with, .350 cast balls and .015 ox-yoke treated patches. It never got the least bit hard to load. Each ball seated as easily as the one before it. Cool. (B) After about 25 shots, it began to misfire. The patent breech started to clog. I was amazed that it took so long to gum up.
NOTE: I wasn't much concerned this time out with hitting anything. I wanted to make sure the gun still functioned properly and determine what I could and could not do with it. I'll get some 3F this week and then spend some time with it to get some groupings. Although the sights still seemed to be fairly well on, so it should not be a chore to get it hitting on-target.
Lessons learned: Swab to keep junk from building up in the breech. Use 3F powder. Try other caps besides Remington. Although in all fairness, it was extremely humid...one cap just mushed itself into the nipple like paste.
The good news: this thing is sweet to shoot. It's light, handy, holds nicely, still gives a satisfying report and good BP smoke cloud, doesn't smack my shoulder, loads easily and is inexpensive to shoot. At 20 grains per shot, powder cost is minimal and I can get a hundred .350 balls from a pound of lead. Caps are the most expensive part of it!
I'll shoot this for awhile. If I continue to enjoy .36 caliber, I will probably buy a Blue Ridge rifles in .36 flintlock. I did miss the pan charge going off when shooting the Mowrey.....I still prefer flintlocks over caplocks.
Jack
but I'm just getting into bp.
