ACCESSORY: A good size rubber mallet !

[roundball]

Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, some things take a while to register...but a few weeks ago I connected the dots that the day after a 50 shot range session with my .40cal Flinter, my right hand is a little stiff/sore.

The culprit is the tight fitting PRB combo.....not only does it force the use of a short starter, but I have to rap it very hard a couple times with my hand.

The .40cal's accuracy is so outstanding that I'm not changing a thing in the components mix...and for the few shots I might take while squirrel hunting it is not a problem...but using my hand as a hammer for 50 shots is a problem.

Remembering the occasional post where a shooter uses a mallet...for the past couple .40cal range sessions I've used a large rubber headed mallet like you'd use to put a wheel cover back on a wheel...works great, and no more sore hands.
:wink:

 

[rabbit03]

:thumbsup:

I use a rawhide mallet that I rescued from my previous employer before someone else stole it!

rabbit03

 

[walruskid1]

sears sells a small hammer with rubber and hard plastic faces. i use it to start bore sized prbs in my chunk gun. works great and won't damage the crown in any way if you manage to hit it. not pc but neither is using a tackle box to haul my goodies. :surrender:

 

[jtmattison]

sears sells a small hammer with rubber and hard plastic faces. i use it to start bore sized prbs in my chunk gun. works great and won't damage the crown in any way if you manage to hit it. not pc but neither is using a tackle box to haul my goodies. :surrender:

I keep the same hammer in my box for drifting sights, driving wedge pins...etc.

HD

 

[Bob J]

Excellent idea! My .36 Tennessee rifle likes a real tight fitting combo for superb accuracy, and this would save some wear and tear on the palm of my hand :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

Pick them up at most any auto parts store...pretty cheap as I recall...this one's probably been hanging on the pegboard for 20+ years.

The big black rubber head has weight due to it's size for seating wheel covers but does so without denting them as it's rubber...doesn't leave any marks on the wooden ball of my short starter...

 

[bpbrs]

Having had my elbow worked on a few years back, AND that having some nerve trouble in my hand I've used many a mallet.
I also wear a padded pistol shooting glove.
About the only time I do not used a mallet is when shooting thin patches in winter or for woods walk shooting.

:thumbsup:

 

[xxgrampa]

roundball,

try a small rubber 'deadblow' hammer. very small and with the shot in the hammer its heavy for it's size and they don't bounce.

just a lite tap will do..

..ttfn..grampa..

 

[roundball]

"...try a small rubber 'deadblow' hammer..."

Why? I already have a rubber mallet and it works perfectly. :grin:

 

[Runner]

They make as wooden mallet for loading and cleaning pistols. It has a short starter shaft as the handle and a short cupped starter button on one face. Center the button over the ball and slap the flat other end. Ram with the handle. Switch to normal rod.
If you cut the handle down some, it will even fit in your hunting bag. I load the same way hunting that I do on the line practicing.

 

[mike alexandre]

Deadblow hammers are brill for this job :thumbsup:

 

[colmoultrie]

For those who worry about PC, I remember that the 95th Rifles in the Napoleonic wars were issued mallets with their Baker rifles - don't know if they ever got used in battle - and I've read (somewhere) that some of the Jaeger rifles carried by the Hessian used mallets as accessories to start the balls. Perhaps someone more familiar with Jaeger rifles could comment. Of course, I imagine such hammers/mallets woud be wood...

 

[omarick1948]

A few year's back, I attended a black powder shoot...NOT Rendezvous in another bording state and after setting-up my camp, I walked over to the range and see what the shooting was all about. When approuching the shooting line, I got a chuckle, as it reminded me of a scene from Santa's Shop and his Elve's were busy with their little mallets making toys. About half or more of the shooter's were using mallets, hammers and even one lady was using her husbands shoe between shots to get their patched R/B loads down the barrels! You too would chuckle!

In my 30 plus year's shooting muzleloaders, I have never seen so any using a mallets to seat the ball down their bores! What ever happened to worring about lead ball deforming or crushing? Doesn't anybody swab their bore after so many shots anymore? I'm no gunsmith or arm chair expert, but if you have hammer a patched round ball load so tight in the bore to make it shoot accurate...there's a ball size patch size or fouling problem!

I'm no Friendship dead-eye, but have won a thing or two at events and matches with only a short starter and ramrod for loading. Sorry, I can't picture Bridger, Meek or any number of other historical forefather's reloading in the heat of battle or friendly competition, hammering away like village cobblers! Just one old goats comment and opinion!

 

[roundball]

"...What ever happened to worring about lead ball deforming or crushing? Doesn't anybody swab their bore after so many shots anymore?..."

Well 'old goat' :grin: things in life are not ALWAYS as they seem. :wink:
Re-reading my post that started this thread explains why I use one with my .40cal Flintlock...and it has nothing to do with a dirty bore, etc.

And just this week on vacation, I shot 50 shot range sessions 3 mornings in a row...and getting the .395s & .015" patch combo to start is no problem for a few shots...and certainly won't be a problem hunting.

But after 50, then after 100, then after 150 short starts essentially using my hand as a hammer, my hand[url] hurts...plain[/url] and simple...so to avoid what I've learned is a sore hand after 150 shots in 3 days, I use a rubber mallet.

Next 1000 .40cal balls I order I'll try some .390s (if anybody even makes .390s) but if the precision accuracy I currently enjoy should suffer, I'll stay with the .395s and use a rubber mallet for those long range sessions. :wink:

:v

 

[rabjr]

I use a rawhide mallet

Yep me too. :thumbsup:

 

[ronrryan]

I am unfortunately afflicted with carpal tunnel, and loading 495 balls with a small hammer as a mallet for the short starter works for me. I certainly CAN load without it, but who needs the pain, good smoke, ron in FL

 

[fw707]

I certainly CAN load without it, but who needs the pain,

:thumbsup:
I use a delrin starter and a little hammer at the range. No more sore hands.
A loading block and the long end of the starter works fine in the woods.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I use deeper rifling, thinner patching, smaller balls and a deeply radiused muzzle. Who wants to carry a mallet or heavy and bulky starter all the time? If I can't get it started by pushing with my hand choked up to the last few inches of the rammer I figure I'm working too hard. This is for fun!

Besides. You never hear Pearlman saying: "I could get this violin louder if I used 7 X 19 braided steel cable instead of horsehair to string the bow." So what if Rembrant could have covered canvas faster with a Wagner Powersprayer?

Neither art nor love should be forced.

 

[fw707]

I use deeper rifling, thinner patching, smaller balls and a deeply radiused muzzle. Who wants to carry a mallet or heavy and bulky starter all the time? If I can't get it started by pushing with my hand choked up to the last few inches of the rammer I figure I'm working too hard. This is for fun!

Besides. You never hear Pearlman saying: "I could get this violin louder if I used 7 X 19 braided steel cable instead of horsehair to string the bow." So what if Rembrant could have covered canvas faster with a Wagner Powersprayer?

Neither art nor love should be forced.

Stumpy, I don't "carry a mallet or heavy and bulky starter all the time". I carry a little tack hammer and a delrin starter in my shooting box that I take to the range when I shoot my .40 caliber.
I carry a simple curly maple short starter when I hunt and it works fine with my loading block, and yes, I do have fun! :wink:
I don't ever expect to be a Pearlman or a Rembrandt anyway. :bow: :haha: