First Black Powder Rifle

[Socal147]

Just received my Pederosi 1861 Springfield. Removed the barrel and cleaned off all of the grease. Jeez!
Ran a bunch of patches with Hoppes and then dry patched until they came out white. Boy, does Pederosi grease these rifles. Lol
I have never shot black powder before. I do reload and cast. I plan on casting Minnie's and possibly .58 balls. My right eye is pretty much useless so I will need to shoot from the left. Can't wait .
Have triple seven, (prefer black but good ol California), musket caps, nipples, nipple wrench, jag, and worm enroute.
Learned a lot by reading but I realize nothing replaces experience.
Would love to share a photo but I don't see an attachment option.

 

[Bearkiller]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new rifle :thumbsup:

 

[necchi]

Welcome to the fold :wink:

That Hoppes isn't really a great grease cutter, try a few patches with some common auto brake cleaner, you might be surprised how much more will come out.
It's pretty important you get all that stuff out of there be fore you shoot it. That packing grease and powder fouling can turn into a nasty hard to clean out mess.

 

[Socal147]

Thanks all.
I will take another run at cleaning. I dont have the necessary items to shoot yet. Hooefully by the time they arrive, my barrel will be ready. :wink:

 

[hanshi]

Although longrifles are my passion I've always had a strong interest in the muzzleloading guns of the Northern invasion. My current favorite is a very fine US M1841 in the original .54. Never cared much for the "Hawkens" and "Hawkens style" rifles. And welcome to our forum.

 

[Socal147]

Thanks again .......
Today I used acetone to finish cleaning the barrel. The final patches are white. Nothing left inside, I am sure. Awaiting the arrival of the other needed items. Really excited but nothing I can do but wait.
A member on another forum told me round balls are more accurate the Minnie's. I thought the reason for Minnie's was to take advantage of the rifling and the associated accuracy. True/False or otherwise?

 

[bpd303]

False... the right minie's are very accurate.

 

[Alden]

If u REALLY mean minie balls the answer is yes, in a manner of speaking -- they take advantage of the rifling AUTOMATICALLY. The soft lead skirt expands under pressure at the breech and bites the rifling. That said...

...a PATCHED ROUND BALL takes the rifling based on its INITIAL tightness in the bore as you ram it down. Conversely, a minie ball doesn't require much force to load.

 

[mooman76]

If you go to the top of the home page under regional and then go under CA there is a few places mentioned in CA that sell real BP.

 

[Socal147]

Thanks for the replies. I will do the regional search to look for BP. I do belong to the Apple Valley Gun Club and there are some BP types there.

 

[bpd303]

If you have several BP shooters and can't get powder locally, it can be ordered online. By ordering 25lbs and splitting the cost between each other it's reasonable. I usually buy from Powder Inc. http://powderinc.com/

 

[Zonie]

You asked about Minie' bullets accuracy?

Here's my take on that, for what it's worth.

Minie' bullets can shoot very accurately or very poorly. More will shoot poorly than accurately.

The reason for this is the size of the bullet and the size of the bore.

Minie's come in several different diameters and the bores of the reproduction (and original) guns also can be quite different.

For a Minie' bullet to shoot accurately it must not be over .003 (three thousandths) of an inch smaller than the bore of the gun.

That makes finding the actual size of the bore necessary and with many of the Rifled Muskets this isn't easy to do.

The reason it isn't easy is because many of these guns used 3 rifling grooves. The grooves are also often very wide.
That can mean a groove will be directly opposite the unrifled area of the bore so a caliper or a inside micrometer often has a difficult time of touching the bore on both sides at the same time.

If your serious about shooting Minie' bullets accuretly you might call around to see if there is a machine shop in your area that can measure bores rifled with three grooves.

Other things that will effect the way a Minie' bullet shoots is the thickness of the thin "skirt" at the rear.

If this is too thin, it can blow out as the slug leaves the barrel.
Normal 50-60 grain powder charges usually won't cause this to happen but heavier powder loads can.

Conversely, there are thick skirted Minie' bullets that need heavier powder charges to expand the base of the slug into the rifling.

My suggestion is for you to buy small quantities of several different Minie' bullets if you can find them and give each type a try.

As for shooting round balls out of a Rifled Musket, that can be done but one must remember, the rifles of this type usually have very shallow rifling grooves.
That means a fairly tight ball/patch combination is needed to get the patch to get a good grip on the rifling.
If it doesn't, it is about like shooting a patched ball in a smoothbore.
It works but it may not be real accurate.

The thing to remember about Rifled Muskets is they were designed to kill or wound men on the opposite side of a Military conflict.
Precision accuracy wasn't one of the big design requirements like strength, durability and easy to load rapidly were.

I know you'll have fun with your new gun. They are a hoot to shoot.

 

[Socal147]

Outstanding explanation Zonie. Thanks .....

Have some .570's balls, various patches, a .575 ball mold, and two Minnie molds ordered. The molds are inexpensive so no big loss if they don't perform. I plan on making my own patches in the future but I wanted to shoot some first.

 

[Beaverkiller]

Congratulations on joining the club of charcoal burners. I hope you don't get discouraged, it's a very trying hobby, but once you get that ol' smoke pole broke in and the right load and charge you'll be having as much fun as a man can have with clothes on and people watching. As for minnie's or PRB, just shoot and find out.
As for my self I shoot a .54 Lyman Great Plains with a 1/50 twist. PRB only and I'll be atelling ya, it's a hoot(just don't point into the wind, kinda smoky for a little bit.). Anyhow enjoy and keep all of us informed how it goes.

 

[F.G. Ford]

When using brake cleaner, I would remove the barrel.
Some of those brake cleaning solutions will remove most stock finishes.
Good luck on your new venture!
Fred :v

 

[Socal147]

Understood. Some cleaners destroy finishes. I do have a question about post cleaning care. I realize that oil and grease don't play well with BP.
Do you apply oil to the barrel post cleaning and then clean out prior to shooting? Same rules as smokeless shooting?
I do have food grade lubes and oil on hand.
I am curious about the 5/1 - denatured / olive oil patch lube. I have made my own bullet lubes and they worked. Cisco/Beeswax/(paraffin - to adjust for ambient temps expected)

 

[Col. Batguano]

It's always a good idea to protect your bore post-cleaning. With BP it's important to make sure that flash channel is clear before you load your first load. Some people go to rather extensive lengths to clean it, but most just swab it real good with alcohol, and then dry it. Then snap a couple of caps on an empty bore to make sure.

As to lubes, there are as many of them out there as there are opinions. The important thing there is to make sure you don't use so much that it actually impedes ignition.

 

[Socal147]

Thanks Col.
I don't have a nipple wrench yet but I soon as I do I will pull the nipple and make sure it is clear to fire. I will do a very light coat of oil in the barrel.

Thanks......

 

[ccmountainman]

Most forums want you to have an account at Flickr etc. post picture there then link it to the forum.
Saves them bandwidth and storage that way.

I can see their point, but it really does suck.
I don't have and won't have an online photo storage account..
I also will NEVER use the cloud to store personal data.

Hoppes will cut it. but better to use something designed to cut the grease.
Rubbing alcohol, lacquer thinner, or a wet patch with dish soap applied to it.
But remember to thoroughly dry all the nooks and crannies.
Do NOT use a petroleum based lube in the chamber and bore. Those and BP do not mix well.
Unless you thoroughly clean it before shooting.

 

[F.G. Ford]

Hi again,
As mentioned there are as many shooting lubes as their fish in the sea.
I have been shooting BP for fifty years, plus.
The most versatile that I have found is 1/3 bee's wax, 1/3 olive oil, and 1/3 murphy's soap.
It works well for shooting and storage.
But remember to rest your gun muzzle down for one day after shooting.
No build up of oil in the breech.
Fred