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DavyCrockett

32 Cal.
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I just got my Pedersoli Blue Ridge 50. cal, and shot it for the first time today. First time I ever shot a flintlock. It. Was. Awesome.

I felt like I was firing a cannon. The sound it made was awesome. The smoke was also just so satisfying. Granted I missed my target every shot I took (Think it may need sighting in but I just wanted to shoot today.) and flinched like an idiot.
It was still just so great to shoot.
Shot it maybe 25 times, let a few of my family shoot it too. Not a single misfire (I hope that's the correct terminology), no big problems of any time.

I did however have one problem. I thought I had seen people pushing the ball in with the patch kinda wrapped around the bottom half of the ball, but anytime I did that, it got stuck just a few inches down the barrel. So I just pushed the patch down first and then the ball separately and it still fired fine, might have lost some accuracy but that wasn't a huge concern for me today. I'm supposed to push the ball down with the patch right? The patches I bought came pre-lubed too. Any ideas to what I might've done wrong?

Also I just want to say thanks again to everyone on this forum who helped me pick out a gun, learn what I needed to know to shoot, and everything else anyone did for me. Thanks.
 
Sounds like you're hooked! You are definitely losing accuracy by not patching correctly. The balls you are using could be too big or the patches too thick. What diameter ball and patch thickness are you using? Also, make sure you're using a short starter, makes life much easier. :hatsoff:
 
Proper safety protocol would dictate:

1. That you not handle a gun you are not familiar and competent with unless properly supervised.

2. That you not give your gun to someone who is not properly trained and or supervised.


I hope you know how to properly clean it.
 
To say the least I'm properly trained with the weapon. As are the family members i allowed to shoot it. I may not know this one thing, but I'm trained well enough to have known i was in no danger. Safety is obviously a great concern of mine and if I didn't feel %100 confidant I could safely fire the weapon I wouldn't have done it. I was slightly unsure of this situation due to the fact things didn't quite go as they were supposed to.
I promise you I'm no idiot, especially when it comes to firearm safety. I spent well over a month researching this weapon before purchasing it, and have been firing guns for as long as I can remember, was taught proper safety by my father and am about as careful as you can be when handling any firearm. And i know how to clean it. I know you're just watching out for my safety but I get a tone of disrespect I don't care for from your post. As if you assumed I'm some sort of idiot who has no business with guns. I wish to assure you I'm not, and will continue being safe with this weapon. Thanks for your concern
And i was using hornady 50 cal ammo and it's weight was .495 (pretty sure that's it. I know I had the choice of two that ended in either 90 or 95), and 0.05 thickness patches. And i have a starter.
 
Thanks for your concern

You are most welcome. :thumbsup:

I enjoy helping people when I can. You certainly seem to be well versed. :hatsoff:

There is one thing that I have learned from decades of shooting that may help you......

That is that the chip on your shoulder will affect your accuracy. :hmm:

I obviously have more respect for your safety than you do. :v
 
DavyCrockett said:
I know you're just watching out for my safety but I get a tone of disrespect I don't care for from your post. As if you assumed I'm some sort of idiot who has no business with guns.
And i was using hornady 50 cal ammo and it's weight was .495 (pretty sure that's it. I know I had the choice of two that ended in either 90 or 95), and 0.05 thickness patches. And i have a starter.


Alright, there are a few issues here. First off, glad you had fun along with your friends. Second..... glad no one was hurt. Now, before you get upset and think you know it all about safety and all that jazz there are a few things you need to know about muzzleloaders. The way you loaded had the potential of becoming an obstruction. Basically what could have happened is that since the ball was not in the patch, it was in a way free moving. A slight bump or anything could have moved the ball away from the powder and created a void. Powder goes off races down the barrel and runs into an obstruction.....boom. Barrel blows up and someone gets hurt or worse.
Now the good news, no one was hurt and you have learned something. The .495 is the diameter of the ball. Buy the .490 instead and you will probably have an easier time of loading.
So as you can see it wasn't a "Tone of disrespect" as you thought it was. That is the problem with this digital stuff.... things can and are taken out of context when there isn't facial expressions or tones of voice to go along with what is written. You are just starting out so there is a ton of stuff to learn. Shoot, at 43 I am still learning somethin' new everyday.
 
Got to love your excitement Mr. Davey Crocket! I too am glad you had fun with your first experience with a flintlock. I have that same exact model and know that it can be a lot of fun to shoot and very reliable going off. My gun is very tight to load with .495 balls and I have to use a hammer or a mallet to start them. For that reason I use the .490 round balls and save myself the aggravation. You very well may find that your gun shoots way low as these Pedersolis have a known reputation of shooting low straight out of the box. After breaking in the barrel with a hundred-two hundred shots you may need to file down the front site a little at a time to bring the group up some to get it to hit near the center of the target. Welcome to the world of flintlocks! Be safe. Greg. :)
 
I do apologize if I come off as a know it all, and I understand I have much to learn. The part I read that I didn't like was the "I hope you know how to clean it" Which I read in a very anger filled, condescending way. I may have been incorrect in that. It's just misunderstandings are very easy to have over the computer. I had packed the ball well, and checked multiple times before each shot, making sure that exact thing did not happen. I promise you, these 495s were not wanting to move haha. And you said supervision would be a good idea, well sure it would be nice, but I've never met another person who fires any gun like this. That's why I came here, to get the information I need to be safe. And some people have mentioned go on the region forums and see if there is someone around here... I assume you can understand why I'm a little hesitant to meet up with random people on the internet to shoot guns hahaha.
Once again, I'm sorry if I came off that I had a "Know it all attitude", or you felt I was disrespectful to you ColoradoClyde, I didn't mean to be. I also wrote that reply on my phone at around 2am, maybe not my best worded post. :haha: Yesterday may not have been my safest day of all time, but I did take what precautions I could, and no one was hurt.

And about loading with the patch, am just gonna need to get some 490.s aren't I? cause there's no was the 495.s are fitting in patches correctly without me having to break the ramrod...
 
oh and by "packed the ball well" I don't mean I jammed it in the as hard as possible. I'm just clearing that up before someone reads it the wrong way.
 
I'd start with .490 balls and 0.015" patches. If those are too hard to start, 0.010" patches might be the ticket. Are the patches you were using lubed? That will make a big difference- it doesn't take much, I use spit a lot of the time when I'm target shooting.

Next, how far were you shooting? My Blue Ridge shot about 10" low at 25 yards when I got it. The front sights on them usually need filed down quite a bit. You can compensate by putting more of the front blade above the rear sight until you figure out how much you need to file off.
 
I had one of those rifles, and several others similar since then. They all seemed to like a .490 ball with a .015 patch. I don't like to use pre-lubed, pre-packaged patches. I prefer to lube my own patch material. Bore Butter is a great product as a first lube. You may find better things in the future (there are a ga-jillion products and private recipes for lubes). I prefer to cut my own patches from a fabric that is available in almost every fabric store. It is 100% cotton drill. In some locations it is called "pocket drill" because it is used to make pants pockets. It measures right at .015 in thickness. Wash it well before using it to remove the sizing that they put in it. Run an iron over it after it has dried to remove the wrinkles and make it easier to cut. Cut squares that measure around 1 1/2 inches square. Square patches shoot just as well as round ones.

You can remove any sharp edges inside your bore by using a piece of green 3M Scotch Brite scouring pad on an undersize jag with some oil on it. Oil is a must or you may get it stuck in the barrel and have a hard time pulling it out. Oh, BTW, be sure that your rod tips have been cross pinned so they don't pull off under a strain when your rod is being withdrawn. Give your bore about 100 full length strokes with the scouring pad patches. You will need to change your scouring pad patch after about 25 strokes. Doing this will remove any sharp machine marks inside your bore that could cut your patches. It can also usually improve your accuracy.

Shoot about five shots from a sand bag rest holding dead center on your target for each shot. Don't pay any attention to where they are going just as long as they are on the paper. If they are off the paper, get a larger sheet of paper to back your target so you can see exactly where they have gone after you have fired the five shots. New muzzleloading rifles and pistols almost always have front sights that are too tall which causes the gun to shoot low. This is intentional because the manufacturer does not know what kind of powder charge you are going to use. The intention is that you will carefully file your front sight until you bring up the POI to where you want it. It is extremely important that you file carefully taking off only a tiny amount of metal from your front sight each time. it will take several times of filing off a tiny bit of metal and then shooting five shots to see where you are. Take your time, you can easily take off a bit more metal if you need to but it is pretty hard to put it back on if you take off too much. You can calculate how much you need to remove. To do so, you need to know how much you need to raise your POI (in inches including any fractions and convert the fractions to decimal). You also need to convert the distance to your target from yards to inches. Finally, you need to carefully measure from your rear sight to your front sight in inches (measure to the nearest 1/16 inch and convert any fraction to a decimal) Now divide the distance from your front sight to your rear sight by the distance in inches to your target. Take this number and multiply it by the amount that you want to raise your POI. The answer is how much in fractions of an inch that you need to remove from your front sight. Basic trigonometery. Easy Peasy! But, let me reinterate....take it slowly and remove the metal carefully so you don't overshoot how much you need to remove. It's easy to take off but hard to put back on.

Let me give you an excellent hint and remind you that "A word to the wise is sufficient". This is my "word" to you: :thumbsup: www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com
 
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I have one 50 rifle that I shoot .490's through. With a pillow ticking patch and my lube they take a rather smart "whack" on the short starter with the palm of my hand to get them started. After that they slide right down. The patching does have to compress when it enters the muzzle. Careful, if your crown of the muzzle is sharp this will cut your patching.

Best of luck and safe shooting!
Oh, by the way this site is filled with guys who know their stuff! It is also free from the "you're so stupid" drama that persists on other forums today, the mods here do a great job keeping it free from that, :hatsoff: to them.

So if someone on this site posts something you find as negative, chances are they were not meant in that context.
 
The Whitewater Longhunters are really close to your location and have a shoot going on this weekend. They are over in Jack Alabama.
 
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you're off to a good start. If you had a chance to shoot 25 times on that first day, you probably already have found out what I am going to say. Your mind and hands soon develop habits while loading. I find myself laying my powder measure down the same place on the bench each time. I do the same with other things like short starter, patches, balls, etc. Shooting from a pouch and shooting from a bench will leave you with different sets of habits, but developing your own sequences and habits will be a plus.

One thing that concerns me with my own shooting is loosing my concentration if someone is talking to me. An example is that I had just poured in powder when a friend asked me to look at a new rifle. I left the bench, looked the rifle over, and wondered where I was in my loading sequence. I looked back at my bench and saw my powder measure sticking out of the muzzle of my gun. (A shooting friend taught me to leave the measure sticking out of the muzzle until I'm ready to load patch and ball.)

Another thing I do is leave my short starter in the muzzle until I have my ramrod in hand. I do this because I've seen a gun fired when the ball was shorted started only.

I think most mistakes like dry-balling, double charging, short starting, etc are when we loose concentration - mostly when someone is talking to us. I'm less likely to do these things when I'm alone.

All this is meant to be constructive. I'm a retired teacher and couldn't resist.

Regards,
Pletch
 
Thanks for all your advice, all of you. I'll look into the whitewater longhunters, And i'll be darned, I'm in college in Troy Al and they're only about 15 miles away. I'm not too concerned with sighting her in until I've shot it enough to break the barrel in (Which I've heard needs doing) and am able to fire without flinching (Which from my time yesterday shows I'm gonna need a lot more shooting before that happens :haha: ) But I'll definitely look at that link you posted and learn exactly how to do it. And i'll buy some 490 ammo to try out. And Pletch, thanks for the advice, I'll definitely do those. Especially leaving the short starter in. I like that idea.
 
Davy;
Congrats, and welcome. "Loads" of fun now and in the future. The others have helped you with the mechanics -- understand them. Be safe!
 
Anything you can do to help keep yourself from dry-balling or shooting a partially seated ball or improve safety is a good idea.

One note on shooting from the bench. Try to support the forestock the same way you will be shooting it from your most common way of position shooting. For most in LR's that's offhand shooting. the barrel resonance pattern will be different if you support the barrel "way out there" as will the point of impact. Most people hit in slightly different places from offhand than they do from the bench, so save your final sight adjustments for position shooting. The bench is best used for rudimentary sighting, and load development.
 
Thanks for the advice, the bench is my plan for rudimentary sighting and load development (You couldn't have worded it better)
Right now I'm working on simple getting used to the flash of the primer and stopping the flinch. I won't be sighting it in until I can fire it without flinching, because obviously that'd just mess up my accuracy making sighting it in correctly impossible. And since there is filing down the front sight, I want to make sure there are absolutely no mistakes.

And as for the balls not being patched right, my 490. balls are on their way and will be here before I go shooting this weekend. I assume I'll find some use for the 495's considering they don't fit when I patch correctly. I think I might have an old slingshot, that'd be fun to use em with haha. Maybe I'll keep em and just wait, cause I've got more than a few people telling me flintlocks are more addictive than crack and I may end up needing them in a different gun :haha:
 

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