First Timer's First Day at the Range

[PostDriver]

Remember the first time you shot a muzzleloader? Maybe to bring back some memories, here’s my rather long-winded experience today.

Today was my first day at the range with my new rifle. I’m totally new to muzzleloading, and really appreciate all the information I’ve gathered on this site :hatsoff: . After considering the Lyman GPH and the Lyman Deerstalker, I ended up with a Cabela’s Hawken. I’m left handed and definitely wanted a percussion rifle in .54 with the left hand lock. I also attended a muzzleloader seminar at the Dallas Safari Club office where an experienced member gave a very nice introduction to shooting the front-loaders.

After picking up several items at a Cabela’s store in Fort Worth (bullets, patches, black power in FFg and FFFg, cleaning kit, starters, etc., etc.) and after adding some items to the rifle order via the net (sling, CO2 unloader, etc.) I couldn’t wait for its arrival. Fortunately, I had a trip to Alaska that filled the time required to receive the order. The trip was a black bear hunt; no bear, but some great hunting and fishing including silver salmon and topped it off with a 210# halibut!

Upon return home, and after opening all the mail-order boxes and assembling all the goodies (man, I gotta get a gym bag or some such to tote all this stuff around) my buddy and I headed out to the range today for the first go with the rifle. Talk about feeling like I absolutely didn’t know what I was doing! Fortunately, everything went pretty well.

I popped a couple of caps after cleaning the packing gunk out of the barrel; everything was working fine. Ok, time to load ”˜er up for real. Started with 50 grains of FFg, a Hornady round ball and prelubed patch. First reality: a .530 ball and a .20 patch results in an extremely tight load! Got ”˜er loaded up, cocked and capped it and fired my first shot, ever. Didn’t even hit the paper at 50 yd! Oh, well, screwed the rear sight up a bunch, upped the charge to 60 gr. and tried it again. Hey, this one’s on the paper, at least! Screwed the sight up again, now we’re in the ”˜big circle’. This time while loading I broke the wooden ramrod (see, I told’ja that ball and patch combo was tight). Managed to get the ball seated, put a cap on, and let ”˜er rip ”¦. Nothing! :cursing: Held her downrange a couple of minutes (do you know how foolish I felt?), then recocked and tried again. This time it fired as intended, right on the money. Fired a couple more shots at 80 gr. and man, they were almost touching!

Ok, just for grins I pulled out the box of Great Plains bullets, popped one in, and let fly. Whoa! :shocked2: THERE’S the recoil and cheek slap I had been missing! That 435 gr. GP bullet weight made a ton of difference. I shot two more with the GP (had another misfire”¦I think the hammer might be a little off center”¦to be researched more next time) and gave up on it ”¦ my cheek was so tender I certainly didn’t want any more of that! I’m used to shooting big boomers in centerfire so the recoil itself didn’t faze me, but boy, the cheek slap sure did! Went back to 70 gr. and shot 3 Powerbelt 245 gr.’s; they all went within 1.5” honest. Very pleased. But by this time my cheek was bruised enough that I had had all I wanted for this first outing.

All in all, it was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to going out again as soon as my cheekbone stops aching. I stopped at Sportsman’s Warehouse and picked up a great deal on a brass ramrod/field rod kit, some thinner lubed patches, and more cleaning patches. Next time out, I’ll shoot a bunch more round balls just to get more used to the rifle and help break it in. In a while I’ll start trying to line up my hunting load.

There it is: my first time out with a front-loader. Bring back any memories?

Oh, and does anyone have any suggestions on avoiding the cheek slap with those heavier loads??

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Postdriver,

Sounds like a fun day. I suggest you become more familiar with the rifle using the patched roundball. There are many things to work on such as loads, loading technique and misfires. It would be better to sort those things out without worrying about recoil.

Enjoy the smoke! :grin: GW

 

[playfarmers]

Sounds like you had fun. I quit shooting bullets a few years back, because of the recoil. I have a .50 cal Deerstalker and just use 80g of 2f behind a .495 ball for all my hunting, and it works great. You sure don't need to use a bullet in a .54 for hunting. The round ball from a .54 is great medicine for Deer, and even Elk.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Basically, YOu mount that stock to your face, and not your face to the stock. That requires you to raise your strong arm up so the elbow is out at right angles to your body, and in line with your shoulder, so you form a " pocket" between your neck and shoulder, that his higher than your shoulder would be if you left your arm down. Your face should be to the side of the cheekpiece or comb, and not on top of it.

Then, you may benfit from reading my article,

Controlling Heavy Recoiling guns, at : [url] http://www.chuckhawks.com/controlling_heavy_recoil.htm[/url]

If you mount the gun properly, most of the problems new shooter experience shooting a rifle are minimized. For guns that are very light, or have a narrow buttplate, or for shooters who are thin and light weight, my technique for shooting heavy recoiling guns can let you shoot the biggest and baddest, and sometimes out shoot the big guys!

 

[Pittsburghunter]

I kinda missed what Paul was saying the post went by so fast

I do agree with the technique. I Shoot all rifles that way regardless of how much they recoil.

 

[PostDriver]

Thanks for the comments so far, guys.

Yep, if I were shooting the beast from anywhere but the bench the positioning would be much easier. Our crapppy range doesn't allow anything except bench shooting, which is fine for getting sighted in, working out loads, etc., but not for field practice. I got a line on another club, have to check it out for a place that allows standing/kneeling positions.

Mounting the gun makes tons of difference. Shooting the ML with the crescent buttplate is a new experience for me; I'll just have to run a bunch of round balls thru it, like was mentioned above.

I plan on hunting mule deer this year in New Mexico with it; I think I'll just plan on using the patched round balls.

Do you think that a .54 round ball ahead of 80 gr of FFg will generate enough energy for a decently placed shot on elk at 50-60 yd., or do I need to plan on upping to 90-100 gr.?? Hmmm, think I'll post that question on the hunting forum...

Havin' fun in the sun!

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you are shooting a crescent butt plate, that should be mounted at the top of the bicep on your arm, and not in the pocket of your shoulder. That arm mount creates a different set of problems for your head position. Its difficult NOT to put your head down on the comb or cheekpiece, when the stock is butted on your arm. You still have to raise the arm to shoulder height. The place you put the stock to your face varies depending on how long your neck is, how wide your shoulders are, and the length of pull of the stock. You also have to adjust your feet when standing so that you are almost pointing the target with your left index finger looking down your left shoulder and arm. ( right handed shooter, of course. Left Handed shooters know how to make this conversion.) Instead of standing at a 20-40degree angle to the target, you probably will be standing at a 5-10 degree angle. With your right shoulder raised, but turned forward, the crescent butt in the upper bicep area just below your shoulder. and your face against the forward portion of the cheekpiece or comb. You may have to lay your right thumb down along the side of your gun to shoot it, and avoid getting that thumb back in your eye, or cheekbone.

 

[renovato]

Wow, does that ever bring back memories alright. My first time out was just over 30 years ago and I still remember it like it was last week. Savor the moment and know that decades from now, you'll remember those shots like they were yesterday. Welcome to the mother of all addictions!

If you're not terribly worried about staying in period, Pachmayr makes this stuff called Pac-Skin. It's a stick on recoil absorbing sheet that you cut to fit the cheek pad. If you want to stay in period, I've seen leather covered lace ons that look a lot better.

I have the Investarms/Cabelas Hawken also. It's a thumper with a conical alright. They sure are sweet shooters and quite accurate. I think you'll find your sweet spot after a few tries though. Hang in there!

 

[Leatherbark]

If I were you I'd pick up a pack of the .54 caliber wonder wads if I were to use a thinner patch ,just in case you have some burn thru...........The wad will cure it..........Bob

 

[liam_g]

Hey, PostDriver! It was fun, wasn't it?

You inspired me to post my own first-day experience from yesterday, which has some similarities to your own:[url] http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/197179/[/url]

I didn't get around to the conicals yet to experience the recoil ... next time.

Thanks, from a fellow lefty!

Liam

 

Another thing one must take into consideration concerning recoil is the drop at the wrist. Modern rifles are designed/built with much straighter stocks than earlier rifles. On older rifles the line of bore is considerably higher thus recoil will tend to raise the barrel higher...and considerably more abruptly, as you learned. Also, as you said, raising the weight of the projectile over 200 grs. increases the recoil, felt and calculated.

I don't believe all the cheek slap can be eliminated. Lessened to a degree by where you place your cheek and the butt of the rilfe, of course, but not eliminated. I have a German double rifle in 43 Mauser, ballistically on par with a 45-70, with a narrow comb and a little shorter stock than I prefer. It shoots fine for a 135 year old double rifle but it is brutal on my cheek. It has a very nice cheek rest but that narrow comb really bites.

Paul is correct in telling you to place a crescent buttplate on your upper bicep as opposed to "the pocket" where you want modern, straighter stocked rifle with wider, flatter butt plates. Feels a little awkward at first but it is a vast improvement. I believe that placement allows the firearm to recoil somewhat away from your face....and it doesn't beat up on your bicep as you think it would.

Glad you had a good first day. My first day was 30 years ago this year and I find myself more and more often reaching for one of my flinters instead of one of my more modern rifles......come to think of it, most of my more modern rifles are from 100+ years ago and shoot black powder cartridges....hehehe. Fair warning tho. Shooting muzzleloaders could be considered addictive and often one digresses chronologically. Is there perhaps a flinter already in your plans? Enjoy!!!

Vic

 

[Sham66]

PostDriver:

What range did you go to? I live in Dallas so Elm Fork is very close to me.

Although they treat me well, I don't think they like open sight guys and tend to cater to the modern hunting rifle crowd. But I think they do enjoy checking the ammo of the military rifles for FMJ and telling them: "You can't shoot that here, but we have ammo for sale that you can shoot". At a nice mark-up.

Are there other ranges in the D/FW area that are friendly to muzzleloaders? I think Gibson's Outpost in Mesquite is.

James

 

[PostDriver]

Hey James! Yes, I was at Elm Fork and you're absolutely about them catering to modern rifle shooters; but then, there aren't a lot of us ML'ers in Texas, it doesn't seem. And you're also right on about the 'military ammo' thing. It happened while I was there too. Do they always buy the 'store' ammo? I must admit, my buddy and I both stepped back from the bench a ways while that guy was trying to get his assault-type rifle to fire...scary. We were relieved when he was on target enough to be 'graduated' to the 100 yd range.

Paul, I'll sure try the upper bicep placement the next time I go out. Your input on the mechanics of this makes a lot of sense and it sure sounds like you've 'been there..done that'.

I'm going to try some 3F next time, too, just to see how it shoots the prb. I picked up some thinner patches after the range work yesterday and will try them also. Thanks for the comment about the over-powder wad; I'll try to pick up a few of the patches to see if they're burned through. I remember opw's from years ago when we used them loading shotgun shells. Hmmmm....am I dating myself there? :grin:

All the input I'm getting on here sure does help. The only other guy I know (kinda) who shoots ml's is strictly a flinter and has some gorgeous rifles, but I doubt that I'll ever see him at Elm Fork. Apparently there's a Dallas-area muzzleloader club that has shoots once a month down toward Cedar Creek Lake, but I plan on putting a lot more time in on this than that would afford. And I've also heard about the one in Mesquite (much closer)but don't know anything about it yet.

And yes, this is so darned much fun that I am thinking about another rifle already. Maybe a slick little .32 flintlock squirrel rifle???? Or maybe a shotgun...the turkeys are thick on our deer lease and I love to hunt spring turkey. Yea, I can see why you say this is addict..., addict...addict...addicting :thumbsup: .

 

[TexiKan]

Glad you had a good experience. Some time ago, there was a humorous article in either Muzzleloaderor Muzzle Blasts relating a newbie at a club range. As I recall, the fellow had an inexpensive rifle and only the bare necessities to shoot. He was shooting well and was having a good time. The club members decided to show him how to shoot better and advised him on certain procedures, wind flags, and attention to every small detail. The next thing you know.......he was no longer scoring well and became a discouraged average shooter!

I remember laughing out loud when I read that article and I think of it every time I see someone new in the hobby. Lots of advice! Hopefully your shooting won't diminish!

There is a great quote we used from a recent Huey Lewis & the News CD. Our rock & roll band (late 60's music) posted it on the wall when we rehearsed and it is also applicable to muzzleloading: We're not here for a long time. We're here for a GOOD time! (Just be sure it is a "safe" good time!)

TexiKan

 

[dmills]

Greetings Postdriver. I went to the Elm Fork range once and did not even stay to shoot. The ML friendliest range in the area may be the one I go to, which is also the closest to my home. It is the Quail Creek Shooting Range at I-35 W and FM 1171. The guys who run it shoot MLs and are very accomodating to us. You can shoot from any position and MLs are allowed on the 25 yd range.

FM 1171 is North of the Cabelas store on 35W. I'll be shooting there this coming Sat. morning. They open at 9:00 a.m.

Good luck and keep shooting. :thumbsup:

 

[Sham66]

Great reference. Thanks!

I will say that the folks who run Elm Fork are not jerks, but I believe they have to be very careful because they are an open range on the Dallas/Irving line which is no longer "in the country". In fact, the pistol officer loves to have muzzleloaders there because he knows we are careful and for the most part, mature :grin:.

The Elm Fork folks have told me more than once that the police are out there regularly because the golf course reports "fly overs" and claim it comes from the range. They believe it is actually from folks stopping (or slowing down a little) on Northwest Highway and shooting over the range!

Anyway, thanks again for sharing this info. I will check it out sometime.

James