All of this misinformation is really getting old

[ML48]

I was reluctant to mention which election . I didn't want to break any rules. Lets just say it was a national election.

Damn.....that just proved our point

 

[Jakeytoo]

I was reluctant to mention which election . I didn't want to break any rules. Lets just say it was a national election.

Installation

 

[FPDoc]

Yeah, I remember the gun section and the ladies undergarments section too! The wish book indeed!

Anyone else remember how difficult page selection became once ya got down to those choices? How times have changed. Used to get your reading, writing, basic biology (including previously mentioned catalog supplement and observation of local fauna such as spiders flies and snakes),
financial planning (savings - new rifle) etc. all taken care of during those study sessions.

 

[vintovka]

I find this kind of thread both informative and funny. I am new to BP so I am just reading and absorbing info. Still kind of lost on the swabbing and cleaning since there are SO many differing ideas on that one but the powder over the ball in hand, I tried that with my .45 ball and then poured the powder into my measure to see just what I ended up with. Yea, I wouldn't want to pull the trigger on that one! 145-146 grains!!!! I have big hands so I can only cup it so far and I end up with a lot of powder. I always figured that was one method that was better left to the ages. I will keep absorbing and also using common sense to filter things out.

Poor powder in olden days? Might be why long rifles were long?

 

[vintovka]

I was reluctant to mention which election . I didn't want to break any rules. Lets just say it was a national election.

Predetermined?

 

[LME]

And the older they get, the bigger the stories. Believe me I've heard it all - - I'm old.

I don't like to be called old! I had rather be called over matured. I can remember when the Dead Sea wasn't even sick!
I have been taught a few things over the internet and the number one thing is ,""If it ain't broke don't fix it""!

 

[Jim Wag]

All my barrels come pre-seasoned..........

Talk about . . .
Kicks like a
Mule!

Jim in La Luz

 

[ML48]

Talk about . . .
Kicks like a
Mule!

Jim in La Luz

I guess you get a lot of shot out of them

 

[TexiKan]

I never said that pouring powder over a ball in your flat palm would result in an optimum load, only a load that was useful. Nor do I use the powder over a ball in my palm to measure a load for any of my firearms. Load development with a good volume measure is necessary to settle on an accurate on target and reasonable recoil. Due to so many variables the range of the load I tested for my 0.715" ball for the King's Pattern Musket varied from 90 to 110 grains of powder which is a usable load. This was an experiment as an infantry soldier was required to load from his paper cartridge. And yes, there is no need to use the pour the powder over a ball in the palm when you have a perfectly good volume measure.

The sharp edge of a shard of plane glass is effective in scraping a horn to remove scale.

And as stitch counters go we really don't know it all, but it is imperative to act that way.

And nor did I say the powder over the ball concept was not true. I simply have not seen it done!
Yes, likewise, I have seen some work a powder horn with glass but more often than not, they forsake it for more efficient tools.

As for the stitch counters who act like they know it all...some may need refresher courses to be more believable! Ha!

 

[Dave Fox]

The volume of powder varying upon size & depth of palm, how "flat" guy holds it, etc. The powder measure was a big leap in technology, if you take all that into account.!

Turner Kirkland in old Dixie Gun Works catalogues suggested two starting loads for a round ball muzzleloading rifle: put the ball in your cupped hand and cover the ball with powder for a light load, do the same with a flat palm for a heavy charge. Never tried it so I have no opinion.

 

[Irishmusket]

I have used the palm of my hand measure it works and in the day it was done its not a myth it works not very accurate no substitute for a good powder measurement in a pinch it works fine how ever.

 

[Irishmusket]

By they day I mean 18th 19 th century back when their vary life depended on it

 

[ML48]

Turner Kirkland in old Dixie Gun Works catalogues suggested two starting loads for a round ball muzzleloading rifle: put the ball in your cupped hand and cover the ball with powder for a light load, do the same with a flat palm for a heavy charge. Never tried it so I have no opinion.

Damned good things manufacturers of ammunition don't do that

 

[TFoley]

Think I'm the only BP shooter at our range so nobody else has much to say, they might notice that I'm there 4 hours and only shoot 10 times....haha

I've gotten you beat, but only just. This morning I shot off just fourteen rounds from the Whitworth - very carefully - taking almost two and a half hours, including the inevitable josh- interractive information dissemination.

 

[Irishmusket]

That s about right you shot fifteen rounds in4 hours and had more fun than the kid with his black rifle shooting off 200 rounds in 15 minutes and 200 $ in ammunition.

 

[Darto]

They weren't many accurate scales for centuries of black powder. Nor any way to specify the diameter of the powder grains, except to say about the size of the seed of an xxxx plant or flower. Guns came before the printing press, and 100 years after the printing press books were still super expensive. You could not buy a handy magazine at the sporting goods store with accurate scaled pictures and charts of specs with numbers.

No dividers measuring 100ths of an inch to help you when buying patch material. Cloth was way more expensive than powder or ball. And most bolts of cloth were not uniform in thickness, unless super high priced. So they didn't put a patch around their ball. And used rules of thumb to start up a load. Dump that trial load into a fabricated measure and then trim the measure down to try out different amounts of powder to test.

 

[Darto]

Here's an article about why sperm oil was and is superior to almost all modern lubes. When I started with guns it was muzzle loaders and the hobby shop books said to lay in a supply of whale oil while you still could. So I went online and it was nowhere to be found any more. It applies to both old muzzle loaders or modern guns.
https://www.cherrybalmz.com/post/secrets-of-1911-reliability-how-to-lube-for-maximum-performance

 

[Irishmusket]

Damned good things manufacturers of ammunition don't do that

Turner Kirkland knew his stuff and a well respected guy

 

[Erwan]

And used rules of thumb to start up a load. Dump that trial load into a fabricated measure and then trim the measure down to try out different amounts of powder to test.

About the initial subject of the thread, may I ask a question :
I began to shoot black powder sixty-four years ago (I was ten years old the first time) with my great-grandfather (veteran of the Franco-German 1870 war) and with my grandfather later. They always told me : "Take the caliber of the bullet and convert it in grains, after that work and adjust the charge to your rifle".
I ever do this way, and it was ever the good way and sometime the just weight of powder at the first shot...
Is it an urban legend (there was no Internet to read or learn this at that time) ?
What do you think about ?

 

[deerstalkert]

yesterday i took my 50 hawken for a stroll. when i got to my shooting range i discovered i had left my measure in the garage. well weren't any way i was going to shuffle back to the garage and get it , it was 200 feet away for petes sake.
so i used the cupped hand and cover the ball trick. first shot with a .490 ball and a .010 spit patch was a bulls eye at 50 yards. i shot 10 loads that way and had a 10 shot 3" group. i was impressed. think if i can get my but out of this chair i will go measure what that load was.

Erwan, i think personally that method is a great starting point.