Went up to the range this morning - third time out since I got into this black powder shooting. It was a rainy day and even under the shelter everything felt damp. I had a couple of FITPs, and found that the FFFFg dispenser had plugged up, I guess the damp air got to it. Pricking the vent and making sure the pan had a good helping of powder on future shots solved that problem. The Trade Rifle seems to like the pan about 3/4 full or better.
Oddly enough, despite the conditions, ignition was instantaneous on most shots. I usually couldn't hear, see or feel anything before the main charge went off. Like shooting a centre fire rifle.
The barrel fouled up even with wiping between shots, had trouble getting the ball down but the steel range rod made a great slide-hammer. I gave the barrel a double wipe which cleared things up until quitting time.
And oh yeah, I managed to ram a dry ball - does that mean I've joined some kind of club, maybe one for dummies? I realized what I'd done just as I short-started it down six inches, but was saved by the vent liner. I removed that and dribbled 15-20 grains of powder into the chamber, then gave it a few shots from the priming powder dispenser. Put the vent back, rammed the ball home and shot it out.
So this rookie feels he's making some progress. I just have to start getting better groups. I tried wearing my reading glasses, didn't think they'd work but the front sight came into sharp focus - the target stayed fuzzy, though!
Gotta say, this flintlock shooting is great. The only other shooter out today wasn't shooting black powder - all he did was shoot, shoot, shoot, while I got to play with all this other stuff.
Cheers,
Jamie
Oddly enough, despite the conditions, ignition was instantaneous on most shots. I usually couldn't hear, see or feel anything before the main charge went off. Like shooting a centre fire rifle.
The barrel fouled up even with wiping between shots, had trouble getting the ball down but the steel range rod made a great slide-hammer. I gave the barrel a double wipe which cleared things up until quitting time.
And oh yeah, I managed to ram a dry ball - does that mean I've joined some kind of club, maybe one for dummies? I realized what I'd done just as I short-started it down six inches, but was saved by the vent liner. I removed that and dribbled 15-20 grains of powder into the chamber, then gave it a few shots from the priming powder dispenser. Put the vent back, rammed the ball home and shot it out.
So this rookie feels he's making some progress. I just have to start getting better groups. I tried wearing my reading glasses, didn't think they'd work but the front sight came into sharp focus - the target stayed fuzzy, though!
Gotta say, this flintlock shooting is great. The only other shooter out today wasn't shooting black powder - all he did was shoot, shoot, shoot, while I got to play with all this other stuff.
Cheers,
Jamie